Ilm Fruits

As we discussed in the last post, the method of legislation was primarily through the questioning of the Companions radhiAllah anhum to which Allah revealed verses to answer their inquiries or the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam answered them.

Its important to make clear here that the Prophet sallalalahu alayhi wasalam did not speak from his own desires; meaning, that which he answered was a type of revelation and not just from his whims and desires. This is proven in the statement of Allah:

وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَى إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَى

Nor does he speak of (his own) desire. It is only an Inspiration that is inspired [ Surah Najm V.3,4]

The Basis of Legislation

The Qur’an was revealed to reform the human conditions of the Arabian Peninusla and ultimately the entire world. Thus, when Islam came it rejected all the evil which was present in the society and accepted all the good. Hence, we see that when Islam came it removed everything which was harmful to society as a whole; for example: fornication, riba (interest), alcohol, etc.

Allah says:

يَأْمُرُهُم بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَاهُمْ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَآئِثَ

Who enjoins upon them what is right and forbids them what is wrong and makes lawful for them the good things and prohibits for them the evil [Surah A'raaf V.157]

And so the legislation found in the Qur’an and Sunnah are just enjoining that which is good  and forbidding what is wrong  for entire societies and individuals. This was the reformation that Allah and His Messenger sallalahu alayhi wasalam were calling for and to do this laws had to be enacted.

The basis of Qur’anic revelations lies in four basic principles:

1) The Removal of Difficulty

The system of Islam was revealed for the benefit of man and society. Thus, Allah revealed this system to  remove many of the unneccessary difficulties that plagued the societies then and now.

Allah says:

يُرِيدُ اللّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلاَ يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ

Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship [Surah Baqarah V.185]

وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ

He has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty [Surah Hajj V. 78]

2) The Removal of Religious Obligations

Following up from the first point; if Allah wants to make things easy for us, a natural consequence is then a limited amount of religious obligations. Its funny, many us have this notion that there is so much that Allah has forbidden and very little that He has allowed. This is a very false notion once you look into it a bit deeper.  In the Qur’an when Allah prohibits, He prohibits specifically, naming and listing the cases because of how few they are in number. However, in the case of permissions, He gives permission generally because of huge amount of thins which have been made permissible for us.

For example, Allah says:

حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالْدَّمُ وَلَحْمُ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللّهِ بِهِ وَالْمُنْخَنِقَةُ وَالْمَوْقُوذَةُ وَالْمُتَرَدِّيَةُ وَالنَّطِيحَةُ

Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah , and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns… [Surah Maa'idah V.3]

The prohibitions are listed. However, in the case of permissions, Allah says:

الْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَّكُمْ وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلُّ لَّهُمْ

This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them… [Surah Maa'idah V.5]

As we mentioned already, laws are general in nature and thus do not contain maany details and specifications. This is to place ease for the people and to remove the difficulty. This principle is shown in the following statement of Allah azza wa jal:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ لاَ تَسْأَلُواْ عَنْ أَشْيَاء إِن تُبْدَ لَكُمْ تَسُؤْكُمْ وَإِن تَسْأَلُواْ عَنْهَا حِينَ يُنَزَّلُ الْقُرْآنُ تُبْدَ لَكُمْ عَفَا اللّهُ عَنْهَا وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ حَلِيمٌ

O you who believe! Ask not about things which, if made plain to you, may cause you trouble. But if you ask about them while the Quran is being revealed, they will be made plain to you. Allah has forgiven that, and Allah is Oft­Forgiving, Most Forbearing [Surah Maa'idah V. 104]

We see that Allah has made certain things plain and general for ease. However, we have people who like to go deeper into the generalities and make things difficult upon themselves. One of these incidents is found in the seerah of the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam when a few companions kept questioning him about whether Hajj was cumpulsory every year. He, sallalahu alayhi wasalam, said:

“If I said yes, it would have have become compulsory. Leave me alone concerning things which I have left upto you, for certainly those before you were destroed because of their many unncessary questions and their arguments and disagreements with their prophets.” [Sahih Muslim]

And so we come to know from the above that Allah legislated laws to remove unneccessary difficulties from society and this also meant difficulties in relation to religious duties.

The 3rd and 4th principle will be discussed in part 5.

As per the last discussion, the Foundational stages of Fiqh are characterized by the Prophethood of our beloved Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam. It is in the life time of the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam that rules, which would govern fiqh for generations to come, were established. These rules were established via the statements of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala found in the Qur’an and also the Sunnah of the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam.

The Method of Legislation

The Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam over a period of 23 years. Now, one may think to him/herself: Why wasn’t it just sent completely once? There are many benefits to why Allah azza wa jal chose to reveal the Qur’an in a gradual manner, which is a topic for another article, however some of the benefits relating to the evolution of fiqh are:

1. To achieve gradation in the enactment of laws – If all the laws were brought down at once to the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam and the Companions radhiAllah anhum it would have been difficult
2. To make it easily acceptable – If the laws were revealed all at once, the Arab customs would come into a directl clash with that of Islam. Thus, to make it easier upon the people it was revealed over 23 years.
3. To make it easier to learn and understand - They were witness to the revelation of the Qur’an and thus understood the reasons and context under which it was revealed, making it easier to implement properly

Thus, keeping these benefits in tact we see that sections of the Qur’an were generally revealed to solve problems which confronted the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam and the Companions radhiAllah anhum.

There are a number of examples which can be found throughout the Qur’an:

يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الشَّهْرِ الْحَرَامِ قِتَالٍ فِيهِ قُلْ قِتَالٌ فِيهِ كَبِيرٌ وَصَدٌّ عَن سَبِيلِ اللّهِ وَكُفْرٌ بِهِ وَالْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَإِخْرَاجُ أَهْلِهِ مِنْهُ أَكْبَرُ عِندَ اللّهِ

They ask you about the sacred month – about fighting therein. Say, “Fighting therein is great [sin], but averting [people] from the way of Allah and disbelief in Him and [preventing access to] al-Masjid al-îaram and the expulsion of its people therefrom are greater [evil] in the sight of Allah [Surah Baqarah V.217]

يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ قُلْ فِيهِمَا إِثْمٌ كَبِيرٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثْمُهُمَا أَكْبَرُ مِن نَّفْعِهِمَا وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنفِقُونَ قُلِ الْعَفْوَ كَذَلِكَ يُبيِّنُ اللّهُ لَكُمُ الآيَاتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ

They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, “In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit.” And they ask you what they should spend. Say, “The excess [beyond needs].” Thus Allah makes clear to you the verses [of revelation] that you might give thought. [Surah Baqarah V.219]

The same is also true regarding the Sunnah. The Companions radhiAllah anhum would go to the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam with questions and he would answer them.

Bismillah walhamdolilah wasalatu wasalam ‘ala Rasool Allah

It is imperative to realize that fiqh has gone through many developments/stages, which traditionally fall into six categories:

1. Foundational Stage – This period is characterized by the Prophethood of Muhammad sallalahu alayhi wasalam which lasted for 23 years (610 – 632 CE)
2. Establishment Stage – This period is characterized by the Righteous Caliphs radhiAllah anhum which lasted for 29 years from the death of the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam (632 CE) to the midle of the 7th century (661 CE)
3. Building Stage – This period is characterized by the founding of the Umayyad dynasty until its decline to the middle of the 8th century
4. Flowering Stage – This period is characterized by the rise of the ‘Abbaasid dynasty in the middle of the 8th century to the beginning of its decline around the middle of the 10th century
5. Consolidation Stage – This period is characterized by the decline of the ‘Abbaasid dynasty to the murder of the last ‘Abbaasid Caliph in the middle of the 13th century
6. Stagnation and Decline Stage – This period is characterized by the sacking of Baghdad in 1258 CE to our present times

This gives us a brief overview of the developments of fiqh. Inshallah we will go through each of these in some detail as we progress.

Bismillah walhamdolilah wasalatu wasalam ‘ala Rasool Allah

When we begin to talk about a field of study in the religion of Islam it is very imperative we begin by defining the terms; making clear the terminology which is used throughout that field of study. With that said, I want to focus on Fiqh.

Linguistically, fiqh is defined as the true understanding of what is intended. For example: The true understanding of Anatomy, the true understanding of Plants, or the true understanding of Religion. All of these exemplify the linguistic understanding of fiqh. When applied to Islam, fiqh means the science of deducing Islamic Laws from evidences found in the sources of Islamic Law.

Another term which we must define is sharee’ah. This term, linguistically, means a waterhole or the straight/ordained/clear way. When applied to Islam, sharee’ah means the the totality of Islamic Laws which:

1. Were revealed to the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wasalam
2. Are recorded in the Qur’an
3. Can be deduced from the Prophet’s sunnah

From these two definitions of fiqh and sharee’ah, the following may be deduced:

1. Sharee’ah is revealed laws found in the Qur’an and Sunnah while fiqh is a body of laws deduced from the Qur’an and Sunnah to cover situations not directly treated in the sharee’ah.
   
2. Sharee’ah is fixed; it doesn’t change over time. Fiqh changes as circumstances change.
3. Sharee’ah is mostly general; laying down the basic principles. Fiqh tends to be specific; how the basic principles of sharee’ah should be applied in different situations.

Source

Philips, Bilal. The Evolution of Fiqh: Islamic Laws & The Madhabs (3rd edition).