A Simple Guide to ISLAM
Fiqh – Jurisprudence
~ 103 ~
addition to the laws by interpretation is that the Prophet himself
had made allowances in his commands. He left many things to the
discretion of the community to be decided according to a given
situation.
Law was neither inflexible nor so rigidly applied in the early days of
Islam. Different and even contradictory laws relating to many
problems could be tolerated on the basis of argument. It seems
that the Prophet provided a wide scope for differences by giving
instructions of a general nature, or by validating two diverse
actions in the same situation. The Prophet aimed at providing
opportunities for the employment in diverse circumstances. Had
the Prophet laid down specific and rigid rules for each problem the
coming generations would have been deprived of exercising reason
and framing laws according to the need of the hour.
Hence, in Prophet’s times, it was possible for two persons to take
different courses in one and the same situation. For example, on
the occasion of the battle of Banu Qurayzah, the Prophet sent
some of his companions to their territory and asked them to say
Asr
(afternoon) prayers on arrival at their destinations. But it so
happened that the time of the prayer came on the way. Therefore
some of the companions said their prayers on the way arguing that
the Prophet had not meant to postpone the prayers, while others
said their prayers on reaching the destination at night-fall, taking
the Prophet’s command literally. When the incident was reported
to the Prophet, he kept silent. The Companions deemed this to be
a tacit approval of the actions of both the parties. Had the actions
