SHĀFI'I AND LEGAL TRADITIONS 15

‘The assumption of repeal is not resorted to, unless it can be established by a tradition from the Prophet, or by a chronological indication showing that one tradition comes after the other, or by a statement coming from those who have heard the tradition from the Prophet, or from the generality of the scholars, or by another method through which the repealing text and the repealed one become clear’ (Ikh. 57). But Shāfi‘ī is not always able to apply his own method. In Ikh. 88 ff., in face of the settled opinion on a major point of ritual, he assumes repeal and neglects an otherwise well-authenticated tradition, basing himself on traditions from persons other than the Prophet, and making assumptions of a kind which he rejects indignantly when they come from his opponents.¹

As regards the repeal of traditions or, technically, the sunna of the Prophet by the Koran and vice versa, Shāfi‘ī holds that the Koran can be repealed only by the Koran, and not by the sunna which is supplementary to it; the sunna, on the other hand, can be repealed only by another sunna. Whenever Allah changes His decision on a matter on which there is a sunna the Prophet invariably introduces another sunna, repealing the former. Otherwise it would be possible to reject any tradition from the Prophet which did not agree with the Koran, and every sunna could be abandoned if it stood beside a Koranic passage which was couched in general terms even though the sunna could be made to agree with it.² This theory seems to balance Koran and sunna evenly, but it makes the sunna as expressed in traditions from the Prophet prevail over the Koran because, as we shall see, the Koran is to be interpreted in the light of the traditions. Shāfi‘ī’s theory of repeal breaks down over the problem of punishments for adultery and fornication.³

‘The Koran does not contradict the traditions, but the traditions from the Prophet explain the Koran’ (Tr. IX, 5). ‘The sunna of the Prophet is never contradictory to the Koran, but explanatory; no tradition from the Prophet can possibly be regarded as contradicting the obvious meaning of the Koran; no sunna ever contradicts the Koran, it specifies its meaning’ (Ris. 33). ‘The best interpretation of the Koran is that to which