al-Thabat wa al-Shumul fi al-Sharia al-Islamiyya
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- Editions
- Maktabat al-Manarah
al-Thabat wa al-Shumul fi al-Sharia al-Islamiyya (Permanence and Comprehensiveness in Islamic Law) is a contemporary treatise on legal theory (usul al-fiqh) and the characteristics of Islamic law by the Saudi scholar Abid al-Sufyani.
Origin and Publication
The work was originally submitted in 1407 AH as a doctoral dissertation in Islamic jurisprudence and its principles (al-fiqh wa al-usul) to the College of Sharia at Umm al-Qura University in Makkah, where it received an excellent grade. It was published in a single volume by Maktabat al-Manara in Makkah in its first edition in 1408 AH / 1988 CE.
Subject and Structure
The book addresses the conceptual and methodological foundations of how Islamic law maintains permanent, immutable principles (al-thabat) while simultaneously providing comprehensive coverage (al-shumul) for newly arising circumstances. It seeks to clarify the conceptual boundaries separating divine law (al-shari'a), human jurisprudence (al-fiqh), and speculative theology (ilm al-kalam), refuting both modernist and orientalist tendencies that either relativize Islamic law entirely or confuse mutable juristic deductions with fixed revealed norms.
The material is arranged into two main parts:
- Part One: Islamic Law: Its Permanence, Comprehensiveness, and Authority (al-Sharia al-Islamiyya: Thabatuha wa Shumuluha wa Hujjiyyatuha) contains three chapters examining the distinction between al-sharia and al-fiqh, the theological and legal definitions of permanence and comprehensiveness with their underlying proofs, and the methodological criteria for adducing textual evidence.
- Part Two: Legal Reasoning, Its Primary Methods, and the Issue of Permanence and Comprehensiveness (al-Ijtihad wa Ahamm Turuqihi wa Qadiyyat al-Thabat wa al-Shumul) consists of five chapters covering independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), textual generality (al-umum), analogical deduction (al-qiyas), consideration of public welfare (al-maslahah), and scholarly consensus (al-ijma).
Method and Reception
In his analysis, the author examines how the classical hermeneutical tools of usul al-fiqh function to subsume unprecedented cases under revealed norms without altering immutable tenets. He explores how consensual rulings (al-ahkam al-mujma' alayha) derive permanence through the communal protection from error granted to the jurists, while non-consensual juristic opinions allow flexibility and ongoing reassessment according to textual evidence. The treatise has been cited in contemporary academic literature as one of the prominent specialized studies treating the distinguishing characteristics of Islamic law alongside works such as al-Tashri' al-Jina'i al-Islami by Abd al-Qadir Awdah and Khasa'is al-Tasawwur al-Islami by Sayyid Qutb.
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