Ijma (consensus of jurists)
The consensus of qualified jurists on a ruling, treated as a source of Shariah after the Quran and the Sunnah.
Ijma is the agreement of qualified jurists on a Shariah ruling, and classical legal theory treats it as a source of law alongside the Quran and the Sunnah. AAOIFI's standard on fatwa says a fatwa should be founded on what the Quran and the Sunnah state explicitly, together with what is supported by ijma or established by qiyas, and should not contradict a well-established consensus. In practice, a ruling that rests on ijma is far less open to debate than one that rests on an individual scholar's reasoning.
Sources
This entry explains a term; it is not a Shariah ruling. Approving a product is for each institution's own Shariah board and regulator.