How to reconcile when two general texts conflict?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : The branch is not ready. When two general texts conflict, one must be applied to the other. In terms of legal principles, one must be specified by the other. If one of them has been specified by another factor, thereby weakening its generality, then the absolute general text that has not been specified is applied to it and weakens it. This is what I mean. Here are some examples that cannot be resolved except by this rule. For example,
The student: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and Allah's mercy and blessings. For example, there is a general prohibition against praying in the disliked times, and a general command for certain prayers, such as the sunnah of wudu, or as they say, the sunnah of greeting the mosque. Do we prioritize the prohibition over the command, or the command over the prohibition? Here the merit of this rule becomes apparent. It is the consensus of the scholars that the prohibition against praying in the disliked times includes the three primary times, which are the basis for the remaining times, bringing the total to five. And the implication of this statement is, of course,
The student : If you could clarify the three? The three are clear, but the five?
The Shaykh : The five are due to a specific circumstance. For example, the sun rising is the first time in which prayer is prohibited. But if you pray Fajr, it becomes an additional time, making it a fourth time. So the original disliked times are three: the rising of the sun, the zenith, and at... the setting of the sun. Then these have attachments, as we mentioned. The point is that this prohibition has been specified by several exceptions. So this generality is weakened. When we come to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):Sunan Ibn Majah 1013Sahih (Darussalam) Do you not know that the jurists have differed? Some prioritized the prohibition over the command, and some reversed it and prioritized the command over the prohibition. But the problem was not resolved for me except by this rule that I understood from the words of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him): that the command for the greeting prayer is absolute and general, encompassing all times, and has not been specified. As for the prohibition against praying in the disliked times, many specifications have entered it, and they are well known, especially in the book of al-Aziz Abadi, which he titled "Informing the People of the Era of the Rulings on the Two Rak'ahs of the Fajr Sunnah." There is a specialized book there for tracking the exceptions or specifications for these times. So when we find that the times in which prayer is prohibited have been specified, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , he prays it even if the sun has risen. He prioritized the intended general text whose generality was not weakened, meaning no specification entered it, over the general text that was specified. As for our current issue, I say that I do not recall at the moment, so that we may look at which one is stronger in generality than the other.
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : It is good.
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : May Allah protect us and you.
The student: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.
The student : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : May Allah help you and strengthen you.
The student: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and Allah's mercy and blessings. For example, there is a general prohibition against praying in the disliked times, and a general command for certain prayers, such as the sunnah of wudu, or as they say, the sunnah of greeting the mosque. Do we prioritize the prohibition over the command, or the command over the prohibition? Here the merit of this rule becomes apparent. It is the consensus of the scholars that the prohibition against praying in the disliked times includes the three primary times, which are the basis for the remaining times, bringing the total to five. And the implication of this statement is, of course,
The student : If you could clarify the three? The three are clear, but the five?
The Shaykh : The five are due to a specific circumstance. For example, the sun rising is the first time in which prayer is prohibited. But if you pray Fajr, it becomes an additional time, making it a fourth time. So the original disliked times are three: the rising of the sun, the zenith, and at... the setting of the sun. Then these have attachments, as we mentioned. The point is that this prohibition has been specified by several exceptions. So this generality is weakened. When we come to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):
When one of you enters the mosque, let him perform two Rak’ah
إذا دخل أحدكم المسجد فليصلِّ ركعتين ، ثم ليجلِسْWhoever forgets a prayer or sleeps through it, let him pray it when he remembers it. There is no expiation for it except that.
مَن نَسِيَ صلاةً أو نامَ عنها فليُصلِّها حين يذكرها ، لا كفَّارة لها إلا ذلكThe student : ... .
The Shaykh : It is good.
The student : ... .
The Shaykh : May Allah protect us and you.
The student: Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah.
The student : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : May Allah help you and strengthen you.
Source
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The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.