A Simple Guide to ISLAM
Fiqh – Jurisprudence
~ 104 ~
of either party been considered unlawful, it is argued, the Prophet
would have pointed out and corrected it.
This example shows that the Prophet while laying down a law,
primarily considered the value and spirit of the action and not the
form of the action itself. In this case both the parties exhibited their
allegiance to God. One of them obeyed the Prophet’s command
taking it literally and performed Asr prayers at night fall, while the
other obeyed him in spirit. This shows that a commandment is not
intended per se; what counts is intention and the spirit which
constitutes the allegiance to God and the Prophet. This also
implies that people can differ in the form of obedience on the basis
of interpretation . Hence differences arose in law among the jurists.
After the death of the Prophet the Companions were spread out in
different parts of the Muslim world. Most of them came to occupy
the positions of intellectual and religious leadership. They were
approached by the people of their regions for decisions regarding
various problems. They gave their decisions sometimes according
to what they had learnt and retained in their memory from the
commandments of the Prophet; at other times according to what
they understood from the Qur'an and
Sunnah
.
The interpretation of the Qur'an also caused differences of
opinions among the Companions. The points on which the Quranic
injunctions were either silent or ambiguous were to be explained.
The result was that these verses were sometimes interpreted in the
light of traditions from the Prophet, and sometimes on the basis of
the jurists’ opinions. Moreover since traditions themselves were
