Apparent conflict is common: The Four Books contain more than 44,000 narrations, and the Imams (as) taught over 260 years, to different people, in different places and times. So it is no surprise that two authentic reports sometimes seem to point in opposite directions. This is called Ta'arud (conflict).
Why the Imams (as) gave different answers: There are good reasons. Sometimes the Imam (as) was practising Taqiyya — giving the publicly accepted answer to protect the questioner in a dangerous time. Sometimes he gave different answers to different people because they understood at different levels. Sometimes circumstances changed, and a later answer refined an earlier one.
Four steps to resolve it: The jurist never just picks the report he likes. He follows four steps in order: Jam' (reconcile — find a way both reports can be true, perhaps in different situations), Tarjih (prefer — the stronger chain, the clearer text, or the report most scholars acted on wins), Tawaquf (wait — pause and do not decide yet), and finally Takhyir (choose — if all else is equal).
Most conflicts dissolve: The great majority of apparent conflicts are not real conflicts at all. Once the jurist applies the tools of language — a general statement narrowed by a specific one, or an absolute statement restricted by another — the two reports fit together. Only a true conflict reaches the four steps.
Example
Two students ask the same teacher, "Can I leave early today?" The teacher tells one "Yes" and the other "No." Did the teacher contradict himself? No — the first student had finished his work, and the second had not. The answers were different because the situations were different. The Imams' (as) different answers often work the same way.
Key Terms
- Ta'arud (تعارض) — conflict; when two authentic texts seem to give opposite rulings on the same question
- Jam' (جمع) — reconciliation; finding a way for both reports to be true
- Tarjih (ترجیح) — preferring the stronger evidence over the weaker
- Taqiyya (تقیہ) — saying the publicly accepted position to protect oneself or others in danger
Quran or Hadith
None used in this topic.
Fresh diagram to be drawn: A staircase with four steps — Jam', Tarjih, Tawaquf, Takhyir — with a jurist climbing it, and two books at the bottom that seem to disagree.
- Two authentic reports can seem to disagree — this is Ta'arud.
- The Imams (as) gave different answers for good reasons: Taqiyya, different audiences, changing times.
- The jurist resolves conflict in four steps: reconcile, prefer, wait, then choose.
- Most apparent conflicts dissolve once the tools of language are applied.