Asul Al Fiqh Course

Course definition

The knowledge of Asul Al Fiqh: It is one of the most valuable and greatest knowledges, as it is the science that scholars consider as the basis for determining evidence, issuing issues, and deducing Sharia rulings. Its status in Sharia sciences is great as it relates to understanding rulings and knowing their reasons.

Definition of Asul Al Fiqh:

Asul : the plural of Asl, and Asl in language: what something else is built upon.

The Asul Al Fiqh, in technical terms: is the knowledge that examines the general evidence of Fiqh , how to benefit from it, and the condition of the beneficiary.

Sections of Asul Al Fiqh knowledge:

The topics of the Asul Al Fiqh knowledge are divided into four main sections:

1. Explaining the rulings: which are prohibition(النهي), dislike(الكراهه), obligation(الوجوب), recommendation(الاستحباب/الندب), permissibility(الجواز), condition(الشرط), prohibition(التحريم), reason(السبب), Correction(الصحة) and corruption(الفساد), etc.
2. Studying the evidence: which are the Qur’an, the Sunnah, consensus, analogy, approval, recommendation, the saying of the Companions, blocking the pretext, and the mursal interest.
3. Meanings of evidence: specific and general, general and clear, absolute and restricted, command and prohibition, Al Nasikh and Al Mansukh, and so on.
4. The condition of the inferred and the one who infers it: These are the conditions of the diligent person and the conditions of ijtihad, the rulings of followers and followers, and the rulings of imitation and imitators.

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The importance of studying the Asul Al Fiqh and its benefits:

1) The learner gains power in deducing legal rulings from secondary evidence.

2) Facilitating the process of ijtihad and giving new incidents the appropriate rulings.

3) Knowing the rules of fatwa, the conditions and etiquette of the mufti.

4) Protecting Islamic jurisprudence from the openness resulting from establishing new sources of legislation, and from the stagnation resulting from the claim of closing the door to ijtihad.

5) Setting the rules of dialogue and debate, by referring to valid and reliable evidence.

6) Understanding the tolerance and ease of Islamic law, and learning about the virtues of this religion.

7) Explaining the ways to combine seemingly contradictory evidence, and responding to the doubts of the appellants regarding this.

8) Preserving Islamic law, because the science of jurisprudence preserves the evidence of legislation so that people do not ignore it. It also preserves the rulings’ arguments and documents. It also clarifies the original and secondary sources of legislation so that the law preserves its rules.

9) Preventing the interpretation of the texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah according to opinion or whim. The science of the principles of jurisprudence regulates the interpretation of texts, and governs it with universal, comprehensive, agreed-upon controls and rules that respond to every transgressor.

10) It contains salvation and protection from division and disagreement, which arise from a mistaken understanding of the Qur’an and Sunnah, and through it the school of hadith and hadith and the school of the people of opinion were combined.

11) Acquiring the jurisprudential faculty that enables the student or jurist to understand correctly, fully and comprehensively understand the jurisprudential rulings, and be acquainted with the methods of deduction and ijtihad to benefit from them, and to draw analogies from them if he needs to.

12) Eliminating sectarian fanaticism among jurisprudents, as the student of knowledge can, through studying the principles of jurisprudence, balance between the schools of thought and jurisprudential opinions, and know which is more likely and correct, and which is more likely to be accepted, based on evidence and fundamentalist rules.

 

Terms of Asul Al Fiqh:

Ijtihad: It is the effort to extract rulings from the evidence that indicates them by the consideration that leads to them.

(Ijmaa)Consensus: It is the agreement of the nation’s diligent scholars after the death of the Prophet – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – in any era, on a legal ruling.

(Al Qiyaas)Analogy: returning a branch to a root in a specific ruling, due to a common cause between them.

Sharia law before us: It is the rulings that were conveyed to us in the Qur’an or the Sunnah that are proven to have been the law of previous nations, such as the People of the Book and others.

(Al Aurf)Custom: It is what most people know and practice modestly, and there is no legal evidence to deny or confirm it.

(Sad Al Zarayi)Blocking the pretexts: resolving the issue of means of corruption by preventing and repelling these means.

An example of this: He forbade Muslims from cursing the gods of the polytheists for fear that the polytheists would respond to them and curse Allah – the Almighty.

The transmitted interest: It is every interest for which no specific evidence has been received from the Shari’a indicating its consideration or cancellation, and which was appropriate to the purposes of the Shari’a.

An example of this is: Compiling the Qur’an into one Qur’an. This was agreed upon by the Companions and was not stipulated, but was required by the interest of preserving the religion.

Reason: what necessitates existence from its existence, and from its non-existence it is nothingness for its own sake.

It is what other things are connected to in existence and non-existence, so its existence requires the presence of a cause, and its absence requires the absence of a cause for the same cause.

For example: Marriage is one of the causes of inheritance. The existence of marriage between spouses necessitates the existence of inheritance, and non-marriage necessitates the absence of inheritance, for the same reason. Because there may be a marriage and the reason for inheritance will be delayed due to the presence of an impediment, such as a difference in religion.

Condition: What necessitates non-existence, and its existence does not necessitate existence or non-existence in itself.

It is what something else is connected to due to non-existence, not existence. If the condition does not exist, there is no ruling. However, if the condition exists, the ruling may exist or it may not exist.

For example: Purity is a condition whose absence necessitates the invalidity of the prayer, and its presence does not necessitate the validity of the prayer. Because the event may occur, but another condition is left behind that prevents the prayer from being valid.

The impediment: what requires its existence is non-existence, and its non-existence does not necessitate the existence or non-existence of itself.

It is what something else is connected to in existence, not non-existence. If the impediment exists, there is no ruling, and its non-existence does not necessitate the existence of the ruling or its non-existence due to the same impediment.

For example: If menstruation is present, the prayer is no longer valid, but the absence of menstruation does not necessitate the validity of the prayer. Because there may be another obstacle.

Command: It is the call to action by saying in a manner of superiority.

Our saying: (on the side of superiority) means: the matter came from the highest to the lowest.

An example of this: the Almighty’s saying: {And establish prayer and pay zakat and bow with those who bow}… [Al-Baqarah: 43]. In the verse, God commands His servants to pray and pay zakat. The point of superiority here is that the highest is God – the Almighty – and the lowest are the servants.

Prohibition: It is a statement demanding abandonment on the side of superiority.

An example of this: God Almighty says: {O you who have believed, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated} [An-Nisa: 43].

General: It is the expression that includes all of its individuals without limitation.

Special: It is the word that indicates what is confined.

An example of the general and specific: {And the Hajj to the House is owed to God by the people, whoever is able to make a way to it} [Al Imran: 97], so his saying: {And the Hajj to the House is owed by God to the people} is general and includes all people.

And His saying: {Whoever is able to achieve it a way} He specified this generality with the attribute, which is the attribute of ability.

Absolute: It is the word that indicates truth without restriction.

An example of this: God Almighty’s saying in the expiation of zihaar: {And those who forsake their wives and then go back to what they said – the freeing of a slave before they touch} [Al-Mujadila: 3]. Here it is mentioned in the expiation of freeing any slave, whether she is a believer or not. An infidel.

Restricted: It is the word that indicates the truth with a restriction. Such as a unit, description, condition, time, place, etc.

An example of this: God Almighty’s words regarding atonement for killing by mistake: “And whoever kills a believing man by mistake, will free a believing slave” [An-Nisa’: 92]. Here it is mentioned in the atonement that the neck be restricted, which is that it must be a believing slave and not any other slave.

The operative word: it is what the word indicates in the context of its pronunciation. It is the meaning derived from the word in terms of its utterance.

The concept: It is what the word indicates in a place other than the pronunciation. It is a meaning that is understood and benefited from the word.

An example of what is spoken and understood is: {So say not to them, “F” [Al-Isra: 23]. The meaning of the verse is the prohibition of cursing words to parents, which is the utterance of “F,” and the meaning of the verse is the prohibition of hitting and cursing.