Editing Fiqh (section)

==Components==
{{further|Principles of Islamic jurisprudence}}
[[File:Map of the Legal systems of the world (en).png|thumb|350px|[[List of national legal systems|Legal systems of the world]]]]
The sources of [[Sharia]] in order of importance are:<ref name="Abul Quasem 1975 p. 26">Abul Quasem, M. (1975). The ethics of al-Ghazali: A composite ethics in Islam. p. 26</ref>
#[[Qur'an]]
#[[Hadith]]
#[[Ijma]], i.e. collective reasoning and consensus amongst authoritative Muslims of a particular generation, and its interpretation by Islamic scholars.
#The consensus of the [[Sahaba]]
#[[Qiyas]], analogical legal reasoning by Islamic jurists.<ref name="overview">{{cite book|editor1-first=Hisham M. |editor1-last=Ramadan|author1=Irshad Abdel Haqq|author-link1=Islamic law: An Overview of Its Origins and Elements|title=Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary|year=2006|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=9780759109919|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZS7EaHTQX8C&q=Islamic+law%3A+An+Overview+of+Its+Origins+and+Elements&pg=PA1 |access-date=17 August 2016}} p. 18</ref>

Majority of [[Sunni Muslims]] view ''[[Qiyas]]'' as a central Pillar of ''[[Ijtihad]]''.<ref name="overview"/> An example is the ruling of [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]], that "a judge should not sit in judgement while angry", whereas reason adds that this extends to hunger or suffering from a painful disease.<ref name="Abul Quasem 1975 p. 26"/> [[Zahiri]]tes, rejected ''Qiyas'' unlike the Sunnis.<ref>{{Cite book|last=B. Hallaq |first=Wael |title=THE ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF ISLAMIC LAW |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-80332-8 | location=Cambridge, UK |pages=124, 127}}</ref> The ''[[Shia Islam|Shi’a]]'' believed that all laws are implicitly mentioned in the Quran or the sunnah and can be discovered by the jurists of their tradition.<ref>Mansoor Moaddel, ''Islamic Modernism, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism: Episode and Discourse'', pg. 32. [[Chicago]]: [[University of Chicago Press]], 2005.</ref>

The [[Qur'an]] gives instructions on many issues, such as how to perform the ritual purification (''{{lang|ar|[[wudu]]}}'') before the obligatory daily prayers (''{{lang|ar|[[salat]]}}''). On other issues, for example, the Qur'an states one needs to engage in daily prayers (''{{lang|ar|[[salat]]}}'') and fast (''{{lang|ar|[[sawm]]}}'') during the [[Ramadan (calendar month)|month of Ramadan]] but further instructions and details on how to perform these duties can be found in the traditions of Muhammad, so [[Qur'an and Sunnah]] are in most cases the basis for (''{{lang|ar|[[Shariah]]}}'').

Some topics are without precedent in Islam's early period. In those cases, Muslim jurists (''{{lang|ar|[[Fuqaha]]}}'') try to arrive at conclusions by other means. [[Sunni]] jurists use historical consensus of the community (''{{lang|ar|[[Ijma]]}}''); a majority in the modern era also use [[analogy]] (''{{lang|ar|[[Qiyas]]}}'') and weigh the harms and benefits of new topics (''{{lang|ar|[[Istislah]]}}''), and a plurality utilizes juristic preference (''{{lang|ar|[[Istihsan]]}}''). The conclusions arrived at with the aid of these additional tools constitute a wide array of laws, and its application is called ''fiqh''. Thus, in contrast to the ''sharia'', ''fiqh'' is not regarded as [[sacred]] and the schools of thought have differing views on its details, without viewing other conclusions as [[Sacrilege|sacrilegious]]. This division of interpretation in more detailed issues has resulted in different schools of thought (''{{lang|ar|[[madh'hab]]}}'').

This wider concept of '''Islamic jurisprudence''' is the source of a range of laws in different topics that guide Muslims in everyday life.

=== Component categories ===
[[File:Actions in Fiqh.png|thumb|Actions in Islamic Fiqh]]

Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') covers two main areas:
# Rules in relation to actions, and,
# Rules in relation to circumstances surrounding actions.

These types of rules can also fall into two groups:
# Worship ([[Ibadah|Ibadaat]])
# Dealings and transactions (with people) ([[Muamalat|Mu`amalaat]])

Rules in relation to actions ('''amaliyya'' — عملية) or "[[Ahkam|decision types]]" comprise:
# Obligation (''[[fardh]]'')
# Recommendation (''[[mustahabb]]'')
# Permissibility (''[[mubah]]'')
# Disrecommendation (''[[makrooh]]'')
# Prohibition (''[[haraam]]'')

Rules in relation to circumstances (''wadia''') comprise:
# Condition (''shart'')
# Cause (''sabab'')
# Preventor (''mani'')
# Permit / Enforced (''rukhsah, azeemah'')
# Valid / Corrupt / Invalid (''sahih, fasid, batil'')
# In time / Deferred / Repeat (''adaa, qadaa, i'ada'')

=== Methodologies of jurisprudence ===
{{main|Principles of Islamic jurisprudence}}

The [[modus operandi]] of the Muslim jurist is known as ''[[usul al-fiqh]]'' ("principles of jurisprudence").

There are different approaches to the methodology used in jurisprudence to derive Islamic rulings from the primary sources of ''[[sharia]]'' (Islamic law). The main methodologies are those of the [[Sunni]], [[Shi'a]] and [[Ibadi]] denominations. While both Sunni and [[Shi'ite]] (Shia) are divided into smaller sub-schools, the differences among the Shi'ite schools is considerably greater. Ibadites only follow a single school without divisions.

While using court decisions as legal precedents and [[case law]] are central to Western law, the importance of the institution of fatawa (non-binding answers by Islamic legal scholars to legal questions) has been called "central to the development" of Islamic jurisprudence.<ref name=MAEGIFLEP2006:32>[[#MAEGIFLEP2006|El-Gamal, ''Islamic Finance'', 2006]]: p. 32</ref> This is in part because of a "vacuum" in the other source of Islamic law, ''qada`'' (legal rulings by state appointed Islamic judges) after the fall of the last [[caliphate]] the Ottoman Empire.<ref name=MAEGIFLEP2006:30-1/> While the practice in Islam dates back to the time of Muhammad, according to at least one source (Muhammad El-Gamal), it is "modeled after the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] system of ''[[responsa]]''," and gives the questioner "decisive primary-mover advantage in choosing the question and its wording."<ref name=MAEGIFLEP2006:30-1/>

Each school (''[[madhhab]]'') reflects a unique ''[[urf]]'' or culture (a cultural practice that was influenced by traditions), that the classical jurists themselves lived in, when rulings were made. Some suggest that the discipline of ''[[isnad]]'', which developed to validate ''hadith'' made it relatively easy to record and validate also the rulings of jurists. This, in turn, made them far easier to imitate (''[[taqlid]]'') than to challenge in new contexts. The argument is, the schools have been more or less frozen for centuries, and reflect a culture that simply no longer exists. Traditional scholars hold that religion is there to regulate human behavior and nurture people's moral side and since human nature has not fundamentally changed since the beginning of Islam a call to modernize the religion is essentially one to relax all laws and institutions.

Early ''[[shariah]]'' had a much more flexible character, and some modern Muslim scholars believe that it should be renewed, and that the classical jurists should lose special status. This would require formulating a new fiqh suitable for the modern world, e.g. as proposed by advocates of the [[Islamization of knowledge]], which would deal with the modern context. This modernization is opposed by most conservative ''[[ulema]]''. Traditional scholars hold that the laws are contextual and consider circumstance such as time, place and culture, the principles they are based upon are universal such as justice, equality and respect. Many Muslim scholars argue that even though technology may have advanced, the fundamentals of human life have not.

=== Fields of jurisprudence ===
{{flatlist}}
*[[Islamic criminal jurisprudence|Criminal]]
*[[Islamic economical jurisprudence|Economics]]
*[[Adab (behavior)|Etiquette]]
*[[Islamic family jurisprudence|Family]]
*[[Hygiene in Islam|Hygienical]]
*[[Islamic inheritance jurisprudence|Inheritance]]
*[[Islamic marital jurisprudence|Marital]]
*[[Rules of war in Islam|Military]]
*[[Islamic political jurisprudence|Political]]
*[[Islamic theological jurisprudence|Theological]]
{{endflatlist}}

=== Schools of jurisprudence ===
{{Main|Madhhab}}
There are several [[Madhhab|schools of fiqh thought]] ({{langx|ar|مذهب}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|madhhab}}''; pl. {{lang|ar|مذاهب}} ''{{Transliteration|ar|DIN|maḏāhib}}'')
[[File:Madhhab Map3.png|thumb|Map of the Muslim world with the main schools of thoughts<ref>{{Cite web |title=Islamic Jurisprudence & Law {{!}} ReOrienting the Veil |url=https://veil.unc.edu/religions/islam/law/ |access-date=2025-05-19 |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Needs update|date=May 2025|reason=Our Fiqh map does need an update, for example Bahrain is mostly orange (representing Ja'fari) while its Monarchy is Maliki and a majority of its citizens Sunni. Would be very helpful to get an update to date SVG version of the map as there are some tiny island Indian Ocean countries who are not shown on the map}}]]
The schools of [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] Islam are each named by students of the classical jurist who taught them. The Sunni schools (and where they are commonly found) are:
*[[Hanafi school|Hanafi]] ([[Turkey]], [[Balkans]], [[Levant]], [[Central Asia]], [[Islam in South Asia|South Asia]], [[Islam in China|China]], [[North Caucasus|Northwest Caucasus]], [[Lower Egypt]], and [[Tatarstan]])
*[[Maliki school|Maliki]] ([[North Africa]], [[West Africa]], [[Upper Egypt]], [[Kuwait]], [[Bahrain]], [[Emirate of Abu Dhabi|Abu Dhabi]], and [[Emirate of Dubai|Dubai]])
*[[Shafi'i school|Shafi'i]] ([[Indonesia]], [[Malaysia]], [[Brunei]], [[Kurdistan]], [[East Africa]], [[Indian Ocean]], [[North Caucasus|Northeast Caucuses]], [[Yemen]], [[Oman]], [[Islam in Kerala|Kerala]], and [[Emirate of Fujairah|Fujairah]])
*[[Hanbali school|Hanbali]] ([[Saudi Arabia]], [[Qatar]], [[Emirate of Sharjah|Sharjah]], [[Emirate of Umm Al Quwain|Umm al-Quwain]], [[Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah|Ras al-Khaimah]], and [[Emirate of Ajman|Ajman]])

The schools of [[Shia]] Islam are based off of the [[Ja'fari school|Ja'fari]] school of jurisprudence. The Shia schools (and where they are commonly found) are:
*[[Twelver Shi'ism|Twelver]] ([[Iran]], [[Iraq]], and [[Azerbaijan]])
*[[Ismailism|Isma'ili]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Lakhani |first=M. Ali |title=Faith and Ethics: The Vision of the Ismaili Imamat |page=4 |quote=The place of the Ismailis within the theological pluralism of the Muslim community is best summarised by their Imam's statement to the International Islamic Conference held in Amman in July 2005: "Our historic adherence is to the Ja'fari madhhab and other madhahib of close affinity, and it continues, under the leadership of the hereditary Ismaili Imam of the time. This adherence is in harmony also with our acceptance of Sufi principles of personal search and balance between the zahir and the spirit or the intellect which the zahir signifies." |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2017 |isbn=978-1786733900}}</ref> (minority communities in [[Central Asia]], [[South Asia]], [[Levant]], [[Yemen]])
*[[Zaydism|Zaydi]] (minority communities in [[Yemen]])

Entirely separate from both the Sunni and Shia traditions, [[Kharijites|Khawarij]] Islam has evolved its own distinct school.
*[[Ibadism|Ibadi]] (minority communities in [[Oman]])

These schools share many of their rulings, but differ on the particular [[hadith]]s they accept as authentic and the weight they give to analogy or reason ([[qiyas]]) in deciding difficulties.

The relationship between (at least the Sunni) schools of jurisprudence and the conflict between the unity of the Shariah and the diversity of the schools, was expressed by the 12th century Hanafi scholar [[Abu Hafs Umar al-Nasafi]], who wrote: "Our school is correct with the possibility of error, and another school is in error with the possibility of being correct."<ref>{{cite book|last1 = Brown|first1 = Jonathan A.C.|author-link = Jonathan A.C. Brown|title = Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy|date = 2014|publisher = [[Oneworld Publications]]|isbn = 978-1780744209|url = https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/50|access-date = 4 June 2018|ref = JACBMM2014|pages = [https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/50 50-51]}}</ref>