The Evolution of Usul al-Fiqh

1) The generation of Sam'i - Listener and Eye Witnesses

This was the generation of the Companions of the Prophet (pbuh) who saw, heard and live with him. They witnessed the revelations and applications of the Quran and the Sunnah.


They observed how the Prophet (pbuh) handled cases that were not responded to directly by the revelations., They had the entire Quran transcribed. Many of the Companions spread out into the rest of the ummah after the deaqth of the Prophet (pbuh) to teach and guide people. This period lasted till approximately the end of the first Hijrah century.

2) The generation of the Jam'i - Gatherer and Collectors

This was the generation of the students of the Companion of the Prophet (pbuh). They were taught by the Companions who learned directly from the Prophet (pbuh). They gathered what they learnt from the Companions into books form. They were the Tabii'in (the Followers of the Companions)

3) The generations of Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh - Analysts and Jurist

This is the generation of the Followers of the Followers of the Companions of the Prophet (pbuh). They are the Tabi'u al-Tabiin. It was during this period that a codified system of analyzing Islamic Law was developed, based on what the Tabi'u al Tabiin heard from their teachers who were taught by the by the Companions of the Prophet (pbuh).

The first articulation of Usul al-Fiqh was done by Imam Shafeii. Fiqh is an arabic term which literally means 'deep understanding' but has come to denote the broad of Islamic Jurisprudence.

The Great Jurist, Imam Nu'man bin Thabit Abu Hanifa (d.150AH), Imam Malik bin Anas (d.179AH), Imam Muhammad bin Idris Shafeii(d.204AH) and Imam Ahmad bin Hambal (d.241AH) were Scholars of Fiqh.

Imam al-Bukhari and Imam Muslim were not well known as 'fuquha' but was very distinct as compilers and authenticators of oral and written Hadith.



A brief History of Islamic Shariah

The historical origin of the shariah(law) lies in the revelation from God to Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) through the archangel Gabriel. This divine revelation was later recorded in text known as the Mushaf Qur'an. Although only a small portion of the Qur'an concerns strictly legal questions, it sets forth a number of general principles regarding how Muslims are to conduct themselves.

From this kernel the shariah grew into a vast corpus of law. One of the great, challenging issues of Islamic intellectual history has been that of defining the relationship between the text of divine revelation and subsequent legal development, an effort that has entailed the working out of a theory of resources to provide an Islamic theoretical basis for resolving legal problems not explicitly addressed in the Qur'an.

Shariah is an Arabic term used to designate Islamic law. It was originally referred to as a path trodden by camels to a water source, and the commonly used Arabic phrase al-shariah al-islamiyah may be translated as “the Islamic way.” In the case of Islamic law, the way is one that leads the righteous believer to Paradise in the afterlife.

The shariah is not deemed as a religious law by virtue of the subject matters it covers, for these range far beyond the sphere of religious concerns strictly speaking and extend to the mundane affairs(muamalat) of everyday life. Rather, its religious character is due to the Muslim belief that it derives from divinely inspired sources and represents God’s plan for the proper ordering of all human activities.

The interpretations of the requirements of the shariah are contained in the fiqh. In a general sense, fiqh means “knowledge” or “understanding,” but it is also used in the more specific sense of Islamic jurisprudence. Shariah and fiqh are often treated as synonymous terms designating the body of rules constituting Islamic law. However, fiqh can also refer to the science of interpreting the shariah.

The first root of the fiqh is the Qur'an. Muslim Scholars developed an elaborate methodology to interpret the Qur'an, and, in fact, the legal significance of the Qur'an cannot be properly understood without an appreciation of this methodology. The secondary root of fiqh is the Sunnah Mutawatir of the Prophet(pbuh) narrated in Ahadith. Similar to the Qur'an, reading the hadith literature without the proper methodology developed by Islamic scholars may lead to erroneous conclusions.

The task of interpreting the requirements of the shariah which do not have clear evidence from the Quran and Sunnah Mutawatir are termed as ijtihad(independent reasoning). The tools of Ijtihad are used as a method for expanding the syariah to cover problems not expressly addressed in the Quran and Sunnah Mutawatir.

The tools of ijtihad are Qiyas, or reasoning by analogy, Ijma' or the constituted consensus of all the jurists of one generation, Maslahah or benefits of public interest and Istihsan or juristic "preference". Other tools of ijtihad are Hadith Ahad or a hadith not fulfilling all of the conditions necessary to be deemed mutawatir,

Amal of Medina - The practice of the people of Medina. Medina is the place where Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) and most of the Sahabah lived, therefore most of the practice of Islam was directly inherited from them. In another word, Medina is the 'storehouse' of Sunnah.

Local custom(Urf) or recurring practices that doesn't violate the tenets of the Qur'an and the Sunnah and Istishab or presumption of continuity are also ijtihad tool acceptable by Islamic scholars as a basis of Islamic syariah. All these tools of ijtihad are considered as the directional compass for Usul al Fiqh referred to as Maqasid Syariah(the purpose or objective of Islamic law) by various Schools of Thoughts.

Historians have differed regarding the times at which the various schools emerged. Some says that the oldest of the classical School of Thoughts was Mazhab Maliki, which originated in Medina and was named after the prominent legal scholar and traditionalist Malik ibn Anas (d. 796). Others says the Hanafi School of Thoughts was the first, originated from Kufa in southern Iraq.

Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafii (d. 820) was the founder of the School of Thoughts that bears his name, was associated with the city of Medina. While the last of the classical Sunni School of Thoughts is Mazhab Hanbali founded by Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855). Other Schools of Thoughts are Mazhab Zahiri, founded by Dawud ibn Khalaf (d. 884) and Mazhab Jafari, the Syiah legal School of Thoughts.

Mazhab or School of Thoughts follow an equation of 'hierarchy of authority' by using various Ijtihad tools. Different School of Thoughts(Mazhab) uses different methodology of equations to formulate a fatwa or hukum to solve a religious problem. These are the equations uses by the Mazhab to ijtihad in order to reach a conclusion on a religious problem(haram, mustahab, mubah, makruh or haram):


A) The hierarchy of authority of ijtihad tools for the Hanafi would be:

Quran --> Sunnah  Mutawatir --> Istihsan 
--> Qiyas --> Ijma' --> Sunnah Ahad --> Ra'i of Sahabi --> Urf --> Istishab

B) The hierarchy of authority of ijtihad tools for Maliki would be:

Quran --> Sunnah Mutawatir --> Amal of Medina/Ijma' --> Maslahah --> Qiyas --> Sunnah Ahad --> Ra'i of Sahabi --> Sadd al-Dhara'i --> Urf --> Istishab.



C) The hierarchy of authority of ijtihad tools for Shafii would be:

Quran --> Sunnah Mutawatir --> Ijma' of Sahabi --> Sunnah Ahad --> Ra’i of Sahabi --> Istishab --> Qiyas 



D) The hierarchy of authority of ijtihad tools for Hanbali would be:

Quran --> Sunnah Mutawatir --> Sunnah Ahad --> Ra’i of Sahabi --> Ijma' --> Qiyas --> Maslahah --> Istihsan --> Sadd al-Dhara'i --> Istishab.

E) The Syiah, hierarchy of authority of ijtihad tools for Ja'fariah would be:

1) Quran --> 2)Hadith Mutawatir -->3)Ijma -->4)Hadist Ahad (but only selected ahlul bait hadith)

F) The Zahiri, hierarchy of authority of ijtihad tools would be:

1) Quran --> 2)Hadith Mutawatir -->3)Hadist Ahad -->4)Ijma (no Qiyas or other tools of ijtihad would be considered)

With the foundation of the classical Schools of Thoughts (Mazhab) and the formulation of the fundamental principles of usul al-fiqh (equations of 'hierarchy of authority'), the shariah became a jurists’ law, and exhaustive training in law and ancillary disciplines was essential for interpreting how the shariah applied to a given problem.

Institutions of higher learning were set up to train students in fiqh and related fields, the first and most enduring influential Institution was al-Azhar in Cairo, founded in 972. As the fiqh literature expanded, the jurists in a given locality, would select one of the dominant legal school as the authoritative statement of legal doctrine in their jurisdiction. In the case of Malaysia, Mazhab Shafii was selected as the legal dominant school of thoughts.



Wallahu'alam