What is the ruling on qiyas?

The questioner : Regarding qiyas, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Qiyas?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Qiyam for whom?

The questioner : No, qiyas, qiyas.

The Shaykh : Qiyas, look at the letter sin, may Allah guide you, say qiyas.

The questioner : Yes, qiyas, yes.

The Shaykh : Are you asking about the validity of qiyas?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : As you may perhaps know, some of the later scholars, such as Ibn Hazm and other Zahiris, differed on this issue. However, the majority of scholars, including the Companions, are known only for using qiyas. The evidence for this is not something every student of knowledge notices, as it requires some knowledge of fiqh and derivation. Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) spoke on this matter and spoke well in his book *I'lam al-Muwaqqin*, and his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah has a treatise on this subject, published separately, titled *Al-Qiyas* or something similar to that title. The important point is that some hadiths indicate the use of qiyas. The most famous of these hadiths is his statement (peace and blessings be upon him) in the well-known hadith: This is the qiyas by which the Salaf and those who came after them argue. This is from one perspective. From another perspective, every jurist feels that many issues that occur and will occur have no explicit text regarding them unless qiyas is used. The only thing is that qiyas may be obvious qiyas or subtle qiyas. Obvious qiyas is what should be relied upon and argued with. An idea came to my mind, and then I went and said that obvious, clear qiyas is what can be argued with. We said that what is known among jurists as *qiyas al-awla* (qiyas of stronger evidence) is an example of this. The first example of obvious qiyas is prayer, for instance, on an airplane. This prayer must have a ruling, either permissibility or prohibition. Whichever the one who speaks chooses, he will not find in the texts of the Book and the Sunnah what serves as a clear answer, affirmative or negative, permissive or prohibitive, unless he uses the qiyas that is called *i'tibar* (consideration) in some texts. Among this is the statement of Allah the Exalted: We have in the Sunnah the permissibility of praying on a ship, and that one is commanded to pray on the ship standing, just as he is commanded to pray on the ground standing usually, unless he is unable to do so, as in the hadith of 'Imran ibn Husayn: But the question regarding prayer on an airplane, which was not known in that era and not clearly referred to in some texts, then this prayer was found and became like the ship. If a person freezes on the school-specific texts on one hand and on not considering qiyas on the other hand, he will not answer the previous question well, which is whether prayer on a ship is valid or not. And if he answers, he may deviate from the truth. The point of difficulty in prayer on an airplane, or the question about the validity of prayer on an airplane, is that it is not customary in the custom of people. People pray on the ground and on everything connected to the ground. And it has occurred in some fiqh books a phrase that necessitates the invalidity of prayer on a ship. And they imagined this airplane, just as they imagined many of the detailed rulings, some of which is pure imagination and some of which reality has confirmed. This second category is what concerns us now. It has come in some books of the Shafi'is, the text of which is: If a man prays on a swing that is not suspended from the ceiling and not supported from the ground, his prayer is not valid.

The questioner : It came to you...

The Shaykh : No, from it sometimes, like this. If he prays on a swing that is not suspended from the ceiling and not supported from the ground, his prayer is not valid. Why? Because they condition the place for the validity of prayer and that it be pure. They imagined it this way. And on this occasion, I mention that in some of my trips and journeys in the path of da'wah in Syria, I used to go to northern Syria, to Aleppo and around Idlib. I planned the first time...