Fiqh

Fiqh, ( ) is Islamic jurisprudence made up of the rulings of Islamic jurists to direct the lives of Muslims. A component of Islamic studies, Fiqh expounds the methodology by which Islamic law is derived from primary and secondary sources.

Etymology

Fiqh literally means to "comprehend and understand", as seen in the Qur'an (, ). Yet, Fiqh in Islamic terminology means: to extract religious rulings on practical matters from the main sources of Islam (i.e. Qur'an and Sunnah...and other sources that the are assigned by another science called Usul al-fiqh (أصول الفقه), the fundamentals of fiqh.

Faqeeh (Muslim Jurist)فقيه

A faqeeh (pl. fuqahaa) is someone that is specialized in the sciences of Fiqh and Islamic law.

Fields of jurisprudence

Islamic economical jurisprudenceفقه المعاملات
Islamic political jurisprudence
Islamic marital jurisprudence
Islamic criminal jurisprudenceفقه العقوبات
Islamic etiquettical jurisprudenceالآداب
Islamic theological jurisprudence
Islamic war jurisprudenceفقه الجهاد

Methodologies of jurisprudence Usul al-fiqh (أصول الفقه)

There are different approaches to the methodology used in Fiqh to derive Shariah from the Islamic sources. The main methodologies are:

The four classical sunni schools which are, in chronological order : the Hanafi school, the Maliki school, the Shafi'e school and the Hanbali school, which represent the generally accepted Sunni authority for Islamic jurisprudence.

Yet, there are other schools that have not been famous but accepted. Such schools are like Thahiri, Sufian Al'thawree, Sufian bin O'yayna, Layth bin Sa'ad. In fact the four most famous schools mentioned go back to the schools as Sufian Bin Oyayna ..etc.

Jafari fiqh, or the Shi'a fiqh
Qur'an alone fiqh

For some sub-articles about methodologies of jurisprudence, see:

The four schools

The four schools of Sunni Islam are each named by students of the classical jurist who taught them. The Sunni schools (and where they are commonly found) are

Hanafi (Turkey, the Balkans, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, Egypt, China)
Maliki (North Africa, West Africa and several of the Arab Gulf states)
Shafi'i (Indonesia, Malaysia, Yemen and southern parts of India)
Hanbali (Arabia).

These four schools share most of their rulings, but differ on the particular hadiths they accept as authentic and the weight they give to analogy or reason (qiyas) in deciding difficulties.

The Hanafi school was the earliest established under the jurist Imam Abu Hanifa, who was born and taught in Iraq. Imam Abu Hanifa (80A.H. - 150A.H.), whose real name was Nu'man ibn Thabit, was born in the city of Kufa (modern day Iraq) in the year 80 A.H (689 A.D). Born into a family of tradesmen, the Imam's family were of Persian origin as well as descending from Salman al Farsi, a follower of Muhammad. Being distant from the source of Islamic literatures based in Mecca and Medina, Imam Abu Hanifa was more apt at interpreting Islamic legal rules based on thought and reason if he was not able to get access to sources. Under Imam Abu Hanifa, the witr prayer was considered to be compulsory and the Hanafis also differed with other sects in relation to methods of taking ablution, prayers and payment of tithe or zakat. Imam Abu Hanifa also differed with the other three schools in many areas including the type of punishments meted out for various crimes in Islam. On the whole, the Hanafi school of jurisprudence could be said to have the most differences with other three schools.

Students of Imam Malik established the Maliki school of which a majority now can be found in North Africa and some Persian gulf states . Imam Malik, whose real name was Abu Abdullah, Malik bin Anas, was born in Medina in the year 715 AD. His ancestral home was in Yemen, but his grandfather settled in Medina after embracing Islam. He received his education in Medina, which was the most important seat of Islamic learning, and where the immediate descendants of the Muhammad's followers lived. Imam Malik was attracted to the study of law, and devoted himself to the study of Fiqh. His principal book, the Kital al-Muwatta, is the earliest surviving book on the Qur'an and hadith. Differences under the Maliki school included the fact that those following the Maliki school could state their purpose (or niat) once only for compulsory fasting which is valid for the whole month of Ramadhan whilst for the Syafi'ie school (see below), one would have to state his purpose every day of the month of Ramadhan for his fast to be valid the next day.

Ja'fari jurisprudence

The Jaferi school (Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrein, Pakistan, and parts of Afghanistan) is associated with Shia Islam. The fatwas, or time and space bound rulings of early jurists, are taken rather more seriously in this school, due to the more hierarchical structure of Shia Islam, which is ruled by the imams. But they are also more flexible, in that every jurist has considerable power to alter a decision according to his opinion.

Each school reflects a unique al-urf or culture, 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, making them far easier to imitate (taqlid) than to challenge in new contexts. The effect is, the schools have been more or less frozen for centuries, and reflect a culture that simply no longer exists.

Early shariah had a much more flexible character, and many 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 the Islamization of knowledge, and would deal with the modern context. This modernization is opposed by most conservative ulema.

Salafi

These are the people who claim to follow the way of the Salaf of Islam. The Salafis are of the opinion that following a single mujtahid imam (taqlid) is not correct and that one should follow the Hadith as it is, avoiding personal interpretation. For more information, refer the main article on salafism.

Qur'an alone

A relatively new sect, instigated by Rashid Khalifa, whose life was called for by a fatwa (edict) from scholars all over the Islamic world, and who met his fate unexpectedly in his hometown. He claimed that following the Qur'an only was how God wanted the religion of Islam, and that any other ideology, including advice from the Prophet, was to be rejected. This group is considered by the majority of the Muslims to be outside of mainstream Islam.

External links

Islamic law

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