In his book الاعتبار في الناسخ والمنسوخ من الآثار, Al-Haazimi Al-Hamadaani lists fifty criteria for reconciliation between conflicting texts! In each criterion, he offers his or consensus conclusion of which text is to be accepted and which text to be set aside. I'm sorry to say that many of those conclusions are hasty and some are illogical. God willing and time permitting, I will discuss them in some detail in the
Deduction Methods forum.
Of particular interest to this topic is his criterion 27 on page 15:
Muhammad ibn Moosa Al-Haazimi Al-Hamadaani wrote:
The Twenty Seventh Criterion: That one text agrees more with the apparent meaning of a Quranic verse than the other. Then the one that agrees more is the one to take.
The example he cites for this criterion is interesting! He cites the hadeeth of the Prophet (PBUH), reported by Al-Bukhaari, Muslim and many others, in which he says, "Whoever oversleeps or forgets a prayer, let him pray it when he remembers it,
as this is its time." He says that this hadeeth contradicts the prohibition from the Prophet (PBUH) to pray at certain times. He says that the former hadeeth agrees more with the Quran, such as,
Thus, one would conclude from his argument that praying during the forbidden times is allowed if that is when a person wakes up from sleep. For instance, one took an afternoon nap and woke up twenty minutes before sunset. That is a start of a forbidden time. So, does he pray Asr or not. Al-Hamadaani says he does. I certainly agree.
Al-Hamadaani correctly lists these criteria under the heading "Criteria for preponderance" (وجوه الترجيح). However, I respectfully disagree that preponderance is a tool for concluding abrogation of Quranic text, because no text remotely carries the weight of Quranic text.
BTW, I highlighted in the hadeeth quote above the words "as this is its time" because the consensus of scholars has been that missed mandatory prayers cannot be made up! This hadeeth proves that not only they can but they must be! The main argument of the consensus is that prayer is timed,
But that verse does not say what to do when the time is missed. The hadeeth does. The consensus has been that the hadeeth only gives allowance for involuntary missing of the prayer, not deliberate negligence. I respectfully disagree. The hadeeth gives
examples of reasons for missing a prayer, not an exhaustive list of reasons. The highlighted words make it clear that the time of the prayer can be stretched. This does not mean that we have a license to pray anytime; it simply gives us a way to make up for neglecting a mandate. The consensus opinion robs Muslims from that opportunity which the Prophet (PBUH) gave them.