The Shaykh Al-Albani’s discussion with those who deny ijtihad.

The Shaykh : But there is no harm in letting me touch on a matter that occurred between me and some of the shaykhs, and a matter that is happening now, which some Muslims may find difficult. As for the first matter, in a story I do not wish to mention in detail now, out of respect for your time, the summary is that I met one of the muftis about twenty years ago, or more, from those who fight following (taqlid), let alone ijtihad. My name had reached him as one who claims ijtihad. When we met and the discussion took place, he frankly told me, "You engage in ijtihad and you contradict the madhhabs, and so on." I said, "I want to be brief." The conversation with this man, who is the mufti of a large country, led me to say to him, "O Shaykh, if you say the door of ijtihad is closed, where do we take the answers to questions that have occurred now? They are not going to occur; they have occurred now, and you do not find their answers written in the books of fiqh that you have obligated yourselves to rely on for fatwas. And from the principles of the fatwas of the muqallids is that they placed the texts of the early fuqaha in the position of the texts of the Book and the Sunnah for the people of the Sunnah, so none of these muqallids issues a fatwa unless he finds a text from a scholar who preceded him with the answer." I said to him, "What do you do if a question arises and you do not find an answer for it in the books you rely on?" He said, "Like what?" I said, "This is a reality. I said to him, 'Like praying in an airplane. Is the prayer valid in an airplane, O Professor?'" He said, "Obviously, without any hesitation." And this was the first contradiction of the madhhab. I said, "It is valid." I said, "And what is your evidence?" I mean, when I ask "what is your evidence," I mean a madhhab, whereas we mean something else. He said, "By qiyas (analogical reasoning) of prayer in an airplane to prayer on a ship." I said, "There, you have engaged in ijtihad." He said, "How?" I said, "The scholars, the scholars of the Sunnah, agree that the principles or the proofs are four: the Book, the Sunnah, ijma' (scholarly consensus), and qiyas. This fourth principle, qiyas, is a point of disagreement among Muslim scholars. Some denied it radically, like the Zahiris, for example. Some exaggerated and expanded in it more than necessary. And some, well, let us widen the circle, let us learn politics, or rather, the Shari'ah politics. Some expanded in the use of qiyas more than necessary. Some were moderate. And I was delighted on this occasion by the saying of Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him), where he said, 'Qiyas is a necessity, not a desire.' And as you wish, for every question you say 'qiyas,' no, it is only for necessity. A question has occurred that must have an answer. We looked in the Qur'an and did not find a text. In the Sunnah, we did not find one. In ijma', there is none. So we do qiyas out of necessity, not to add to the worship. We say we do qiyas of this to that. No, the summary is that you resorted to arguing with the weakest of the four proofs. This means that the one who wants to argue with this proof must be a strong scholar in the Book and the Sunnah, who is good at using qiyas, does not deny it, and does not expand in its application. So if you have fallen into what you denied against us, you have engaged in ijtihad. Then you added and said that in your ijtihad, in which you hit the truth, you contradicted the madhhab. I was amazed by that. He said, "How?" And here is the point, O our brothers, here is the point. I said, "It came in al-Rafi'i's commentary on al-Wajhayn... his text is as follows: 'If a man prayed on a swing that is not suspended from the ceiling and not supported by the ground, his prayer is invalid.'" I said, "This airplane, specifically the one called a helicopter, stands between the sky and the ground; it is not suspended and it is not supported. Look now, this one who is extreme in his adherence to the madhhab cannot say at all that prayer in an airplane is invalid, while their great one, Imam al-Rafi'i, said that if one prayed on a swing—imagine it, but he did not imagine the airplane, which has become a reality—and said the prayer is invalid. Why? Because he did not pray on the ground, because it is known that where do people pray? On the ground. This mufti realized what the difference is between prayer on a ship, which is not on the ground, for example like a car, but he considered the water a medium between this ship and the ground. So let it be the same; this is a correct qiyas. So let it be the same for prayer in an airplane. As for me, I argue with another proof, which is from the benefit of the Sunnah. May Allah send blessings upon Muhammad. This is from the virtues of the Shari'ah. It comes to you with a general text that extends you to dozens of questions, and you do not find this fiqh in the fiqh branches. The hadith in this is long. This is an example, meaning, it occurred between me and a person.