Fiqh

Fiqh (Arabic: [fiqh]) is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct (Sharia) expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition (Sunnah) and implemented by the rulings and interpretations ofIslamic jurists. Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam. There are four prominent schools (madh'hab) of fiqh within Sunni practice and two within Shi'a practice. A person trained in fiqh is known as a Faqih (plural Fuqaha).[1]
Contents

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1 Etymology 2 Introduction 3 Component Categories 4 Fields of jurisprudence 5 Methodologies of jurisprudence

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5.1 Sunni jurisprudence 5.2 Shi'ite jurisprudence

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5.2.1 Ja'fari jurisprudence 5.2.2 Ismaili jurisprudence 5.2.3 Zaidi jurisprudence

5.3 Ibadi jurisprudence 5.4 Arguments for and against reform

6 Diagram of early scholars 7 Early history 8 Possible links with Western law 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links 13 Further reading

Etymology[edit source | editbeta]

The word fiqh is an Arabic term meaning "deep understanding" or "full comprehension". Technically it refers to the body of Islamic law extracted from detailed Islamic sources (which are studied in the principles of Islamic jurisprudence) and the process of gaining knowledge of Islam through jurisprudence. The historian Ibn Khaldun describes fiqh as "knowledge of the rules of God which concern the actions of persons who own themselves bound to obey the law respecting what is required (wajib), sinful (haraam), recommended (mandb), disapproved (makrh) or neutral (mubah)".[2] This definition is consistent amongst the jurists. In Modern Standard Arabic, fiqh has come to mean jurisprudence in general, be it Islamic or secular. It is thus possible to speak of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. as an expert in the common law fiqh of the United States, or of Abdel Razzaq El sanhouri Pasha as an expert in the civil law fiqh of Egypt.

Introduction[edit source | editbeta]

The Qur'an gives clear instructions on many issues, such as how to perform the ritual purification (wudu) before the obligatory daily prayers (salat), but on other issues, some Muslims believe the Qur'an alone is not enough to make things clear. For example the Qur'an states one needs to engage in daily prayers (salat) and fast (sawm) during the month of Ramadan but some Muslims believe they need further instructions on how to perform these duties. Details about these issues can be found in the traditions of Muhammad, so Qur'an and Sunnah are in most cases the basis for (Shariah). Some topics are without precedent in Islam's early period. In those cases, Muslim jurists ( Fuqaha) try to arrive at conclusions by other means. Sunni jurists use historical consensus of the community (Ijma); a majority in the modern era also use analogy(Qiyas) and weigh the harms and benefits of new topics (Istislah), and a plurality utilize juristic preference (Istihsan). The conclusions arrived at with the aid of these additional tools constitute a wider array of laws than the Sharia consists of, and is calledfiqh. Thus, in contrast to the sharia, fiqh is not regarded as sacred and the schools of thought have differing views on its details, without viewing other conclusions as sacrilegious. This division of interpretation in more detailed issues has resulted in different schools of thought (madh'hab). This wider concept of Islamic jurisprudence is the source of a range of laws in different topics that govern the lives of the Muslims in all facets of everyday life.

Component Categories[edit source | editbeta]

Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) covers two main areas: 1. Rules in relation to actions, and, 2. Rules in relation to circumstances surrounding actions. These types of rules can also fall into two groups:

1. 1. Worship (Ibadaat) 2. Dealings & Transactions (with people) (Mu`amalaat) Rules in relation to actions ('amaliyya )comprise: 1. Obligation (fardh) 2. Recommendation (mustahabb) 3. Permissibility (mubah) 4. Disrecommendation (makrooh) 5. Prohibition (haraam) Rules in relation to circumstances (wadia') comprise: 1. Condition (shart) 2. Cause (sabab) 3. Preventor (mani) 4. Permit / Enforced (rukhsah, azeemah) 5. Valid / Corrupt / Invalid (sahih, faasid, batil) 6. In time / Deferred / Repeat (adaa, qadaa, i'ada)

Fields of jurisprudence[edit source | editbeta]

Islamic economical jurisprudence Islamic political jurisprudence Islamic marital jurisprudence Islamic inheritance jurisprudence Islamic criminal jurisprudence Islamic etiquettical jurisprudence Islamic theological jurisprudence Islamic hygienical jurisprudence Islamic military jurisprudence

Methodologies of jurisprudence[edit source | editbeta]

Main article: Usul al-fiqh The Modus operandi of the Muslim jurist is known as principles of jurisprudence.

There are different approaches to the methodology used in jurisprudence to derive Islamic law from the primary sources. The main methodologies are those of the Sunni, Shi'a and Ibadi denominations. While both Sunni and Shi'ite are divided into smaller sub-schools, the differences among the Shi'ite schools is considerably greater. Ibadites only follow a single school without divisions.

Sunni jurisprudence[edit source | editbeta]

Map of the Muslim world with the main madhhabs

Sunni schools of jurisprudence are each named after the classical jurist who taught them. The four primary Sunni schools are the Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali rites. The Zahiri school remains in existence but outside of the mainstream, while the Jariri, Laythi, Awza'i and Thawri have since become extinct. The extant schools share most of their rulings, but differ on the particular practices which they may accept as authentic and the varying weights they give to analogical reason and pure reason.

Shi'ite jurisprudence[edit source | editbeta]

Ja'fari jurisprudence[edit

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The Ja'fari school is associated with Ja'far al-Sadiq. The time and space bound rulings of early jurists are taken more seriously in this school, likely due to the more hierarchical structure of Shia Islam which is ruled by the Shi'iteImams. The Ja'fari school is also more flexible in that every jurist has considerable power to alter a decision according to his reasoning. The Jafari school uses the intellect instead of analogy when establishing Islamic laws, as opposed to common Sunni practice. Ismaili jurisprudence[edit

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Daim al-Islam is a book on the rulings of Islam followed by Ismaili Muslims who adhere to the Shi'a Ismaili Fatimid fiqh. It describes manners and etiquette, including Ibadat in the light of guidance provided by the Ismaili Imams. The book emphasizes what importance Islam has given to manners and etiquette along with the worship of God, citing the traditions of the first four Imams of the Shi'a Ismaili Fatimid school of thought.

Zaidi jurisprudence[edit

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Zaidi jurisprudence follows the teachings of Zayd ibn Ali. In terms of law, the Zaidi school is quite similar to the Hanafi school from Sunni Islam.[3] This is likely due to the general trend of Sunni resemlbance within Zaidi beliefs. After the passing of Muhammad, Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, Imam Zayd ibn Ali, Imams Abu Hanifa and Imam Malik ibn Anas worked together in Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina along with over 70 other leading jurists and scholars. Jafar al-Sadiq and Zayd ibn Ali did not them selves write any books. But their views are Hadiths in the books written by Imams Abu Hanifa and Imam Malik ibn Anas. Therefore the Zaydis to this day and originally the Fatamids, used the Hanafi jurisprudence, as did most Sunnis.[4][5][6]

Ibadi jurisprudence[edit source | editbeta]

The Ibadi school of Islam is named after Abd-Allah ibn Ibadh, though he is not necessarily the main figure of the school in the eyes of its adherents. Ibadism is distinct from both Sunni and Shi'ite Islam not only in terms of its jurisprudence, but also its core beliefs.

Arguments for and against reform[edit source | editbeta]

Each school reflects a unique al-urf or culture (a cultural practice that was influenced by traditions), that the classical jurists themselves lived in, when rulings were made. Some suggest that the discipline of isnad, which developed to validate hadith made it relatively easy to record and validate also the rulings of jurists. This, in turn, made them far easier to imitate (taqlid) than to challenge in new contexts. The argument is, the schools have been more or less frozen for centuries, and reflect a culture that simply no longer exists. Traditional scholars hold that religion is there to regulate human behavior and nurture people's moral side and since human nature has not fundamentally changed since the beginning of Islam a call to modernize the religion is essentially one to relax all laws and institutions. Early shariah had a much more flexible character, and some modern Muslim scholars believe that it should be renewed, and that the classical jurists should lose special status. This would require formulating a new fiqh suitable for the modern world, e.g. as proposed by advocates of theIslamization of knowledge, which would deal with the modern context. This modernization is opposed by most conservative ulema. Traditional scholars hold that the laws are contextual and consider circumstance such as time, place and culture, the principles they are based upon are universal such as justice, equality and respect. Many Muslim scholars argue that even though technology may have advanced, the fundamentals of human life have not and is in the scope of current laws.

Diagram of early scholars[edit source | editbeta]

The Quran set the rights, the responsibilities and the rules for people and for societies to adhere to, like not dealing in interest. Muhammad then provided an example, which is recorded in the hadith books, showing people how he practically implemented these rules in a society. After the passing of Muhammad, there was a

need for jurists, to decide on new legal matters where there is no such ruling in the Quran or the Hadith, example of Islamic prophet Muhammad regarding a similar case.[7][8] In the years proceeding Muhammad, Imam Jafar al-Sadiq whose views many Shias follow and Imam Abu Hanifa and Malik ibn Anas whose views most Sunnis follow worked together in Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina. Along with Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, Muhammad al-Baqir, Zayd ibn Ali and over 70 other leading jurists and scholars. All the Muslims follow the Quran and the example of Muhammad. The differences between the denominations in Islam are primarily political. The Sunnis give more importance to the Quran and the books containing the hadith, examples of Muhammad, but since all the early scholars and all the four caliphs worked together, the Sunnis accept all the first four caliphs, as they were elected by the community. They also accept all the early imams (scholars) for their knowledge. While the Shias who constitute around 10-20% of the Muslims are more hereditary and only accept Ali the fourth caliph and only accept the male descendent of Ali through his son Hussein as imams. But different branches of Shia accept different brothers. All these scholars were taught by Muhammads companions, many of whom settled in Madina. Muwatta[9] by Malik ibn Anas was written as a consensus of the opinion, of these scholars.[10][11][12] The Muwatta[9] by Malik ibn Anas quotes 13 hadiths from Imam Jafar al-Sadiq.[13] Much of the knowledge we have about Muhammand is narrated through Aisha the wife of Muhammad, also a renowned scholar of her time. Aisha raised and taught her nephew Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr after her brother Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr was killed by the Syrians. Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakrs mother was from Alis family and Qasims daughter Farwah bint alQasim was married to Muhammad al-Baqir and was the mother of Jafar al-Sadiq. Therefore Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr was the grand son of Abu Bakr the first caliph and the grand father of Jafar alSadiq whose views the twelver Shias follow. The twelver Shia do not accept Abu Bakr as the first caliph but do accept his great grand son Jafar al-Sadiq. Aishas also taught her nephew Urwah ibn Zubayr. He then taught his son Hisham ibn Urwah, who was the main teacher of Malik ibn Anas whose views many Sunni follow and also taught Jafar al-Sadiq. Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, Hisham ibn Urwah and Muhammad al-Baqir taughtZayd ibn Ali, Jafar al-Sadiq, Abu Hanifa, and Malik ibn Anas. According to Ibn Katheer, Ibn Jareer said that the minister of marriage, Raja bin Haiwah for the Ummayad ruler Sulaiman said that when Sulaiman the Ummayad ruler was on his death bed I told him "Indeed amongst the things that preserves the caliph in his grave is his appointment of a righteous man over the muslims." So he wrote a letter appointing a scholar from Madina, Umar bin Abdul Azeez. To allow the Ummayads to accept this, Raja then advised him to make his brother Yazeed bin Adbul Malik the successor after Umar bin Abdul Azeez.[14] Umar bin Abdul Azeez was a grand son of Omar, the second Caliph from his mothers side. After his appointment he set up a committee of the main jurist in Madina including Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu

Bakr, Urwah ibn Zubayr, Ubaidullah bin Abdullah bin Utbah, Abu Bakr bin Abdur-Rahman bin al-Harith bin Hisham, Abu Bakr bin Sulaiman bin Abu Hathmah, Sulaiman bin Yasar, Salim bin Abdullah, Abdullah bin Amir bin Rabee'ah and Kharijah bin Zaid bin Thabit, in Madina to advise on legal matters.[15] The work of Malik ibn Anas and successive jurists is also based on the work of this early committee in Madina. Malik ibn Anas also refers to these Fuqaha' of Madina.[16] Madina at the time had the largest number of Muhammad's companions. Before this point, there was a lot of debate on legal matter, during the early Ummayad period and there was more community involvement. The Quran and Muhammad's example was the main source of law after which the community decided. If it worked for the community, was just and did not conflict with the Quran and the example of Muhammad, it was accepted. This made it easier for the different communities, with Roman, Persian, Central Asia and North African backgrounds to integrate into the Islamic State and that assisted in the quick expansion of the Islamic State. The scholars in Madina were consulted on the more complex judicial issues. The Sharia and the official more centralized schools of fiqh developed later, during the time of the Abbasids.[17] Umar bin Abdul Azeez also reduced the taxes the Muslims were paying. This reduced the finances and reduced external expansion. After the death of Umar bin Abdul Azeez, the Ummayad ruler Yazeed bin Adbul Malik took over and tried to reinstate the taxes which resulted in rebellion. 30 years later the Ummayad rule came to an end.[18][19] During the Abbasids period fiqh became more centralized[17] Al-Shafii was taught by Malik ibn Anas. Ahmad ibn Hanbal was taught by Al-Shafii. Muhammad alBukhari travelled every where collecting hadith and his father Ismail ibn Ibrahim was a student of Malik ibn Anas[20][21][22][23][24][25]