A historian reads two kinds of sources. In the first, a qazi in a town of Sind is asked to settle a dispute over a local trading custom that was unknown in Arabia. He finds no earlier ruling that covers this exact custom. He looks for a similar case already settled in the law and decides the new case in the same way. In the second, a letter from a Mughal emperor to a Jogi sends a piece of cloth and twenty-five rupees as an offering and offers any further service the Jogi may need.
The way the qazi reached his decision is an example of which source of the shari'a?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Qiyas
Option (1) Ijma — Incorrect. Ijma means the consensus of the community. The qazi compared the case with an earlier one and sought no agreement of the community.
Option (2) Qiyas — Correct. Qiyas means reasoning by analogy. Deciding a new case in the same way as a similar settled case is reasoning by analogy, a source added as Islamic rule spread to lands with different customs.
Option (3) Hadis — Incorrect. Hadis are the traditions of the Prophet, a record of his remembered words and deeds. The qazi worked from a settled legal case instead.
Option (4) Qur'an — Incorrect. The Qur'an is the first base of the shari'a. The qazi found no ruling covering this custom, so he worked from a similar case instead.
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