Fiqh a harshe yana nufin fahimta, kamar yadda Allah yake cewa:

Fiqh linguistically means understanding as in His  saying

Wato, ba mu fahimta ba. Bisa ga ma'anar malamai masu fiqihu, fiqhu an ayyana shi a matsayin sanin jerin hukunce-hukuncen Shari'ah na reshe (furu'iyya) waɗanda ake samun su ta hanyar nazari da koyo (istidlal). Sanin hukunce-hukuncen Shari'ah (ahkamu shar'iyya) ya fara ne a ranar da waɗannan hukunce-hukuncen Shari'ah suka wanzu, kuma hakan ya kasance bayan hijirar da aka yi daga Makka zuwa Madina. Wannan saboda an aiko Manzon Allah ﷺ, ya zauna a Makka tsawon shekara goma sha uku, sannan ya zauna a Madina kimanin shekara goma, kuma a cikin wannan lokaci ana saukar da Alkur'ani, ko da yake ayoyin hukunce-hukunce an saukar da su ne a Madina. A wannan lokaci ana saukar da Alkur'ani, Manzon Allah ﷺ kuma yana magana game da hukunce-hukuncen da suka shafi duk abin da ya faru ta fuskar al'amura, da kuma game da mafita ga duk matsalolin da suka taso.

That is, we do not understand. According to the definition of the legists, fiqh is designated as the knowledge of a body of subsidiary (furu’iyya) Sharī’ah rules acquired through study and eduction (istidlal). Knowledge of the Sharī’ah rules (ahkām shar’iah) began the day these Sharī’ah rules came to exist and that was after the migration (hijra) from Makkah to Madina. This is because the Messenger of Allah  was sent and he stayed in Makkah for thirteen years then he resided in Madina for about ten years and the Qur’ān used to be revealed throughout this period, though the verses of ahkām were revealed in Madina. In this period the Qur’ān used to be revealed and the Messenger  would talk about the ahkām relating to whatever they included in terms of events and relating to the solution for whatever problems that arose.

Ɓangaren da aka saukar a Makka yana kusan kashi biyu bisa uku na Alƙur'ani, kuma ana kiransu ayoyin Makkiyya (makkiyy). Gabaɗaya, da wuya su yi magana a kan wani hukunci guda ɗaya; sun fi mayar da hankali ne a kan bayyana tushen addini da kira zuwa gare shi, kamar imani da Allah da Manzonsa ﷺ, da Ranar Alƙiyama, da umarnin yin Salla, da siffantawa da kyawawan halaye kamar gaskiya da amana, da hana munanan ayyuka kamar zina, kisan kai, binne 'ya'ya mata da rai, da ƙarancin awo da ma'auni, da sauransu. Ɓangare na biyu, wanda aka saukar a Madina, yana kusan kashi ɗaya bisa uku na Alƙur'ani, kuma ana kiransu ayoyin Madaniyya (madaniyy). Su ayoyin mu'amala ne kamar sayarwa, haya da riba; daga cikin hudud akwai hadddin zina da sata; daga cikin jinayat (hukuncin kisa) akwai kisan wanda ya kashe wani da gangan ko hukuncin ɓarayin hanya; kuma daga cikin bayyanat (hujjojin shaida) akwai shaidar zina da sauran shaidu. Haka kuma an saukar da sauran hukunce-hukuncen da suka shafi ibadu (‘ibadat) kamar azumi, zakka, hajji da jihadi. Daga wannan ya bayyana cewa, duk da cewa an saukar da hukunce-hukuncen Salla a Makka, ba su samar da jerin dokoki ba, sai dai ilimin wani nau'in hukunci. Amma abin da aka saukar a Madina ya ƙunshi dukkan ahkam, shi ya sa ilimin irin waɗannan hukunce-hukunce ake ɗaukarsa fiqh. Saboda haka, ya fi dacewa mu ce fiqh ya fara ne a Madina, kuma tunda fiqh ya ƙunshi hukunce-hukunce na aiki, an saukar da su ne domin su magance al'amuran da suka faru. Ayoyin hukunci galibi suna da alaka da al'amuran da suka faru, don haka masu jayayya suna mayar da hukunci ga Manzon Allah ﷺ, sai shi ya yi hukunci a tsakaninsu bisa ka'idodin da Allah ya saukar masa, ko kuma a lokacin da matsaloli suke bukatar mafita sai a saukar da wata aya ko ayoyi da ke bayyana hukuncin. Wannan shi ne ma'anar saukar da Alkur'ani a hankali a hankali (munajjaman). Saboda haka, bangaren shari'a ya kasance a bayyane sosai a cikin saukar Alkur'ani. Ayoyin ba sa magana kan abubuwan da ka iya faruwa a zato ba; a maimakon haka, suna magana ne kan al'amuran da suka faru a zahiri da kuma matsalolin da suke faruwa a tsakanin mutane a yanzu. Alkur'ani ya ci gaba da saukowa har zuwa shekarar da Manzon Allah ﷺ ya tafi wurin Abokin Tafiya Madaukaki (al-rafiq al-a'la). Allah ya cika kuma ya kammala addini, kuma ya saukar masa da aya ta karshe wacce ita ce faɗinsa a cikin Suratul Baqara:

The portion that was revealed in Makkah approximates to about two thirds of the Qur’ān and they are designated as the Makkan verses (makkiyy). In their totality they barely deal with a single hukm, rather they are confined to explaining the fundamentals of the deen and calling people to them, such as the belief in Allah  and His Messenger , the Day of Judgement, the command to perform Salah, characterisation by moral attributes such as honesty, trust, and forbidding evil actions such as fornication, murder, burying girls alive, deficiency in the measure and scales etc. The second portion that was revealed in Madina is close to a third of the Qur’ān and they are designated as the Madinan verses (madaniyy). They are verses of mu’amalat (transactions) such as selling, renting and usury and from the hudud, such as the hadd of zina (fornication) and stealing, from the jinayat (capital punishments) such as killing the one who killed someone intentionally or punishment of highway robbers and from the bayyinat (testimonial evidences) such as the testimony of zina and the rest of the testimonies, as well the remaining rules concerning the worships (‘ibadat) such as fasting, zakah, hajj and jihad were revealed. From this it becomes clear that even though rules of prayer were revealed in Makkah they do not form a body of rules but knowledge of a type of rule. As for what was revealed in Madina, they consisted of all the ahkām, which is why knowledge of such rules is considered fiqh. Therefore, it is more accurate for us to say that fiqh began in Madina and since fiqh constitutes practical rules, they have been revealed to treat incidents that have taken place. The verses of ahkām more often than not were in connection to the events that had taken place, so the disputants would refer judgement to the Messenger of Allah  and he  would judge between them according to the rules that Allah  had revealed to him  or on the occasion of problems requiring solutions an ayah or ayaats stating the hukm would be revealed. This is what it means for the Qur’ān to be revealed gradually (munajjaman). Therefore, the legislative aspect used to be quite evident in the revelation of the Qur’ān. The ayaats did not treat assumptions that may happen; rather, they treated issues that actually took place and problems that actually take place between people. The Qur’ān continued to be revealed until the year in which the Messenger of Allah  left for the Sublime Companion (al-rafiq al-a’la). Allah  perfected and completed the deen and He  revealed to him  the last ayah which is His  saying in Sura al-Baqara:

Tare da wannan, an kammala ahkāmi a matsayinsu na ahkāmi. Alkur'ani da ayyuka, maganganu da amincewar Manzon Allah ﷺ sun ƙunshi hukunce-hukuncen dukkan nau'o'in ayyukan da ke fitowa daga mutane: daga ibadodi (‘ibādāt) kamar sallah da zakka, daga ɗabi'u kamar gaskiya da amana, daga mu'amalolin al'umma (mu'āmalāt) kamar kisan kai da sata, daga hujjojin shaida (bayyināt) kamar dokokin shaidu da dokokin takardun rubutu, da kuma daga al'amuran siyasa da suka shafi manufofin cikin gida kamar dokokin Khalifa da dokokin shari'a, ko kuma waɗanda suka shafi manufofin ƙasashen waje kamar dokokin mayaƙa da yarjejeniyoyi. Saboda kasancewar hukunce-hukuncen Shari'ah ne ilimin fiqhu ya fara wanzuwa, domin fiqhu shi ne sanin jumlar hukunce-hukuncen Shari'ah.

With it the ahkām were completed in their capacity as ahkām. The Qur’ān and the actions, sayings and consent of the Messenger  contain the rulings for all the types of actions that ensue from human beings; from the worships (‘ibadat) like prayer (salah) and zakat, from the morals such as honesty and trust, from the societal transactions (mu’amalat) such as murder and theft, from the testimonial evidences (bayyinat) such as the rules of testimonies and the rules of written documents and from the political affairs relating to the domestic policy such as the rules of the Khalifah and the rules of the judiciary, or relating to the foreign policy such as the rules of combatants and treaties. Due to the presence of the Sharī’ah rules jurispudence (fiqh) came into existence because fiqh is the knowledge of a body of Sharī’ah rules.