Fiqh arose with the descent of the Wahi (divinely revealed inspiration) as the Wahi (through Jibreel (as)) used to descend upon the Messenger of Allah Muhammad (saw) conveying to him the thoughts and Ahkaam of Islaam in the form of the Qur’aan or the Hadeeth. Then the Messenger (saw) would convey that to the people around him and the Muslims would adhere and commit themselves to what this Wahi came with, in respect to Aqaa’id (beliefs) and Ahkaam (rulings). This is because the Qur’aan Al-Kareem and the Prophetic Hadeeth were revealed in the language that the Arabs had excelled in and understood. In particular they had a clear understanding of the meanings and thoughts that the Alfaazh (worded expression) of these two guided to, indicated and expressed. The Alfaazh (wordings) of some of these Aayaat and Ahaadeeth indicate one single meaning and are understood without difficulty like the Aayah

So this Aayah is a Daleel Juz’iy (partial evidence) that guides to the Hukm of the Tahreem (prohibition) of Zinaa whilst the Hukm is understood from the Alfaazh (wordings) of the Aayah without exerting mental effort.

There are also Aayaat and Ahaadeeth in which their Alfaazh (worded expressions) can hold more than one meaning and the Sahaabah (rah) would make Ijtihaad in respect to understanding them. Consequently, one of them would understand a meaning different from the meaning that another had understood and each would work or act in accordance to what they had understood, that is whilst the Messenger of Allah (saw) approved of them doing this. It was related that when the Nabi (saw) returned from the Ghazwah (battle) of Al-Ahzaab he said to the Muslims: “None of you shall pray ‘Asr until he is in Bani Quraizhah”. And so the time for ‘Asr came whilst they were on route and so some of them said: “We will not pray ‘Asr until we reach Bani Quraizhah as the Messenger of Allah (saw) said” whilst others said: “Rather we should pray ‘Asr now because the Messenger (saw) was only intending that we rush”. Then when this reached the Messenger (saw) he approved of both groups, each of them according to their understanding.

Consequently, Fiqh refers and relates to understanding the Aayah and the Hadeeth and taking the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy from them.

The Muslims continued upon that method and so every time they came across a new incident they understood its Hukm Ash-Shar’iy from the Aayaat and the Ahaadeeth and then committed to that understanding. Or some of them would understand its Hukm whilst others would take and adopt their opinion. This took place without recording the Fiqh upon paper and this continued until approximately the beginning of the second Hijri century.