Tafsir of Ash-Shura 42:10

"And in whatever you differ of anything..." to the end of the verse, is a narration of what the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said to the believers. That is: whatever the disbelievers disagreed with you about regarding matters of religion—such as taking Allah the Exalted alone as a guardian—and you and they differed, "its judgment" refers to Allah; it is to reward those who are in the right and punish those who are in the wrong.

It is possible that the speech is from the direction of the Exalted (Allah), containing consolation, and that His saying "That is Allah, my Lord..." implies "Say: That is Allah, my Lord..." The Imam considered it to be from the beginning of the speech. Regardless, the indication toward Him, the Exalted, is by virtue of His being characterized by the aforementioned attributes—as Al-Tibi stated—of His being the One who gives life to the dead, His being powerful over all things, and His being the One to whom the judgment of whatever they differed in returns.

In Al-Irshad, it is stated: "That is," the Judge of great status, "Allah, my Lord," my Owner, "upon Him I have relied" in the totality of my affairs, specifically, and not upon anyone else, "and to Him I turn in repentance," I return regarding the difficult matters that occur to me, and not to anyone else besides Him. Since reliance (Tawakkul) is a single, continuous matter, and turning in repentance (Inabah) is multiple and recurring according to the renewal of its material causes, the past tense was preferred for the former and the present tense for the latter.

It has been said: "And in whatever you differ" and dispute of any quarrels, then seek judgment regarding it from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and do not prefer the judgment of another over his judgment, like His saying: "And if you dispute over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger."

It has also been said: "And in whatever you differ" regarding the interpretation of a verse and it becomes ambiguous to you, then return for its clarification to the definitive (muhkam) part of the Book of Allah and the apparent part of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).

And it has been said: Whatever disagreement occurs between you regarding the sciences that are not related to your obligations and for which you have no path to knowledge, say: "Allah, the Exalted, knows best," such as the knowledge of the soul (ruh).

The objection raised against all of these interpretations is that it contradicts the context, for the speech is directed toward the polytheists, while this (the interpretation) restricts it to the believers. The apparent position of the Imam is that he favors this restriction, for he said regarding the order of the noble arrangement: "Just as He forbade His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) from forcing the disbelievers to believe, He likewise forbade the believers from involving themselves with him (the Prophet) in quarrels and disputes."

He mentioned that those who reject analogy (qiyas) used this as evidence, saying: Either the intent of "in whatever you differ of anything, its judgment" is derived from the text of Allah, or from analogy based upon what He, the Glorified, has stated. The second is false, because it implies that all judgments are based on analogy, so the first is confirmed. To this, one might say: Why is it not permitted that the meaning of "its judgment" is known from the clarification of Allah, whether that clarification is by text (nass) or by analogy? The answer given is that the intended purpose of seeking judgment from Allah is to cut off the dispute—due to His saying "And in whatever you differ"—and returning to analogy is what strengthens the dispute, so returning to the texts is obligatory.

You know that the texts are not sufficient for all judgments and that the verse, according to what you have heard, is not likely to be a valid proof for this claim from the outset.

In Al-Kashshaf, it is stated: It is not permissible to interpret the "difference" here as the difference of the jurists (mujtahidun) regarding the rulings of the Sharia, because ijtihad is not permissible in the presence of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). It is not hidden from you that this issue is one of disagreement; the majority said that the mentioned ijtihad is rationally permissible, while others deemed it impossible. Among those who permit it, some denied that it (the ruling of ijtihad) could be binding as an act of worship—this is the school of Abu Ali and his son Abu Hashim, and it is the view favored by the author of Al-Kashshaf, who mentioned what contradicts the transmission of others' positions, though he did not follow it with a refutation, as is his habit in most cases. Among them are those who claimed its occurrence as a matter of probability, and those who asserted its occurrence as a certainty—it is said this is the correct view according to the scholars of jurisprudence—and others suspended judgment. The investigation of this is fully addressed in the principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh). What we say here is: Using the verse as evidence to forbid it is unlikely to be complete, and the least that can be said about it is that it is using as evidence something that contains probability.