Jumhur or Majority

Another legal concept which is quite often mentioned in connection with the majority principle is that of jumhur. It literally means, among other things, ‘gathering,’ ‘crowd,’ ‘great number,’ or ‘the majority.’

This concept originated in the Prophetic saying in which he (SAW) said: “My Ummah will not agree on an error, and when you see a disagreement you have to follow the majority.”

Al-Sindi, commenting on this tradition, said: Al-Sawad al-A’zam means the majority group (al-jama’ah al-kathirah) because their agreement is closest to the consensus (ijma’).

Imam al-Suyuti said: [they were] a majority of those who are united in following the right course. This tradition indicates that it is mandatory to follow opinion of the majority (yanbaghi al-‘amal bi qawl al-jumhur).

Jumhur or majority trend, when referring to the majority opinion among the conflicting views of scholars: this does not affect the validity of a minority opinion if it is justified

The concept is used very often in legal literature. It ordinarily connotes the majority of scholars, usually in connection with an issue that is a subject of disagreement among Muslims.

When such disagreement occurs, specialized literature usually gives a variety of opinions. As for that opinion which is held by the majority of scholars, the terms used are ‘the opinion of the majority [of scholars]’ (madhhab al-jumhur or ra’y al-jumhur), ‘the majority of scholars’ (jumhur al-‘ulama’) etc.

The term is also sometimes used to denote the masses, i.e. the public in a general sense, or the great majority of them.

Those Muslims scholars, who see the concept of jumhur as a possible means of validation of the majority principle, point to the fact that Muslim legal scholars give preference to the opinion of the majority (i’tidad bi ra’y al-jumhur) in matters of disagreement, provided that there is no other more acceptable evidence that is contrary to it.

According to Fathi Osman, Ibn Taymiyyah (d.728AH) suggested that when Abu Bakr (RA) nominated ‘Umar (RA) for the office of khalifah and the proposal was subsequently endorsed, the legitimacy of bay’ah (the oath of allegiance, or the mechanism for the appointment of the head of the state) was established only after a majority of Companions (jumhur al-Sahabah) had agreed to it.

Therefore, according to this reading of historical precedents, the appointment of the head of an Islamic state should be endorsed by a majority of the electorate. Al-Shawi adds to the debate on this concept by saying, as I have already quoted, that in the absence of a total consensus (ijma’ kamil) reference should be made to ‘the consensus of the majority’ (ijma’ al-jumhur), for the latter is the closest approximation to consensus in the proper sense.

This is so for “the majority opinion or al-jumhur is indicative of the opinion of al-jama’ah (society) in al-shura.”



Wallahu'alam