Al-Waadih Fee Usool ul-Fiqh by Muhammad Hussein Abdullah

1) Allah Ta’Aalaa sent the Messenger Muhammad (saw) with Islaam to mankind in its entirety. So he began with the Arabs whilst the Qur’aan Al-Kareem had been revealed in their language. Its revelation came in the age when the Arabic language was at is ripest and indeed in the golden age of this language. This was at a time when the Arab tribes had established special arts markets so that they could present their poetry and compete with one another in respect to their skills and prowess.

The Arabs understood the Qur’aan and the Hadeeth because the language which the Aayaat and Ahaadeeth came in represented a natural talent, trait and inborn disposition which they were endowed with. They could fully take in the meanings of its worded expressions and understood its styles. Consequently, each of them would take the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy that he required without difficulty.

The situation of the Muslims then continued like that in the era of the Sahaabah and the Taabi’een until the beginning of the second Hijri century.

2) After that, the Islamic State had expanded and many other nations had entered into Islaam like the Romans, the Persians, Hindus and Berbers. The Arabs then mixed with them in terms of where they resided and in respect to their speech. As a result, the Arabic tongue weakened due to the insertion of expressions, colloquialisms and styles of a non-Arabic origin. This led to the weakening of the understanding of the Shar’iyah texts amongst the majority of the Arabs. As a result, they became in need of linguistic controls and principles in order to understand the Aayaat and the Ahaadeeth as the first Muslims had understood them. The scholars responded and made efforts to put down and provide a Minhaaj (methodology) to explain the manner of how to deduce the practical Ahkaam Ash'Shar’iyah through the Kitaab and the Sunnah.

3) From the host of these linguistic and Shar’iy principles and controls (Dawaabit) the ‘Ilm of Usool ul-Fiqh was formed and the beginning of this ‘Ilm was in the second Hijri century.

4) The first to gather together some of the principles of this ‘Ilm within a book was Al-Imaam Abu Yusuf (rh) the companion of Al-Imaan Abu Haneefah (rh) as was mentioned by Ibn un-Nadeem in his book ‘Al-Fihrist’. However, this book written by Abu Yousuf did not reach us.

The Shee’ah have said that the first to put the subject of Usool ul-Fiqh into writing was Al-Imaam Ja’far Muhammad Al-Baaqir however this statement has not been supported by evidence.

The ‘Ulamaa before Ash-Shaafi’iy used to speak about the issues of Usool ul-Fiqh, make deductions and objections however they did not have a complete methodology that was put down on paper that could be referred back to.

5) The first book that reached us in the subject area of Usool ul-Fiqh was ‘Ar-Risaalah’ of Al-Imaam Muhammad Bin Idrees Ash-Shaafi’iy (rh) who passed away in the year 204 after Hijrah. He discussed the Adillah Al-Ijmaaliyyah in an ordered and organised manner; the Kitaab, the Sunnah, Qiyaas and Ijmaa’. And he also dealt with the linguistic principles and how to use them to deduce the Ahkaam Ash-Shar’iyah Therefore, the ‘Ilm of Usool ul-Fiqh that Ash-Shaafi’iy provided represented a disciplined yardstick to know the correct opinions from the incorrect ones and a precise measure to know what is from the Shar’a and what is not from the Shar’a.

Ash-Shaafi’iy restricted himself to this Minhaaj (methodology) in his Istinbaat (deduction) of the Ahkaam Ash-Shar’iyah and based his Madh’hab, known as the Shaafi’iy Madh’hab in Fiqh, upon it which was recorded in his book ‘Al-Umm’.

In his ‘Muqaddamah’ when discussing the ‘Ilm of Usool ul-Fiqh Ibn Khaldoon said: “The first who wrote in it was Ash-Shaafi’iy, may Allah be pleased with him. He dictated in it (the subject area) in his famous ‘Risaalah’ and in this he spoke about the commands and forbiddances, the Bayaan, the Khabar, An-Naskh (abrogation) and the Hukm of the ‘Illah that has come in the text in respect to Qiyaas...” (Al-Muqaddamah p455).

In his ‘Risaalah’ Ash-Shaafi’iy ordered (graded) the levels of the Adillah Al-Ijmaaliyyah and placed them in their positions: “We judge (or pass verdict) in accordance to the Kitaab and the Sunnah upon which a consensus has been formed, in which there is no difference and its position is essential, because it is not Halaal to resort to Qiyaas whilst the Khabar (i.e. Sunnah) is present” (Historical study of Fiqh and its Usool – Dr. Mustafa Sa’eed p181 Vol 1)