THE RANK OF AL-IJMAK (CONSENSUS) AMONG THE ISLAMIC LEGAL EVIDENCES AND ITS EFFECT ON ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE

Abstract

Consensus (al-Ijmak) is considered as a legal evidence and significant proof in the juristic deduction and legal reasoning in order to acquaint legal rules. Also, it is considered as the strongest legal evidence because it results certainty in its indication. Those who peruse the scholar’s studies will find their disagreement on the position of al-Ijmak among legal evidences, between a group that regards al-Ijmak as the third evidence after Quran and Sunnah in all conditions, whereas another group regards it as the first in some conditions. Thus, this research attempts to study the issue with emphasizing on the position of al-Ijmak among scholars, their opinions and stands, and the effect of this matter on some issues related to Islamic jurisprudence. This research relies on inductive method in collecting data, and analytic method in analyzing these data.