Assalamu alaikum,
If you missed out on the Evolution of Fiqh Halaqas, brother Assif compiled a summary of what was covered.
This covers the first night of the halaqa on the topic of fiqh and how it evolved over time:
We translate both fiqh and sharee’ah as "Islamic Law" in English.
Fiqh – literally means the true meaning of what is intended. An example of this usage is the Prophet’s(SAW) statement, "To whomsoever Allah wishes good, He gives the fiqh (true understanding) of the religion."(Sahih al-Bukhari vol.4, pp.233-4,no.346).
Sharee’ah– literally means a waterhole where animals gather together to drink, or the straight path, as in the Qur’anic verse, "The We put you on a straight path (sharee’ah) in your affairs, so follow it and do not follow the desires of thos who have no knowledge." (Surah 45, verse 18). Islamically, however it refers to the sum total of Islamic laws which were revealed.
Distinction between the two:
-Sharee’ah is the body of revealed laws in the Qur’an and Sunnah, while fiqh is a body of laws deduced from the sharee’ah to cover specific situations not directly related in the sharee’ah.
-Sharee’ah is fixed and unchangeable, whereas fiqh changes according to the circumstances under whicj it is applied.
-The laws of sharee’ah are, mostly, general: they lay down basic principles. In contrast, the laws of fiqh tend to be specific:they demonstrate how the basic principles of shree’ah should be applied in given circumstances.
The stages of fiqh historically are:
1) Foundation – the era of the Prophet(SAW) – 609 – 632 CE(Christian Era)
2) Establishment – era of the Righteous Caliphs – 632 – 661 CE
3) Building – from founding of the Umayyad dynasty (661 CE) to middle 8th century (time of decline of the dynasty)
4) Flowering – from rise of the Abbaasid dynasty (mid 8th century) to start of its decline (mid 10th century)
5) Consolidation – from 960 CE to time of murder of last Abbaasid Caliph by the mongols in mid 13th century
6) Stagnation and Decline – from the sacking of Baghdad by the mongols (1258 CE) to present.
Islamic law in the foundation period consisted of the laws of the sharee’ah which were revealed and recorded in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. They relate mainly to the ideological foundation of Islam, Iman, and the socio-economic laws necessary for the organization for the fledgling Muslim state.
The basis of legislation in the Qur’an was that of human reformation. In order to achieve the goal of reformation, Qur’anic legislation incorporated the principles of:
a) Removal of difficulty
b) Reduction of religious obligationsA
c) Realization of public welfare
d) Realization of universal justice.
It was during this foundation period that the base for the science of deducing laws from the Qur’an and the Sunnah were laid by the Prophet (SAW).
We could say that in this the period the first madhab (school of thought) took shape as the Prophet(SAW) guided and trained the Sahaabah in ijtihaad (the reasoning process by which the Islamic laws are deduced after thorough research).
To be continued….