The Sharʿī Ruling on Ijmāʿ (Consensus)
Taken from Fatāwā Amunpūrī by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Question:
What is the ruling on ijmāʿ (consensus)?
Answer:
Ijmāʿ is a decisive proof in Islam. After the Qur’an and Sunnah, it is the third source of Sharīʿah. Any ruling upon which the scholars and jurists of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah agree becomes a binding Sharʿī ruling.
The ijmāʿ of the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ is protected from error; it is impossible for the scholars of truth in any era to unanimously agree upon misguidance. Whoever denies a certain and established ijmāʿ is like one who denies an explicit text of the Qur’an and Sunnah.
Statements of Scholars
- Imām Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī (رحمه الله, d. 620 AH):
لا خلاف بيننا أن الإجماع حجة قاطعة...
“There is no difference among us that ijmāʿ is a decisive proof. When the Companions (رضي الله عنهم) agreed upon a ruling, and then the Imāms among the Tābiʿīn followed them in it, and later Imāms of every time and place adhered to it, encouraging its adoption and warning their students against opposing it — then how can the follower of such ijmāʿ be called foolish or deceived? Rather, the real fool, misguided innovator, and sinner is the one who opposes this ijmāʿ and turns away from it.”
[Taḥrīm al-Naẓar fī Kutub al-Kalām, p. 47]
Qur’ānic Evidence
Allah Almighty says:
وَمَنْ يُشَاقِقِ الرَّسُولَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَىٰ وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّىٰ وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ ۖ وَسَاءَتْ مَصِيرًا [Sūrat al-Nisā’: 115]
“Whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has been made clear to him, and follows a path other than that of
