Fiqh secara bahasa berarti pemahaman, sebagaimana dalam firman-Nya

Fiqh linguistically means understanding as in His  saying

Itu berarti kami tidak memahami. Menurut definisi para fuqaha, fikih didefinisikan sebagai ilmu tentang sekumpulan hukum syariat furu'iyyah (cabang) yang diperoleh melalui kajian dan pembelajaran (istidlal). Pengetahuan tentang hukum-hukum syariat (ahkām syar'iyyah) dimulai pada hari hukum-hukum syariat ini mulai ada, yaitu setelah hijrah dari Makkah ke Madinah. Hal ini karena Rasulullah ﷺ diutus dan tinggal di Makkah selama tiga belas tahun, kemudian menetap di Madinah sekitar sepuluh tahun. Selama periode ini Al-Qur'an terus diturunkan, meskipun ayat-ayat hukum (ahkām) diturunkan di Madinah. Pada masa ini Al-Qur'an diturunkan dan Rasulullah ﷺ menjelaskan hukum-hukum yang berkaitan dengan peristiwa-peristiwa yang terjadi serta solusi bagi setiap permasalahan yang muncul.

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.

Bagian yang diturunkan di Makkah kira-kira mendekati dua pertiga dari Al-Qur’ān, dan dinamakan ayat-ayat Makkiyy. Secara keseluruhan, ayat-ayat tersebut hampir tidak membahas satu hukum pun; sebaliknya, ayat-ayat itu terbatas pada penjelasan dasar-dasar agama dan seruan kepada dasar-dasar tersebut, seperti keimanan kepada Allah dan Rasul-Nya ﷺ, Hari Kiamat, perintah untuk melaksanakan Salat, penggambaran dengan sifat-sifat akhlak seperti kejujuran dan amanah, serta larangan terhadap perbuatan buruk seperti zina, pembunuhan, mengubur anak perempuan hidup-hidup, dan kecurangan dalam takaran dan timbangan, dan lain-lain. Bagian kedua yang diturunkan di Madinah mendekati sepertiga dari Al-Qur’ān, dan dinamakan ayat-ayat Madaniyy. Ayat-ayat tersebut berisi muamalat (transaksi) seperti jual beli, sewa-menyewa, dan riba; dari hudud, seperti had zina dan pencurian; dari jinayat (hukuman qisas), seperti membunuh orang yang membunuh secara sengaja atau hukuman bagi perampok jalanan; dan dari bayyinat (bukti-bukti kesaksian), seperti kesaksian atas zina dan kesaksian-kesaksian lainnya, serta hukum-hukum lain mengenai ibadah (‘ibadat) seperti puasa, zakat, haji, dan jihad. Dari sini menjadi jelas bahwa meskipun hukum-hukum salat diturunkan di Makkah, hukum-hukum itu tidak membentuk suatu kumpulan aturan, melainkan pengetahuan tentang satu jenis hukum. Adapun yang diturunkan di Madinah, di dalamnya terdapat seluruh ahkām, dan karena itulah pengetahuan tentang hukum-hukum semacam ini disebut fiqh. Oleh karena itu, lebih tepat bagi kita untuk mengatakan bahwa fiqh dimulai di Madinah, dan karena fiqh merupakan hukum-hukum praktis, hukum-hukum itu diturunkan untuk menangani peristiwa-peristiwa yang telah terjadi. Ayat-ayat ahkam lebih sering berkaitan dengan peristiwa yang telah terjadi, sehingga para pihak yang berselisih akan menyerahkan keputusan kepada Rasulullah ﷺ, dan beliau akan memutuskan di antara mereka sesuai dengan hukum-hukum yang telah Allah wahyukan kepadanya, atau ketika terdapat persoalan yang membutuhkan penyelesaian, sebuah ayat atau beberapa ayat yang menetapkan hukum akan diturunkan. Inilah makna Al-Qur’an diturunkan secara bertahap (munajjaman). Oleh karena itu, aspek legislatif sangat jelas tampak dalam turunnya Al-Qur’an. Ayat-ayat tersebut tidak membahas kemungkinan-kemungkinan yang mungkin terjadi, melainkan membahas persoalan-persoalan yang benar-benar terjadi dan permasalahan-permasalahan yang benar-benar dialami manusia. Al-Qur’an terus diturunkan hingga tahun ketika Rasulullah ﷺ berpulang menuju Al-Rafiq Al-A’la. Allah telah menyempurnakan dan melengkapi agama, dan Dia menurunkan kepada beliau ﷺ ayat terakhir, yaitu firman-Nya dalam Surat Al-Baqarah:

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:

Dengan itu, hukum-hukum (ahkam) telah disempurnakan dalam kapasitasnya sebagai hukum. Al-Qur'an serta perbuatan, perkataan, dan persetujuan Rasulullah ﷺ memuat ketentuan bagi seluruh jenis tindakan yang timbul dari manusia: dari ibadah (‘ibadat) seperti shalat dan zakat, dari akhlak seperti kejujuran dan amanah, dari transaksi kemasyarakatan (mu’amalat) seperti pembunuhan dan pencurian, dari bukti-bukti kesaksian (bayyinat) seperti aturan persaksian dan aturan dokumen tertulis, serta dari urusan politik yang berkaitan dengan kebijakan dalam negeri seperti aturan Khalifah dan aturan peradilan, atau yang berkaitan dengan kebijakan luar negeri seperti aturan kombatan dan perjanjian. Karena adanya hukum-hukum Syariah, muncullah fiqih (fiqh), sebab fiqih adalah ilmu tentang sekumpulan hukum Syariah.

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.