The Eighth Case: Legislation (At-Taqnīn)

Description: This refers to a person ruling by other than what Allāh has revealed, with a ruling that they themselves have devised. In other words, the individual invents the ruling/law, without believing it to be permissible (istiḥlāl), without rejecting (juḥūd) or denying (takdhīb) divine law, without preferring (tafḍhīl) or equating (musāwāh) the invented ruling with Allāh's law, and without attributing the ruling they devised to the religion of Allāh. Ruling: This constitutes minor disbelief (does not expel one from the fold of Islam). Evidence: There is no evidence necessitating the declaration of major disbelief in this case; the Sharī‘ah has not tied major disbelief to the source of the ruling, and the evidence does not differentiate between someone who rules according to another's law and someone who rules according to their own. I say: If such a distinction were valid, the Sharī‘ah would not have overlooked it, and there would be textual evidence to support it. There are four issues related to this case: