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Fatwa CenterMeaning of Istihsaan
Question
what is istehsan? tell me the detail of istehsan,its meaning and propher,s and His companions saying about istehsan.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Istihsaan literally means to deem something preferable or to believe it as favorable. Juristically, it has many definitions.
However, the truth is that Istihsaan is of many types; some scholars accept some kinds of Istihsaan and refuse the others. Sometimes it means separating the ruling of a specific matter from the ruling of similar cases due to textual evidence which requires giving a different ruling to it. An example of that is the sale of ‘Araaya (selling the ripe dates for dried dates by estimating the amount of the former as they are still on the trees), basically this kind of transaction is a form of Riba (usury), since it is exchanging the same commodities with some excess, but it is allowed due to the textual evidence. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, permitted such kind of sale. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] This is an evidence for turning aside from the principal based on Istihsaan. This act is called Istihsaan on the basis of religious textual evidence. This kind of Istihsaan should not be a disputable matter, while the other types of Istihsaan are rejected by many scholars.
Imaam As-Shaafi’i 
launched a campaign against Istihsaan based on logic and compiled a book entitled “Annulment of Istihsaan” i.e. the Istihsaan which is based on logic and ideas without referring to the Quran or the Sunnah.
Allaah Knows best.
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