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Ijma
Arabic:
'ijmāc
Other spelling: idjma
In Islam, one of two central techniques used in the development of Muslim Law, Sharia.
With respect to the art of developing new laws, fiqh, ijma was the technique used when there were no direct or indirect indicators from the religious scripts, the Koran and the hadiths. Ijma involves consensus, usually between a group of Muslim scholars, the ulama. In theory, the consensus may even involve the entire Muslim community, the umma, but for practical reasons, this has virtually never been employed.
The actual type and breadth of the ijma consensus has never been properly defined. In many instances, ijma has been secured among scholars in one single city, in order to be promoted as a general law for the entire Muslim community.
The power of ijma can been so strong that in a few cases it has set aside information from the Koran. One example is the doctrine of Muhammad being infallible and sinless, which has become intrinsic to Islam, despite the Koran clearly presenting Muhammad as neither of the two.
Ijma is only used with Sunni fiqh. In Shi'i Islam the technique known as intellect, 'aql, is used instead.
Central to the validity of ijma is the hadith in which Muhammad said: "My people will never agree upon an error."
Ijma has been a tool for tolerance within Islam, whereby the four legal schools, madhabs, have obtained equal authority. Ijma has in modern times been used to promote and legitimize democracy and reform within Muslim communities, yet only with limited success.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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