Fundamentals of Fiqh

This is a great effort that Dr. Hatem made when he abbreviated the book of “Principles of Islamic Fiqh” written by M. H. Kamali. The book was in need to be abbreviated to be within the curriculum of the Dept. of Islamic studies in English.

The book of Principles of Islamic Fiqh is a great book written by Muhammad Hashem Kamali to explain this field of knowledge in the English language. It contains lots of chapters such as: Islamic Ruling, Islamic evidences as the Quran, Sunnah, Consensus and analogy, and the Personal Reasoning.

This is the book of "Legal Maxims of Islamic Jurisprudence" that is studied at the Islamic University of North America (Mishkah). It presents the topic in a simple way. In the beginning, the book presents an accurate definition of the Islamic legal maxims and gives lots of examples on each rule.

The word taqleed is a derivative of Qalaadah, and the linguistic meaning of qalaadah is to wear a collar that a dog wears around its neck. The meaning of taqleed in terminology is to act upon the opinion of an Imaam from the Ummah without knowing the evidence. So the muqallid is the one who does taqleed.

In this book, Dr. Saleh As-Saleh explains only seven foundations out of sixty mentioned in the book of Sh. Abder-Rahman As-Se’di \”The Basic Rulings and Principles, and the Beneficial and Eloquent Classifications and Differentiations\”. The importance of this book stems from the nature of its content. This is because the scholars of Islam gave great importance to the study of the basic rulings and principles of fiqh so that they are able to encompass the various cases and refer these cases to the basic rulings and principles in order to deduct and apply the judgment in a comprehensive, yet precise manner.

Imam Shafi on On Legal Knowledge Read Classical – Excerpt Written in the second Islamic century by al-Imam al-Shafi’i (d. 204AH/820AD), the founder of one of the four Sunni schools of law. This important work gives the fundamental principles of Islamic jurisprudence and its influence continues to the present day. During the early years of the spread of Islam, the exponents of Islamic legal doctrine were faced with the problems raised by ruling and administering a diverse and rapidly growing empire. In Medina and Kufa, as well as other cities of early Muslim rule, schools of law had to be developed, but it took the genius of Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi’i, born in the year 150AH/767AD, to establish the principles by which the various legal doctrines could be synthesised into a coherent system. In the Risala, which laid down the basis for such a synthesis, al-Shafi’i established the overriding authority, next only to the Qur’an, of the Sunnah or example of the Prophet Muhammad as transmitted in the traditions.