by AAB Philips · Cited by 2 — The Evolution of Fiqh. (Islamic Law & The Madh-habs) by. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips. INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC. PUBLISHING HOUSE
149 pages
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-2- ContentsPreface to the Third Editinon Preface to the Second Edition TransliterationIntroduction1.The First Stage: Foundation The Method of Legislation General Content of the Qur™aan The Makkan Period (609-622 C.E.) The Madeenan Period (622-632 C.E.) Legal Content of the Qur™aan The Basis of Legislation in the Qur™aan 1.The Removal of Difficulty 2.The Reduction of Religious Obligations 3.The Realization of Public Welfare 4.The Realization of Universal Justice Sources of Islamic Law Section Summary 2.The Second Stage: Establishment Problem-Solving Procedures of the Righteous Caliphs Individual Sahaabah and Ijtihaad Absence of Factionalism Characteristics of Fiqh Section Summary 3.The Third Stage: Building Factors Affecting Fiqh Characteristics of Fiqh Reasons for Differences Compilation of Fiqh
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-3- Section Summary 4.The Fourth Stage: Flowing The Development of Fiqh Period of the Great Imams Period of the Minor Scholars Sources of Islamic Law Section Summary 5.The Madh-habs: Schools of Islamic Legal Thought The Hanafee Madh-hab Awzaa‚ee Madh-hab The Maalikee Madh-hab The Zaydee Madh-hab The Laythee Madh-hab The Thawree Madh-hab The Shaafi‚ee Madh-hab The Hambalee Madh-hab The Dhaahiree Madh-hab The Jareeree Madh-hab Section Summary 6.Main Reasons for Conflicting Rulings 1.Word Meanings2.Narrations of Hadeeths 3.Admissibility of Certain Principles 4.Methods of QiyaasSection Summary 7.The Fifth Stage: Consolidation Four Madh-habs Compilation of FiqhSection Summary
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-4- 8.The Six Stage: Stagnation and Decline Emergence of Taqleed Reasons of TaqleedCompilation of FiqhReformersSection Summary 9.Imaams and Taqleed Imaam Abu Haneefah Imaam Maalik ibn Anas Imaam Ahmad ibn Hambal Students of the Imaams Comment Section Summary 10.Differences Among The Ummah Differences Among the Sahaabah Section Summary 11.ConclusionDynamic FiqhProposed StepsContradictory and Variational Differences GlossaryIndex of Hadeeths Bibliography
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-5- PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION A little over a year has passed since the second edition of this book was published, and, by God™s grace, copies are no longer available for distribution. However, the public demand for the book has progressively increased, especially since its disappearance from the bookstores. My impressions concerning the need throughout the Muslim world for the clarifications and recommendations contained in the text have proven true.Not merely because the book has been relative commercial success, but because of the very positive intellectual response which I have received from those who has read it. In fact, in order to make the information contained in the text available to an evenwider audience, some readers have already undertaken a Tamil translation of the book, and an Urdu translation has also been commissioned. Consequently, I felt obliged to reprint the book, in order to meet the growing commercial demand for the book.Due to technical problems faced in the first edition which caused the print on some of the pages to be faded, I decided to re- typeset the whole text. This also gave me an opportunity to apply the transliteration scheme more carefully throughout the text than in the first edition. I also changed the title of the book from Evolution of the Madh-habs to The Evolution of Fiqh (Islamic Law & The Madh- habs) in order to further clarify the subject matter of the book. With the exception of chapter one (The First Stage), which has been almost totally rewritten, only a few changes have beenmade within the text itself: corrections where necessary and improvements where possible. However, with regards to the footnotes, there have been quite a few modifications. All the Hadeeths mentioned in the text have been thoroughly referenced to existing English translations, with the help of brother Iftekhar Mackeen. As for thoseHadeeths mentioned in the book which are not found in Saheeh al-Bukhaaree of Saheeh Muslim, I have endeavored to have them all authenticated in order to remove any doubts in the reader™s mind as to their reliability and the conclusions based on them. Likewise, Hadeeths
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-6- which were alluded to in the text have been quoted in the footnotes and or referenced. There have also been some cosmetic changes, like the improved cover design and the reduction of the size of the book, all of which I hope will make this edition somewhat more attractive than its predecessor.In closing, I ask Almighty Allah to bless this effort by making it reach those who may most benefit from it, and by adding it to my scale of good deeds on the day of Judgement. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips Riyadh, August 23 rd, 1990 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION The overall purpose of this book is to acquaint the reader with the historical factors behind the formulation of Islamic law (Fiqh), in order that he or she may better understand how and why the various schools of Islamic law ( Madh-habs)1came about. It is hoped that this understanding will in turn, provide a basis for overcoming the petty differences and divisions which occur when present-day followers of different schools of people without definite schools try to work together. Thus, another aim of this book is to provide a theoretical framework for the reunification of the Madh-habsand an ideological basis for Islamic community work free from the divisive effects of Madh-habfactionalism.The pressing need for this book can easily be seen in the dilemma of convert Muslims. In the course of being educated in the 1Madh-hab is derived from the verb Dhahaba which means to go. Madh- hab literally means a way of going or simply a path. The position of an outstanding scholar on a particular point was also referred to as his Madh- hab (the path of his ideas or his opinion). Eventually, it was used to refer to the sum total of a scholar™s opinions, whether legal or philosophical. Later it wasused to denote, not only the scholar™s opinion, but also that of his students and followers.
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-8- divinely ordained and therefore one need only choole one of them and follow it without question. Both of these outcomes are undesirable. The latter perpetuates that sectarianism which split the ranks of Muslims in the past and which continues to do so today. The former position of rejecting the Madh-habs in their entirety, and consequently the Fiqhof earlier generations, leads inevitably to extremism and deviation when those who rely exclusively on the Qur™aan and the Sunnah attempt to apply Sharee™ah law to new situations which were not specifically ruled on in eitheir the Qur™aan or the Sunnah. Clearly, both of these outcomes are serious threats to the solidarity and purity of Islam. As the prophet (sw.)stated, fiThe best generation is my generation and then those who follow themfl 5. If we accept the divinely inspired wisdom of the Prophet (sw.), it follows that the farther we go from the prophet (sw.)generation, the less likely we are to be able it interpret correctly and apply the real intentions implied in the Qur™aan and the Sunnah. An equally obvious deduction is the fact that the rulings of older scholars of note are more likely to represent the true intentions deducible from the Qur™aan and the Sunnah. These older rulings Œthe basis of Fiqh-are therefore important links and guidelines which cannot wisely be ignored in out study and continued application of Allaah™s laws. It stands to reason that out knowledge and correct application of these laws depend upon a sound knowledge of the evolution of Fiqhover the ages. Similarly, a study of this development automatically embraces a study of the evolution of the Madh-habs and their important contributions to Fiqh,as well as the reasons for apparent contradictions in some of their rulings. Armed with this background knowledge, the thinking Muslim, be he new convert of born into the faith, will be in a position to understand the source of those perplexing contradictions 5Narrated by ‚Imraan ibn Husain and collected by al-Bukhaaree (Muhammed Muhsin Khan, Sahih Al-Bukhari, (Arabic-English), (Madeenah: Islamic University, 2 nded., 1976), vol.5,p.2, no.3.
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-9- and to place them in their new proper perspective. Hopefully, he will then join the ranks of those who would work actively for the re- establishment of unity (Tawheed),not only as the mainspring of our belief in Allah, but also in relation to the Madh-habsand to the practical application of the laws which underlie and shape the way of life known as Islam. The basic material for this book was taken from my clall notes and research poapers for a graduate course on the history of Islamic legislation (Taareekh at-Taashree‚) taught by Dr. ‚Assaal at the University of Riyadh. The material was translated into English, further developed and utilized as teaching material for a grade twelve Islamic Education class which I taught at Manarat ar-Riyadh private school in 1880-81. This teaching text was published in the springof 1982 by As-Suq Bookstore, Brooklyn, New York, under the title, Lessons in Fiqh.The present work is a revised and expanded edition of Lessons inFiqh.I would like to thank sister Jameelah Jones for patiently typing and proofreading the manuscript, and my father, Bradley Earle Philips, for his suggestions and careful editing of the text. It is hoped that this book on the history of Fiqhwill help the reader to place the Madh-habs in proper perspective and to appreciate the pressing need for theirre-unification. In closing, I pray that Allaah, the Supreme, accept this minor effort toward the clarification of His chosen religion, Islaam, as it is His acceptance alone which ultimately counts. Was-Salaam ‚Alaykum, Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips 25thNov. 1983/21stSafar 1404
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-10- TRANSLITERATION ArabicEnglishArabicEnglishalbmtnthh jh/t6hwkh ydVOWELSrShort VowelszasIshusLong VowelsdtdHee‚ooghDipthongsfqawkayIn order to provide the non-Arab with a more easily read set of symbols than those in current use, I have adopted a somewhat innovative system of transliteration particularly with regard to long vowels. It should be noted, however, that a very similar system was used by E.W. Lane in preparing his famous Arabic-English Lexicon , considered the most authoritative work in its field. Many other scholarly texts, written to teach Arabic pronunciation, also use 6This taa has been commonly transliterated as fitfl in all cases. However, such a system is not accurate and does not represent Arabic pronunciation.
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-11- similar systems. For example, Margaret K. Omar™s Saudi Arabic: Urbar Hijazi Dialect, (Washington, DC: Foreign Service Institute, 1975), as well as the Foreign Language Institute™s Saudi-Arabic: Headstart (Monetery, CA: Defense Language Institute, 1980). No transliteration can express exactly the vocalic differences between two languages nor can Roman characters give anything more than an approximate sound of the original Arabic words and phrases. There is also the difficulty of romanizing certain combinations of Arabic words which are pronounced differently from the written characters. Included in this category is the prefix fialfl (representint the article fithefl). When it precedes words beginning with letters known as al-Huroof ash-Shamseeyah (lit. solar letters), the sound of filfl is merged into the following letter; for example, al Rahmaan is pronounced ar-Rahmaan. Whereas, in the case of all other laetters, known as al-Qamareeyag (lit. lunar letters), the fialfl is pronounced fully. I havefollowed the pronunciation for the facility of the average reader by writing ar-Rahmaan instead of al-Rahmaan and so on. Note:Shaddah ( ) The Shaddah is represented in Roman letters by doubled consonants. However, in actual pronunciation the letters should be merged and held briefly like the finfl sound produced by the n/kn combination in the word unknown, or the finfl in unnerve, the fibfl in grab-bag, the fitfl in frieght-train, the fir™ in overruled, and fipfl in lamp post, and the fidfl in mid-day. I havemade an exception with ( ), instead of iyy, I have used eey as in islaameeyah because this more accurately conveys the sound.
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