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

The Qur’aan and the Sunnah are both Wahi from Allah and we have been commanded to follow what Allah Ta’Aalaa has revealed whether it was revealed as the Qur’aan or as the Sunnah. Allah Ta’Aalaa said:

The Sunnah came to explain and make clear the Qur’aan (Bayaan). Allah Ta’Aalaa said:

This Bayaan (explanation and clarification) is manifested as follows:

An example of this is that Allah Ta’Aalaa commanded the performance of the Salaah by His speech Ta’Aalaa:

This came without a Bayaan (explanation) of its precise timings, Arkaan (pillars), the number of its Raka’aat and the manner of how to perform it. As such the Sunnah explained these matters in detail through the statements and actions of the Messenger (saw) who said:

The same applies in respect to the Zakaah, the Hajj and the other actions.

An example of this is the Qawl of Allah Ta’Aalaa:

This is ‘Aamm (general) in respect to every Zaan (fornicator). The action of the Messenger (saw) and his speech then came and specified this Aayah to the Zaani who is not Muhsin (i.e. married). As for the Zaani who is Muhsin then he is stoned until death. This is due to the action of the Messenger (saw) when he stoned Maa’iz and Al Ghaamidiyah and due to his Qawl (statement): “The blood of a Muslim person is not Halaal except in one of three (circumstances); the married Zaani (adulterer), the life for the life and the one who left his Deen and separated from the Jamaa’ah”.

An example of this is the Qawl of Allah Ta’Aalaa:

This is Mutlaq (unrestricted) to every type of theft and every thief and so the Sunnah came and restricted the theft through the speech (Qawl) of the Messenger (saw) in the Hadeeth narrated by Al Bukhaari and Muslim in which he (saw) says: “Do not cut the hand of the thief except in (the case of) a quarter of a Deenaar or above”. It also has to be taken from a safe place of keeping (Hirz) amongst other restrictions that the Sunnah has brought in relation to the obligation of cutting the hand of the thief.

An example of this is the Tahreem (prohibition) of combining two sisters in marriage:

The Messenger of Allah (saw) attached to that the Tahreem (prohibition) of combining in marriage between a woman and her Khaalah (maternal aunt) and a woman and her ‘Ammah (paternal aunt). This came in his Qawl (saw): “Do not marry a woman upon her ‘Ammah and not upon her Khaalah” (Agreed upon).

In respect to this, it is hard to find a Hukm that the Sunnah has brought except that it has an ‘Asl (origin) in the Qur’aan Al-Kareem whether this connection was close or distant. This opinion was transmitted from Ash-Shaafi’iy in his ‘Ar-Risaalah’ and Ash-Shaatibi affirmed it after him in his ‘Al-Muwaafaqaat’. Consequently, in respect to the Aayah:

These two Aayaat indicate with a Qat’iy Dalaalah (definite indication) that the Qur’aan comprises the Usool (fundamentals and bases) of all of the Sharee’ah. The Sunnah is then explanatory to it and there is no Hukm (legal ruling) that does not have an Asl (origin) in the Qur’aan. As for what is said in respect to the Hukm of the prohibition related to the domesticated (tamed) donkeys (Al-Humur Al-Ahliyah) and the predatory beasts and that they have no Asl (origin) in the Qur’aan, then verily Allah Ta’Aalaa said:

This Aayah has been argued to be representative of the Asl (origin) for every prohibited or permissible matter.