A Simple Guide to ISLAM
Fiqh – Jurisprudence
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FIQH – JURISPRUDENCE
Fiqh literally means an understanding and knowledge of something.
At more than one place the Qur'an has used the word fiqh in its
general sense of ‘understanding.’ In the early days of Islam the
terms
ilm
(knowledge) and
fiqh
were frequently used to denote an
understanding of Islam in general. This shows that in the Prophet’s
time the term
fiqh
was not applied in the legal sense alone. The
Prophet once blessed ibn Abbas (d. 68) in these words:
‘Allahumma
faqqih ho
fiddin,
’ that is, O God, give him
understanding in religion. By these words the Prophet did not
mean exclusively knowledge of law. He meant in fact a deeper
understanding of religion.
BRIEF HISTORY OF FIQH
After the Prophet, the Companions settled in different parts of the
vast Islamic empire. Here they were confronted with new problems,
and they had no option but to exercise their personal judgement.
The Prophet was no longer amidst them to turn to him for the
solution of these problems. Therefore whenever any problem arose
they first consulted the Qur'an and
hadith
and only if they failed to
find the solution there, they resorted, to the exercise of their
personal judgement, while observing fully the spirit of the Qur'an
and hadith.
At this stage when the exercise of reason was done to deduce a
law, the term
fiqh
came to be frequently used for this endeavour.
