Awliyya (priority: the better course and the reasoning from the more fitting case, in usul and fiqh)

Awliyya is lexically the state of one thing being more fitting than another: more deserving, nearer and more apt. ¹

• The usulis and jurists use awla in the sense of better or more fitting, without the comparative form, since its opposite, khilaf al-awla, carries a slight dislike. ¹
• They use it in the sense of having the right to a thing over others. ¹²
• They call a light recommendation awla, and the leaving of a recommended act contrary to the better course; the Hanafis hold that whoever does so has done ill. ²

• Fahwa al-khitab: a ruling of what is stated extended to what is not stated, through the cause understood from the language; the prohibition of a word of contempt implies the prohibition of beating. ²
• Qiyas al-awla: the analogy in which the new case has a stronger claim to the ruling than the original; it is a kind of clear analogy for those who hold it. ²³

For the Hanafis the phrase "there is no harm" usually signals that the leaving of the act is the better course, though it may be used of a recommended act. ³