4 - Can Two Opposing Opinions Be Valid?

Summary

As with most legal systems, Islamic law leaves many legal questions unresolved and issues are open for jurists to make judgments using their intellectual efforts. This results in multiple approaches and legal opinions (ikhtilāf). This chapter analyzes the opposing approaches toward Islamic law between Salafis and Traditionalists to explain why they differ about the validity of ijmāʿ and acceptance of ikhtilāf. I argue that at the core of their different approaches toward ijmāʿ and ikhtilāf are their divergent attitudes toward certainty in Islamic law. The Salafi belief in the ability to attain definite knowledge (ʿilm) in legal matters impacted their attitude on the validity of ikhtilāf. The Salafi notion of certainty in Islamic law led them to reject the validity of legal pluralism and therefore rebuke Traditionalists for following the madhhabs.