Shaykh Haidar Hobbollah - an introduction to his way of thinking (3/4)

In the previous post, we covered some of the most important differences between Shaykh Hobbollah and many other Shi'a scholars. 

In this post, we do a deep-dive into what I consider (based on my brief reading of his works) other important methodological differences in how he approaches narrations (ahadith) compared to most other scholars.

• Importance of certainty:
  
  
• Shaykh Hobbollah believes that you need to be certain about any Islamic ruling [A side point: what he means by certainty is not the traditional scholars’ definition of certainty (qat’); he would instead define certainty as what the ‘urf al-‘uqala would consider to be certain which is a lower level i.e. he believes in itmi’nan and not yaqeen]. This is at two levels: certainty that it came from Allah or an infallible (qat’iyyat al-sudur) and certainty in its meaning (qat’iyyat al-dalala)
  
  
• Further to this, is his view that in order to derive Islamic laws, you do not take the traditional approach to ahadith (what he terms al manhaj al-tafkiki al-tajzi’i), where you take the narrations of a topic, compare them and reach a conclusion (often by specifying the general narrations etc.) based on those that are authoritative. He instead takes a different approach in most cases (what he terms al-manhaj al-indimami), which he believes is closer to what a general rational person would customarily do. In this approach, one takes all the evidence available whether it is deemed sahih or da`if (weak) in its reliability as a source, and consider them altogether and exert one’s best efforts to find whatever must be true given all the evidence to get the point of certainty (al-qadr al-mutayaqqan).
  
  
• Prioritise Qur’an over narrations: Most scholars end up prioritising the inference from narrations (sunna) over what you might understand from the Qur’an (including the spirit of the Qur’an or ruh al-Qur’an). This is because when they seem to contradict, the narrations are given precedence as they are perceived to specify Qur’anic verses (even when they theoretically say that the Qur’an takes precedence).
  
  
  Shaykh Hobbollah prefers another perspective (which other contemporary scholars have taken e.g. Sayyid Fadlallah, Shaykh Shams al-din, Shaykh Saanei) where narrations are discarded if they go against the spirit of the Quran (the requirement of al-muwafaqa ma’a mizaj al-Qur`an wa madmunihi wa ruhihi). He notes that Sayyid Sistani and Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr also have this position in theory but Shaykh Hobbollah struggles to find examples of its usage in practice (other than in a few examples).

• Start from theoretical principles down to rulings (not the other way around): He notes there are 3 types of fiqh: fiqh related to a specific issue (fiqh al-mas`ala) e.g. purity, blood money etc.; fiqh related to a rule (fiqh al-qa’ida) e.g. no harm principle etc., which may have multiple applications across different issues; and fiqh related to a broader theory (fiqh al-nadhariyya). In the latter category, he notes the upwards approach (al-ittijah al-su’udi) taken by some e.g. Shahid al-Sadr in his approach to Iqtisaduna (“our economics”), which is where you take the individual rulings on an issue, and gather them to derive what the principle/system must be. He prefers the downwards approach (al-ittijah al-nuzuli) from the principles to the specific issues e.g. from Shaykh Shams al-Din, which doesn’t suffer from the problems of the previous approach (gaps, inconsistencies etc.), as these are resolved if you have principles which would take precedence (hakim) over anything that contradicts them. The challenge, of course, is how to define what are the principles and how to distinguish them from the individual rulings (al-adilla al-ulya vs. al-adilla al-juz`iyya).
  
  
• Determine which texts are contextual and which are relevant for all time (al-tamyiz bayna al-nusus al-tarikhiyya wa al-thabita). There are two important mechanisms he uses here, which are (1) Qur’anic verses are generally principles; and narrations are either principles or temporal; (2) the usages of specific expressions in the text e.g. “the messenger of Allah ruled on a specific issue” gives an indication that something is temporal rather than forever (from Shahid al-Sadr). The reality is that this is not straightforward and requires detailed understanding of the various pieces of evidence, their context, the history etc. There are two approaches that one could use: (A) there is a base position (`asl) where a rule at the time of the Prophet (SAW) is applicable forever; or (B) there is a base position (‘asl) where a rule at the time of the Prophet (SAW) is only applicable in its time and not applicable in a new time. He rejects both of these as he does not think there is any base position (‘asl) in such a situation. He believes that you have to go through each ruling and find out if it is a historical ruling, and if you have any doubt, you return only to what you are certain about (al-qadr al-mutayaqqan)

On a side point, there is a general principle used by scholars, which states that when it comes to acts of worship, you need to have specific textual evidence to allow a certain act. For example, for someone to lead congregational prayers (jama'a), you need specific evidence that allows them to do so. You cannot assume that just because there is no text, that there is no restriction (which is the case on other issues). This is the discussion in usul al-fiqh about asalat ‘adam al-mashru’iyya. When it specifically comes to the issue of congregational prayers, Shaykh Hobbollah does not agree with this perspective, and would argue that unless there is certain evidence that a sitting person cannot lead the prayer of a standing person, that evidence is discarded.

In the next (and final) post, I am going to look at the ramifications of these differences in opinion in his fiqh opinions. Hope you find them interesting!

Sources:

His 779-page book on hadith, Hujjiyat al-Hadith (2016/2017): https://hobbollah.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/HojietAlhadith.pdf

The summary of the approach he takes, Manhaj al-Wuthuq al-Itmi’nani wa Kayfiyyat al-Ta’amul ma’a al-Akhbar wa al-Riwayat (December 2021) https://hobbollah.com/araa/%d9%85%d9%86%d9%87%d8%ac-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%88%d8%ab%d9%88%d9%82-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%b7%d9%85%d8%a6%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d9%88%d9%83%d9%8a%d9%81%d9%8a%d9%91%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%a7/

The approach he takes related to women Manahij al-Ijtihad wa Ta`thiriha ‘ala Dirasat Qadaya al-Mar`a (2019, but based on lectures in 2013, written by Shaykh Sa’eed Nura but checked by Shaykh Hobbollah): https://hobbollah.com/articles/%d9%85%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%87%d8%ac-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%aa%d9%87%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b9%d8%a7%d8%b5%d8%b1%d8%a9-%d9%88%d8%aa%d8%a3%d8%ab%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%87%d8%a7-%d8%b9%d9%84%d9%89/

Source on the final point: https://hobbollah.com/araa/%d8%ad%d9%83%d9%85-%d8%a5%d9%85%d8%a7%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d8%a7%d8%b9%d8%af-%d9%84%d9%84%d9%82%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%85-%d9%88-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%b5%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ac%d9%85/