Jun 01, 2024
DOI: 10.47798/awuj.2024.i68.02
Published in: Al Wasl University Journal
The discipline of Usul al-Fiqh (Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence) is the most important in Islamic Shari'a. A scholar cannot reach the level of Ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) without a thorough understanding of Usul al-Fiqh, and it is not permissible in Islam for someone who has not studied Usul al-Fiqh to issue a fatwa. To learn any field of knowledge, one must first familiarise oneself with the ten principles of that field, which include its definition, subject matter, questions, outcomes, relationship to other disciplines, virtues, founder, name, derivation, and the ruling on studying it. This paper deals with the topic of derivation and independence of the discipline of Usul al-Fiqh. It aims to answer the following questions: What are the sources from which Usul al-Fiqh is de- rived? What is the nature of the derivation of Usul al-Fiqh from these sources? Is Usul al-Fiqh an independent disipline or an offshoot of other disiplines? The paper concludes that Usul al-Fiqh is generally derived from three disicplines: the funda- mentals of religion, the Arabic language, and Sharia rulings. It also affirms that the claim that Usul al-Fiqh is not an independent disicpline is incorrect and that its derivation from other disiplines does not affect its independence.
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