al-Insaf fi Bayan Asbab al-Ikhtilaf lil-Dihlawi
- Author died
- 1176 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Nafā’is
al-Inṣāf fī Bayān Asbāb al-Ikhtilāf (Equity in Explaining the Causes of Juristic Disagreement) is a classical Arabic treatise on the history of Islamic jurisprudence and the origins of legal differences by the Indian scholar and traditionist Shah Wali Allah al-Dihlawi (1110–1176 AH / 1699–1762 CE) .
Composition and Purpose
Wali Allah al-Dihlawi states in the prologue that he experienced an intuitive insight—described as a divine balance (mīzān) placed in his heart—that allowed him to comprehend the roots of every disagreement within the Muslim community and identify what conforms to the truth . Following an inquiry addressed to him regarding the reasons behind differences among the Prophet's Companions and later generations concerning legal rulings (al-aḥkām al-fiqhiyya), he authored this concise treatise to provide a clear and structured historical explanation . Al-Dihlawi later incorporated most of the core text and arguments of al-Inṣāf into his major work, Hujjat Allah al-Balighah (The Conclusive Argument from God) .
Structure and Content
The treatise is organized chronologically across five main chapters following an introductory preface:
Disagreements Among the Companions and Successors
The opening chapter examines the period of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the subsequent generation of the Companions . Al-Dihlawi explains that during the Prophet's lifetime, jurisprudence was not codified into formalized definitions, conditions, or hypothetical scenarios; rather, the Companions simply observed the Prophet's actions and questioned him only when necessary . Following his death and the dispersion of the Companions across various provinces, legal differences arose from several distinct causes :
- Disparities in the transmission of prophetic traditions, where one Companion possessed a ruling that another had not received, leading the latter to exercise personal judgment (ijtihād) .
- Divergent interpretations of prophetic actions, such as viewing an action as an act of worship (qurba) or as an incidental occurrence (ittifāq) .
- Inadvertence, varying recollection, or misapprehension of specific circumstances .
- Differing identifications of the underlying rationale (ʿilla) behind rulings .
- Divergent methods for reconciling seemingly conflicting reports .
These variations crystallised into distinct regional centers of learning during the era of the Successors (al-Tābiʿūn), led by prominent authorities such as Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib in Medina and Ibrahim al-Nakha'i in Kufa .
The Codification Period and Emergence of Schools
The second chapter covers the third generation of legal scholars and the early codification (tadwīn) of Islamic disciplines . Al-Dihlawi traces how figures such as Malik ibn Anas in Medina, Ibn Jurayj in Mecca, and Sufyan al-Thawri in Kufa compiled local traditions and legal verdicts . He discusses the consolidation of the Hanafi school through the writings and judicial offices of Abu Yusuf and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani, as well as the methodological contributions of Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, who established legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) to systematically evaluate disconnected chains (mursal), harmonize conflicting texts, and limit subjective preference (istiḥsān) .
Traditionists and Jurists of Legal Reasoning
The third chapter addresses the division between the People of Hadith (Ahl al-Ḥadīth) and the Jurists of Legal Reasoning (Aṣḥāb al-Raʾy) . Al-Dihlawi describes how early traditionists, culminating in figures like Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the compilers of the canonical hadith collections, prioritized comprehensive hadith collation, chain verification, and direct textual inference over adherence to a single master's legal extrapolations . Conversely, the jurists of legal reasoning developed techniques of systematic legal derivation (takhrīj) from established school maxims . Citing Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi, al-Dihlawi critiques the excesses of both groups: traditionists who focused narrowly on transmitters while neglecting legal analysis, and jurists who accepted unverified reports to support existing doctrines .
Levels of Ijtihad and Legal Conformity
The fourth chapter analyzes the intellectual conditions of Muslims before the fourth century AH . Al-Dihlawi argues that during the first two centuries, the public did not practice exclusive legal conformity (taqlīd) to a single school; laypersons sought rulings from any qualified local scholar without restriction . He delineates three tiers of legal scholarship :
- The Independent Absolute Jurist (mujtahid muṭlaq mustaqill), who formulates foundational principles and derives laws directly from textual sources .
- The Affiliated Absolute Jurist (mujtahid muṭlaq muntasib), who adopts the foundational framework of an established master but exercises independent judgment across individual branches .
- The Jurist within a School (mujtahid fī al-madhhab), who derives rulings for unprecedented cases strictly from the codified precedents of his school .
Developments After the Fourth Century AH
The final chapter explores the subsequent decline of direct engagement with primary sources . Al-Dihlawi examines the rise of scholastic disputation (jadal), institutionalized partisanship (taʿaṣṣub), and the widespread reliance on rigid imitation . He clarifies that many later legal principles attributed to the founding imams were actually retrospective deductions (uṣūl mukharrajah) formulated by later dialecticians rather than transmitted statements of the founders .
While acknowledging that following one of the four established Sunni schools serves a pragmatic societal purpose for the unlearned, al-Dihlawi rejects absolute partisanship that disregards clear, authentic texts . He supports his position with statements from Ibn Hazm, 'Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam, Abu Shamah al-Maqdisi, and explicit warnings from the four eponymous imams against following their rulings unconditionally without knowing their evidence . The work concludes by citing historical precedents of mutual accommodation, where early imams prayed behind one another and recognized the legitimacy of differing rulings across regions .
Publication History
The work has been published in multiple Middle Eastern and South Asian editions, including an edition edited with annotations by the Syrian hadith scholar Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah .
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