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Islam / Sharia / Fiqh /
Ra'y
Arabic:
ra'y (sing.) ārā' (pl.)
In Islam, individual reasoning, often employed in the development of Muslim Law, Sharia. Still, at no time has it been a legitimate part of fiqh, the technique of jurisprudence.
Ra'y is used when there is an unresolved matter for which no firm or indirect regulations in the Koran or the hadiths can be found. Ra'y rests therefore with the intellectual capacity and the integrity of the jurist passing ra'y, and it represents the freest form of intellectual reasoning in Islam. Ra'y is therefore not accepted by many Muslim scholars.
Ra'y has been used also in cases where it could be claimed that allegorical reasoning, qiyas, could have been used. Ra'y is related to the technique of ijma, in terms of developing law, but lacks its accepted validity.
Ra'y comes close to the term Ijtihad, and actually where the one technique ends and the other one begins cannot be made out. Calling an opinion ra'y may be used to disqualify it, deeming it beyond Islam. Ijtihad is mostly used to denote free opinion making within the context of Islam.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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