7. Al-Hiyal (Juridical Evasions)

This is basically a "legal loophole that saves people from an Aimah.(strict resolute)." The principle of Fiqh they follow is Al-Makhaarij Al-madaa’iq or removal of difficulty. (Allah does not burden a soul greater than they can bear) An example would be that a man can give an oath that he will have intercourse with his wife Qabeelat Tayybah TCE Notes Revolution 62

during Ramadan or he will divorce her. Then to fulfill the oath, he goes on a journey so that his fast is broken and then he can come back and approach his wife. Some people go to an extreme to use this principle to reverse rulings of the Shari’ah. An example is mentioned by Ibn-Al-Qayyim of a man who has jewelry store with gold in it and has to pay Zakah. Some would allow this man to store it in a bag of rice and give it to a Zakah collector. Then since the rice would be too much, he would pay the collector to take it off his hands and get the gold back in full for a lesser price. Many other issues can come if you take this to an extreme and people go to extreme upon extreme. The job of a faqeeh, though, is not to judge intentions or show emotion. If you can’t give right Fatwaa and will have too much emotion or be biased, step down and let someone qualified do it. Also most Fuqaaha would refuse leadership positions because it might show Walaa (allegiance) to the ruler and even over Allah and the Prophet at times. Also, if someone famous accepts Khalifa, many great masses will follow as well so your responsibility is great. The Jews who used to put their nets out on Friday night to catch fish on Saturday is an example of Juridical Evasion. The Objections against this Madhab are as follows in general: a. Too much use of intellectual reasoning and analogy. b. Abandoning of the Sunnah for ra’i. c. Some also say Abu Haneefah held the opinion of Imaan of the Murji’a but his is debated. Major References for the Hanafi Madhab First: The statements of Imam Abu Hanifah