الشَّبَه

الشَّبَه

In language shabah is likeness. The usulis define it as an attribute whose fitness to the ruling is not understood when considered in itself, yet fitness is supposed in it because the lawgiver attended to it in some cases; it is one of the ways of identifying a cause, and analogy by it is analogy of resemblance. ^{1 2} Related terms are the fitting attribute (munasib), concomitance and its converse, and circling (dawaran). Shabah stands between fitness and mere concomitance. ^{2 3} Shafi'i holds it a proof; the Hanafis and some Shafi'is reject it. In law the Shafi'is and Hanbalis trace the lineage of a foundling by the resemblance judged by the physiognomist, while the Hanafis do not. ^{3 4 5}