Alhamdulillah the much anticipated Ijma (consensus) and Qiyas (analogy) retreat took place over the Christmas Holidays (24-28 December). It was by the grace of Allah a success. Eighty brothers attended – all the brothers doubling up in the rooms – I don’t think we could accommodate anymore! Many were regular and others had come for the first time. The retreat began with an emotional reminder by Shaikh Haitham about the reality of this life and the importance of the study of Ijma and Qiyas. This can be viewed here: video link

As the programme fell on Friday, we performed Jumah in Markfield. Ustadh Abdul Aleem gave an touching Khutbah about the imporatcne of knowledge and action, the words of Imam Shafiee: ‘The more I learn, the more ignorant I become’ resonated in the ears of those who attended.

The sessions began with Qiyas delivered by Ustadh Fraz who discussed the elements, authority and evidence from the Quran and Sunnah for Qiyas. This followed by Shaikh Haitham tackling one of the most important parts of Qiyas and that is the ‘illah (causative effect). There was an interesting debate that took place between the attendess. The brothers were split into three sets of two greoups. One group being against Qiyas and the others for. The debates were supervised by the teachers and it was certainly a great spectacle.

For two days we completed the Qiyas section which was thereafter followed by Ijma’ delivered by Ustadh Abu Rumaysah. It was a great contrast to learn these two aspects of Islam as Qiyas gives the scholars the flexibility to manoeuvre to apply rulings based on new contemporary issues (with guidelines). But ijma gives the Muslims many matters in which we can not go beyond – the foundation of Islam. Ustadh Abu Rumaysah discussed the importance, misconceptions regarding Ijma and clear up any confusion the brothers may have had.

After three days of intensive study, we had the brothers who were divided into groups present something to the all the attendees for some light hearted fun. The last session came wherein Sh Haitham rounded up and again presented some practical case studies and matters for us to think about regarding the ‘illah of a matter. The retreat was indeed an embodiment of learning, studying, development and brotherhood, as some remarks of the attendees show:

'I feel I gained a lot of knowledge on Qiyas and Ijma and I think I made friends for life.'

'The course helped improve my akhlaq and character in general.'

'I expected to leave with a gist of ijma and qiyas and Alhamdulillah this was surpassed and I feel not only that [but] I have explored the topic with enough depth to radically transform my outlook on topical issues and Islam in general.'