Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is often described as the style of human understanding and practices of the sharia;that is,human understanding of the divine Islamic law as revealed in the Quran and the sunnah. Fiqh expands and develops Shariah through interpretation (ijtihad) of the Quran and Sunnah by Islamic jurists (ulama) and is implemented by the rulings (fatwa) of jurists on questions presented to them. Thus,whereas sharia is considered immutable and infallible by Muslims,fiqh is considered fallible and changeable. Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals,morals and social legislation in Islam as well as economic and political system. In the modern era,there are four prominent schools (madh'hab) of fiqh within Sunni practice,plus two within Shi'a practice. A person trained in fiqh is known as a faqīh.
Sharia,Sharī'ah,Shari'a,Shariah or Syariah is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam,particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology sharīʿah refers to immutable,intangible divine law;contrary to fiqh,which refers to its interpretations by Islamic scholars.
Ijtihad is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law,or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a legal question. It is contrasted with taqlid. According to classical Sunni theory,ijtihad requires expertise in the Arabic language,theology,revealed texts,and principles of jurisprudence,and is not employed where authentic and authoritative texts are considered unambiguous with regard to the question,or where there is an existing scholarly consensus (ijma). Ijtihad is considered to be a religious duty for those qualified to perform it. An Islamic scholar who is qualified to perform ijtihad is called as a "mujtahid".
A madhhab refers to any school of thought within Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni madhāhib are Hanafi,Maliki,Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE and by the twelfth century almost all jurists aligned themselves with a particular madhab. These four schools recognize each other's validity and they have interacted in legal debate over the centuries. Rulings of these schools are followed across the Muslim world without exclusive regional restrictions,but they each came to dominate in different parts of the world. For example,the Maliki school is predominant in North and West Africa;the Hanafi school in South and Central Asia;the Shafi'i school in East Africa and Southeast Asia;and the Hanbali school in North and Central Arabia. The first centuries of Islam also witnessed a number of short-lived Sunni madhhabs. The Zahiri school,which is considered to be endangered,continues to exert influence over legal thought. The development of Shia legal schools occurred along the lines of theological differences and resulted in the formation of the Ja'fari madhhab amongst Twelver Shias,as well as the Isma'ili and Zaidi madhhabs amongst Isma'ilis and Zaidis respectively,whose differences from Sunni legal schools are roughly of the same order as the differences among Sunni schools. The Ibadi legal school,distinct from Sunni and Shia madhhabs,is predominant in Oman. Unlike Sunnis,Shias,and Ibadis,non-denominational Muslims are not affiliated with any madhhab.
Principles of Islamic jurisprudence are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) for deriving the rulings of Islamic law (sharia).
Contemporary Islamic philosophy revives some of the trends of medieval Islamic philosophy,notably the tension between Mutazilite and Asharite views of ethics in science and law,and the duty of Muslims and role of Islam in the sociology of knowledge and in forming ethical codes and legal codes,especially the fiqh and rules of jihad.
Maqasid or maqāṣid al-sharīʿa is an Islamic legal doctrine. Together with another related classical doctrine,maṣlaḥa,it has come to play an increasingly prominent role in modern times. The notion of maqasid was first clearly articulated by al-Ghazali,who argued that maslaha was God's general purpose in revealing the divine law,and that its specific aim was preservation of five essentials of human well-being:religion,life,intellect,lineage,and property.
Shihāb al-Dīn Abu ’l-Abbās Aḥmad ibn Abi ’l-ʿAlāʾIdrīs ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yallīn al-Ṣanhājīal-Ṣaʿīdīal-Bahfashīmīal-Būshīal-Bahnasīal-Miṣrīal-Mālikī,was a Sunni Islamic scholar of Sanhaja Berber origin who lived in Ayyubid and Mamluk Egypt. He is widely regarded as the foremost Maliki juristconsult and legal theoretician of his time. He was highly proficient in scriptural exegesis,Islamic theology,grammar,lexicography,literature,ophthalmology,astronomy and mathematics. During his lifetime,al-Qarafi was hailed as one of the greatest scholars. He is considered to be one of the prominent influential thinkers and pioneers. According to Ibn Farhun,Shafi'ites and Malikites were unanimous that the best scholars in Egypt were three in number:al-Qarafi in Old Cairo,Ibn al-Munayyir in Alexandria,and Ibn Daqiq al-'Id in Fatimid Cairo. Imam al-Suyuti counted him among the scholars who attained the rank of mujtahid mutlaq.
AbūIsḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsāal-Shāṭibī was an AndalusíSunni Islamic scholar. He was regarded in his time as among the leading jurist and legal theoretician in the Maliki school of law. He was well-versed in the science of hadith and Quranic interpretation. He was an eminent grammarian,linguist,and literary figure. He was considered the greatest scholar in Al-Andalus of his time and one of the most influential figures in the Maliki school.
Ali Abdel Raziq (1888–1966) was an Egyptian scholar of Islam,judge and government minister. His writings,some controversial,debated the role of religion and Islamic history in 20th-century politics and government.
Wael B. Hallaq is the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University,where he has been teaching ethics,law,and political thought since 2009. He is considered a leading scholar in the field of Islamic legal studies,and has been described as one of the world's leading authorities on Islamic law.
Islamic modernism is a movement that has been described as "the first Muslim ideological response to the Western cultural challenge",attempting to reconcile the Islamic faith with values perceived as modern such as democracy,civil rights,rationality,equality,and progress. It featured a "critical reexamination of the classical conceptions and methods of jurisprudence",and a new approach to Islamic theology and Quranic exegesis (Tafsir). A contemporary definition describes it as an "effort to re-read Islam's fundamental sources—the Qur'an and the Sunna,—by placing them in their historical context,and then reinterpreting them,non-literally,in the light of the modern context."
Mohammad Nejatullah Siddiqi was an Indian economist and the winner of the King Faisal International Prize for Islamic Studies.
Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi was a Pakistani jurist and scholar of Islamic Studies,shariah and fiqh. He was a professor at the International Islamic University,Islamabad,judge at the Federal Shariat Court and Federal Minister for Religious Affairs in Pakistan. He completed his dars-e-nizami at the age of 16 and later obtained a PhD in Islamic Studies from Punjab University. He was fluent in Urdu,English,Arabic,Persian,Turkish and French. He authored numerous works in Urdu and English,and translated Persian poetry Payam-e-Mashriq of Muhammad Iqbal into Arabic.
Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee is a Pakistani legal scholar. Who taught at the International Islamic University Islamabad.
Sobhi R. Mahmassani was a Lebanese legal scholar,practising lawyer,judge,and political figure helped to build the legal and civic foundations of the then-nascent country of Lebanon,and whose writings on Islamic jurisprudence remain authoritative works on this topic for legal scholars and researchers.
Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir ibn ʿĀshūr was a graduate of University of Ez-Zitouna and a well known Islamic scholar. He studied classical Islamic scholarship with reform-minded scholars. He became a judge then Shaykh al-Islām in 1932. He was a writer and author on the subject of reforming Islamic education and jurisprudence. He is best remembered for his Qur'anic exegesis,al-Tahrir wa'l-Tanwir.
Islamic neo-traditionalism,also known as Wasatism is a contemporary strand of Sunni Islam that emphasizes adherence to the four principal Sunni schools of law (Madhahib),belief in one of the Ash'ari,Maturidi and Athari creeds (Aqaid) and the practice of Sufism (Tasawwuf),which Islamic neo-traditionalists consider to be the Sunni tradition.
Zulkifli bin Hasan is a Malaysian academic who serves as Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Religious Affairs in the Unity Government administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Minister Mohd Na'im Mokhtar as well as a Senator since December 2023. He was the academician (Professor) of the Syariah programme at the Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) as well as the deputy rector at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He is presently the sole independent deputy minister.
The four Sunni Imams founded the four madhhab recognized in Sunni Islam. While they agree on the foundational principles of fiqh according to the Sunni narrative,their interpretations of certain legal and practical matters differ,which led to the development of the four distinct madhhab. These differences reflect variations in legal methodology and reasoning,but all are considered valid within the broader framework of fiqh.
