1. Explicit texts (nass) and apparent (dhahir) texts in the Qur'an

1. Explicit texts (nass) and apparent (dhahir) texts in the Qur'an

In the case of judgements taken from the Book of Allah, the researcher must study the Qur'an's linguistic construction, the nature of its evidence, the meaning it conveys, the meaning which can be understood from it but in a manner which is subsidiary to the meaning which would be normally be clear from the expression, and what its aim is. Then one must identify its immediate and further aims from what its expression indicates and what its indications allude to. Each piece of evidence has its place in elucidation and a certain degree of strength. Derivation of judgements from it requires recognition of all these factors in order to distinguish that which is more likely from that which is not as strong.

That is why the scholars of usul who came after ash-Shafi'i were concerned with studying the construction of the Qur'an as ash-Shafi'i had been, ascertaining the degrees and strength of evidence and giving each its proper weight. From the secondary rulings of the Imams, they learned how they had applied the textual evidence and how they favoured one kind of evidence over another when they were contradictory and what the basis of that preference was.

One thing which these scholars were concerned with, whether Hanafi or Maliki, was to identify the nass and dhahir texts of the Qur'an. They noted that in his secondary judgements Malik made use of the difference between nass and dhahir texts, even if he did not clearly define and explain them. As we have seen, according to al-Bahja, the nass and dhahir of the Qur'an were among his legal proofs. The Malikis state that they do not possess the same level of proof when making a judgement, the nass being stronger than the dhahir, as they deduce from the secondary judgements transmitted from Malik. The scholars of the Maliki principles say that the difference between explicit, unequivocal texts (nass) and apparent texts (dhahir) is that nass texts are not open to interpretation whereas dhahir texts are.

Before we clarify the potential for interpretation or lack of it, we should first indicate the difference between the nass and the dhahir which ash-Shafi'i did not discuss in his Risala, as be considered nass and dhahir to be basically indistinguishable. Al-Ghazali said ash-Shafi'i adopted linguistic usage and there is nothing in the Shari'a to prevent him doing that. Linguistically nass means manifestation (dhuhur), used, for instance, to describe a gazelle when it raises its head so that it can be seen, so he defined it as meaning the the same thing as dhahir. Thus a text can be considered both dhahir and nass. (al-Mustasfa, pt. 1, p. 384)

It can be seen from this that ash-Shafi'i did not differentiate between the dhahir and nass, but scholars after him did because the secondary legal rulings derived by the fuqaha' before and after him require a differentiation to be made between the two types of texts: one whose evidence is so strong that no probability is applicable to it nor can any other judgement possibly be derived from it, and the other whose meaning is obvious but which allows of another possibility, even though when someone hears it the other possibility does not in fact come to mind. So each text does have a rank in deduction and there is nothing to prevent names being given to them to indicate their rank and clarify the position of each of them in respect of the other.

Those fuqaha' who make a distinction say that the nass text is of two kinds:

* A nass text is one which does not give rise to any other possibility at all, like the word 'five' which cannot mean six or four.

* A nass text is one which does not admit of any other possibility arising from deduction.

As al-Ghazali, al-Qarafi and others mentioned, in evidence a dhahir text wavers between two or more possibilities, but one of them is indicated more than the others so that it comes to mind when it is heard. In this respect, it is distinct from what is commonly known as an undefined (mujmal) text. A mujmal text wavers between two or more possibilities, none of them being stronger than the others. It is known as undefined because the basic expression can legitimately support more than one meaning, like the word qar' which can have two meanings in its basic form: purity or menstruation. If it is mentioned out of a context which specifies one or the other of them, it is undefined.

There is also the case when the reason for the lack of definition in a text is due to something other than the linguistic form, as in the case of the words of the Almighty, "Pay its due on the day of its harvest" (6:141). It is obvious that this refers to the obligation of zakat because it clarifies that the poor have a right to some of it. That does not leave scope for doubt. But the amount which must be paid is not made clear and might equally well be either a small or large fraction of the total. Something like this is not known as either nass or dhahir but as mujmal. That is why the amount the must be clarified and the Sunna comes and makes it clear that the amount referred to is a tenth.

This applies to all texts which are mujmal whether they are undefined on account of their linguistic form or for some other reason and clarification of them can only be gained from factual evidence from the Sunna or another source. Once a mujmal text has been clarified, it then becomes like a nass or a dhahir text based on the strength of the clarification.

A dhahir text may be connected to something which will stipulate one of two possibilities and is then elevated from the level of preference to the level of absolute and certain. That is when clarification from the Sunna or the Qur'an is added to it which turns the probable interpretation into a nass.

Maliki fuqaha' state that the evidentiary status of a generally applicable text ('amm) usually falls into the category of dhahir, not that of nass. That is why al-Qarafi used general expressions as examples of the dhahir. He said, "When one meaning of an 'amm text is preferred to other possible meanings, however few or many there may be, then that text is called dhahir, although it is still general since it is inclusive. Thus the expression in it is dhahir but not specific (khass)." If an 'amm text has nothing in it to indicate that its generality is of the nature of dhahir evidence, then Malik considers it to be probabilistic (zanni) as does ash-Shafi'i, which he makes clear in his Risala. We should at this point briefly examine the notion of 'amm (generally applicable) and khass (specifically applicable) texts.