Scholarly consensus (ijmaa‘) as binding proof and the first consensus that occurred in Islam

Praise
be to Allah

Firstly:

Consensus (ijmaa‘)
is one of the important sources of legislation that must be followed.

There are
several definitions of consensus (ijmaa‘); the favoured view is that of as-Subki
(may Allah have mercy on him), who defined it as follows: It is when there
is unanimous agreement among the scholars of the ummah after the death of
Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), during any era, on some
particular matter.

End quote from
Jam‘ al-Jaami‘, annotated by Wali ad-Deen al-‘Iraaqi, which is known
also known as al-Ghayth al-Haami‘, p. 485

There is a great
deal of definitive evidence from the Qur’an and Sunnah for the fact that
consensus constitutes binding proof. We have explained some of it previously
in the answer to question no. 197937.

For example,
Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And
whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and
follows other than the way of the believers – We will give him what he has
taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination”

[an-Nisa’ 4:115].

Ibn Hazm (may
Allah have mercy on him) said: Whoever goes against it – that is, consensus
– after coming to know of it, or after proof has been established on the
basis of consensus, is deserving of the warning mentioned in the verse.

End quote from
Maraatib al-Ijmaa‘ by Ibn Hazm, p. 7.

Al-Qaadi Abu
Ya‘la (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Consensus constitutes binding
proof with which one should comply and it is haraam to go against it; it is
not possible for the ummah to agree on error.

End quote from
al-‘Uddah fi Usool al-Fiqh (4/1058).

Secondly:

We have not come
across anyone who mentioned the first consensus that occurred in Islam, or
the first one to narrate such a thing.

We have stated
above that consensus is when the scholars agree on a particular issue after
the death of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).

However, during
his lifetime (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), consensus did not
constitute proof.

Al-Aamidi (may
Allah have mercy on him) said: The consensus of those who were alive at the
time of revelation did not constitute proof at the time of revelation,
according to consensus; rather consensus became binding proof after the
death of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).

End quote from
al-Ahkaam by al-Aamidi (1/109).

Based on that,
it may be said that the first consensus that occurred after the death of the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was the consensus of the
Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them) on the necessity of appointing a
caliph, after the death of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him). Therefore the Muhaajireen and Ansaar met in the saqeefah of Banu
Saa‘idah for that purpose, before the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) was buried, then they agreed to appoint Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq
(may Allah be pleased with him) as caliph.

Among the first
examples of consensus after that was the agreement of the Sahaabah on
fighting the apostates, after some initial objection on the part of ‘Umar
(may Allah be pleased with him), but then Allah opened his heart and caused
him to feel at ease with the decision of Abu Bakr, and the Sahaabah agreed
on that, without any dissent.

Imam Abu’l-Hasan
al-Ash‘ari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Allah, may He be glorified
and exalted, praised the Muhaajireen and Ansaar, and the earliest Muslims;
the Qur’an speaks highly of the Muhaajireen and Ansaar in many places, and
praises those who were present at Bay‘at ar-Ridwaan [when the Muslims
affirmed their allegiance to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) at al-Hudaybiyyah]. Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):

“Certainly
was Allah pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you, [O
Muhammad], under the tree”

[al-Fat-h 48:18].

These people
whom Allah praised agreed to appoint Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq (may Allah be
pleased with him) as their leader; they called him Khaleefat Rasool-Allah
(the Successor to the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him)), and swore allegiance to him, rallying behind him and affirming
his virtue, for he was the best of the Sahaabah in the qualities that are
required for a person to be a leader, such as knowledge, asceticism, wisdom,
leadership abilities, and so on.

End quote from
al-Ibaanah fi Usool ad-Diyaanah, p. 66

And he (may
Allah have mercy on him) said: What confirms the fact that Abu Bakr’s
appointment as caliph was based on a strong foundation is the fact that all
the Muslims rallied behind him and accepted his leadership.… Later on, we
see that ‘Ali and al-‘Abbaas swore allegiance to him and agreed to accept
his leadership. Therefore his leadership, after the death of the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), was based on the consensus of
the Muslims.

It is not
appropriate for anyone to say that what was in the hearts of ‘Ali and
al-‘Abbaas [concerning the appointment of Abu Bakr as caliph] was something
other than what they showed. If that argument was valid, then it would be
almost impossible to establish consensus. The same argument could be used
with regard to any consensus of the Muslims, but that would lead to the
invalidation of the idea of consensus as binding proof, because Allah, may
He be glorified and exalted, has not obliged us to know what is hidden in
people’s minds when it comes to the matter of consensus; rather He has
obliged us to go by what people appear to be. Therefore consensus and
agreement on the appointment of Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq as caliph did indeed
occur.

End quote from
al-Ibaanah, p. 66

Imam Abu
‘Uthmaan as-Saabooni (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The scholars of
hadith confirmed the validity of Abu Bakr’s appointment as caliph after the
death of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him),
because he was chosen by the Sahaabah; they were unanimously agreed on that
and they all said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) was pleased that he should lead us in our religious matters
(prayers), therefore we are pleased for him to lead us in our worldly
matters. In other words, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) appointed him to lead the people in the obligatory prayers when he was
sick, which is their religious affairs, so we accept him as the successor of
the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) with regard to our
worldly affairs.

When they said,
The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) put you
ahead of us, so how could we put you back? What they meant was: the
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) put you ahead
to lead us in prayer when he was sick, and we prayed behind you on his
orders, so how could we put you back after he put you forward?

The Messenger of
Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) spoke highly of Abu Bakr
when he was alive, which indicated to the Sahaabah that he was the most
deserving of being appointed caliph after him. Hence they agreed to rally
behind him, and that was to their own benefit, and they gained honour and
victory through him.

End quote from
‘Aqeedat as-Salaf wa As-haab al-Hadith, p. 290.

We shall mention
here the story of how ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) swore allegiance
to Abu Bakr as-Siddeeq on the first day.

Ibn Katheer (may
Allah have mercy on him) said: al-Haafiz Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi said:
Abu’l-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Haafiz al-Isfaraayeeni informed
us: Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali al-Haafiz told us: Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn
Is-haaq ibn Khuzaymah and Ibraaheem ibn Abi Taalib told us: Bandaar ibn
Bashaar told us: Abu Hishaam al-Makhzoomi told us: Wuhayb told us: Dawood
ibn Abi Hind told us: Abu Nadrah told us, from Abu Sa‘eed al-Khudri, who
said:

The Messenger of
Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) passed away and the people,
including Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, gathered in the house of Sa‘d ibn ‘Ubaadah.

The spokesman of
the Ansaar stood up and said: Do you know that the Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was one of the Muhaajireen, and
his successor is one of the Muhaajireen, and we are the Ansaar (helpers) of
the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and we
will be the Ansaar (helpers) of his successor as we were his helpers?

‘Umar ibn
al-Khattaab stood up and said Your spokesman has spoken the truth. If you
had said something other than this, we would not have accepted that. And he
took the hand of Abu Bakr and said: This is the right man, so swear
allegiance to him. ‘Umar swore allegiance to him, and the Muhaajireen and
Ansaar swore allegiance to him.

Then Abu Bakr
ascended the minbar and looked at the people, and he did not see az-Zubayr.

So he called for
az-Zubayr, and he came.

Abu Bakr said:
(You are) the son of the paternal aunt of the Messenger of Allah (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) and his disciple; do you want to cause
division among the Muslims?

He said: There
is nothing to worry about, O successor of the Messenger of Allah. Then he
stood up and swore allegiance to him.

Then Abu Bakr
looked at the people, and he did not see ‘Ali, so he called ‘Ali ibn Abi
Taalib and he came.

Abu Bakr said:
(You are) the son of the paternal uncle of the Messenger of Allah (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) and his son-in-law; do you want to cause
division among the Muslims?

He said: There
is nothing to worry about, O successor of the Messenger of Allah. Then he
stood up and swore allegiance to him.

Abu ‘Ali
al-Haafiz said: I heard Muhammad ibn Is-haaq ibn Khuzaymah say: Muslim ibn
al-Hajjaaj came to me and asked me about this hadith, so I wrote it down for
him on a piece of paper and I read it to him. This hadith is worth a badanah
(a valuable camel); indeed it is worth a badrah (sack of money)!

End quote from
al-Bidaayah wa’n-Nihaayah by Ibn Katheer (5/269).

A badrah is a
big sack full of money; it was said that it is one thousand or ten thousand
dirhams, or seven thousand dinars.

Al-Mu‘jam
al-Waseet
(p. 43); al-Qaamoos al-Muheet (p. 444).

Then Ibn Katheer
narrated a report about another oath of allegiance that ‘Ali swore after the
death of Faatimah (ma y Allah be pleased with her). He said: This oath of
allegiance that was sworn by ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) to Abu
Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) after the death of Faatimah (may Allah
be pleased with her) was in confirmation of the reconciliation between them
and it was secondary to the oath of allegiance mentioned above, that was
sworn on the day of as-saqeefah, as was narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah and
classed as saheeh by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaaj. ‘Ali did not keep his distance
from Abu Bakr, during these six months; rather he used to pray behind him,
and he was present when Abu Bakr used to meet with some of the senior
Sahaabah in order to seek their advice concerning some issues; he was also
willing to ride with him on a campaign to Dhu’l-Qassah.

In Saheeh al-Bukhaari
it says that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed ‘Asr a few days
after the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
died, then he went out of the mosque and found al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali playing
with some boys. He carried him on his shoulder and started saying: May my
father be sacrificed for the one who looks like the Prophet and does not
look like ‘Ali! And ‘Ali smiled (at this joke).

But when this
second oath of allegiance occurred, some narrators thought that ‘Ali had not
sworn allegiance (to Abu Bakr) before that, so they denied that (the first
oath of allegiance) had happened. But if someone confirms that something
happens, that takes precedence over the report of someone who says that it
did not happen, as we have mentioned and explained above. And Allah knows
best.

End quote from
al-Bidaayah wa’n-Nihaayah (5/307)

And Allah knows
best.