Dirasat fi Usul al-Fiqh
- Author died
- -
- Editions
- Majallat al-Jami'ah al-Islamiyyah bi-al-Madinah al-Munawwarah
Dirasat fi Usul al-Fiqh (Studies in Islamic Legal Theory) is a modern scholarly study on Islamic jurisprudence and legal theory written by Ali Ahmad Muhammad Babikr, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Shariah at the Islamic University of Madinah .
Scope and Composition
The study was published as a sequence of academic articles in the journal of the Islamic University of Madinah (Majallat al-Jami‘ah al-Islamiyyah) . The author designed the work to define the technical scope of usul al-fiqh, analyze classical and modern formulations of its limits, chart its historical progression across eras, and outline its core research divisions (mabahith) .
Analysis of Definitions and Historical Development
Babikr analyzes how classical and modern jurists formulated the technical definition of usul al-fiqh . He examines classical definitions presented across different legal schools, including those of Abu al-Husayn al-Basri in al-Mu‘tamad, Fakhr al-Islam al-Bazdawi, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in al-Mustasfa, Ibn Qudamah, Ibn al-Humam, and Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi in al-Muwafaqat, as well as twentieth-century definitions by Muhammad al-Khudari, Abd al-Wahhab Khallaf, and Muhammad Abu Zahrah .
The author attributes variations in these definitions to four main factors:
- Differing methodological preferences for extreme conciseness versus comprehensive descriptive phrasing .
- Varying shades of meaning carried by specific technical terms .
- Disagreement over whether usul strictly denotes legal sources (al-masadir) or also encompasses interpretive rules and subsidiary disciplines .
- The adaptation of phrasing to suit the idiom and comprehension of successive generations .
Babikr concludes that the most comprehensive definition is one that integrates both the sources of law and the methodological rules of derivation . Historically, he traces the roots of legal reasoning (ijtihad) and the formation of legal sources directly to the era of prophetic revelation, emphasizing that pre-Islamic customs and systems did not serve as a tributary foundation for usul al-fiqh .
Structure and Core Subjects
The work presents a systematic overview of the fundamental topics comprising usul al-fiqh :
- The nature and origins of the discipline: The historical emergence and codification of legal methodology .
- The ruling, the Lawgiver, and legal capacity: The nature of the legal ruling (al-hukm al-shar‘i), the source of legislation (al-hakim), legal obligation and the subject (al-taklif wa-l-mukallaf), and human actions (af‘al al-‘ibad / al-mahkum fih), including the rational assessment of moral good and bad (al-husn wa-l-qubh) .
- Textual and consensual sources: The Quran, the Sunnah, and consensus (al-ijma‘) .
- Linguistic and interpretive rules: The hermeneutical principles governing commands, prohibitions, general and specific terms, absolute and qualified expressions, textual abrogations, and explicit and implied meanings (al-mantuq wa-l-mafhum) .
- Rational and subsidiary sources: Juridical analogy (al-qiyas), public interest (al-masalih al-mursalah), juristic preference (al-istihsan), custom (al-‘urf), blocking lawful means to illicit ends (sadd al-dhara'i‘), pre-Islamic revealed laws (shara'i‘ man qablana), the rulings of Companions (qawl al-sahabi), and the presumption of continuity (al-istishab) .
- Ijtihad and legal imitation: The qualifications and categories of juristic reasoning, fatwa issuance, and taqlid .
- Higher objectives and legal flexibility: The higher intents of the law (maqasid al-shari‘ah) and the balance between permanence and adaptability (al-thabat wa-l-murunah) in Islamic legal rulings .
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