Principles of Law
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 October 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 October 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0247
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 October 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 October 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0247
Introduction
Much of early Islamic literature concerns the science of fiqh, which is often translated as “Islamic law.” Books on the subject are full of rules and regulations, ranging from personal etiquette to international relations. For a couple of centuries following the death of Muhammad, these books of law flourished, leading some Muslim scholars to reflect on the underlying principles that animate Islamic law. Often, this reflection took the form of short treatises, but other times the reflections were systematic expositions that came to be called usul al-fiqh, or the “principles of law.” These works provided rules for reading foundational sources, guidelines for determining legal capacity, linguistic theories, and definitions for technical legal terms, among many other things. There is vigorous debate about whether the subjects covered in usul al-fiqh can be rightly called “principles,” or if the genre was even meant to provide principles at all. Some argue that true principles are found in other forms of Islamic literature about, for example, the role of human reason, the “objectives of the law” (maqasid al-shariʿa), or the “legal maxims” (qawaʿid) according to which law is to be derived and assessed. There is a plurality of approaches to the subject of the “principles of law,” and diverse opinions on how they are to be understood and studied.
Arabic Sources
It is necessary to provide a list of relevant texts in their original Arabic for two reasons. First, there are very few English translations of historical usul al-fiqh works, and certainly not enough to provide a representative sample. Second, many of the translations that have been produced contain stilted language that is difficult to comprehend. Thus, Arabic sources will continue to play a crucial role in the study of usul al-fiqh until more translations written in accessible language are made available, like those listed in the next section. Books of usul al-fiqh often claim to represent the thinking of an entire legal school. Therefore, the most common way for aspiring jurists to express their thoughts on “principles of law” was to produce commentaries on extant books within a legal school. These commentaries elucidate, sometimes disagreeing with or changing, the original text. The usul al-fiqh texts listed below are selected from different legal schools, and each—with the exception of Ibn Hazm 1996—contains both an original text and a commentary from a later scholar from the same legal school. The texts listed below were chosen based on four criteria: (1) authoritativeness within the legal school, (2) inclusion of commentaries from different time periods, (3) accessibility in libraries around the world, and (4) publication quality that makes for easy reading.
al-ʿAttar, Hasan ibn Muhammad. Hāshiyat al- ʿAṭṭār ʿalā Sharḥ al-Jalāl al-Maḥallī ʿalā Jamʿal-Jawāmiʿ. 2 vols. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyah, 2009.
This text was written by the renowned Shafiʿi scholar Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 1340), and this version includes a commentary from Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli (d. 1459), and a supercommentary by Hasan al-ʿAttar (d. 1835).
ʿAwtabi, Salama b. Muslim. Ḍiyāʾ al-Ḍiyāʾ. Muscat, Oman: Maktab al-Mustashar al-Khass, 2004.
Written by the ʿIbadi scholar Salama b. Muslim al-ʿAwtabi (d. early 12th century), this work is based on a book by his predecessor, ʿAbd Allah al-Bahlawi (d. early 11th-century) and has become a standard book of ʿIbadi usul.
Burujirdi, Husayn al-Tabatabaʿi. Al-Ḥāshiya ʿAlā Kifāyat al-Uṣūl. 2 vols. Qum, Iran: Mu’assasat Ansariyan, 1992.
A gloss by one of the most prominent Jaʿfari Shiʿa scholars of the modern era, Husayn Burujirdi (d. 1961), upon a text written by his teacher, Akhund Muhammad Kazim Khurasani (d. 1911). This book is regularly taught in seminaries.
Ibn Hazm, ʿAli b. Ahmad. Al-Iḥkām fī Uṣūl al-Aḥkām. 4 vols. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiya, 1996.
A foundational work by Ibn Hazm (d. 1064), this book is widely considered the most authoritative Zahiri work of usul al-fiqh.
Ibn al-Husayn, Ahmad. Al-Mujzī fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh. 4 vols. San’aa, Yemen: Abdul Karim Jadban, 2013.
This Zaydi text, whose author is also known as al-Natiq bi-l-Haqq (d. 1033), includes the thoughts of many Muʿtazili scholars of his time, especially Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Basri (d. 980), and was adopted by prominent Muʿtazilis thereafter, most notably Abu al-Husayn al-Basri (d. 1044).
al-Iji, Abd al-Rahman b. Ahmad. Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar al-Muntaha al-Uṣūlī. 3 vols. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyah, 2004.
The Maliki scholar ʿAdud al-Din al-Iji (d. 1355) penned this commentary upon a work by Ibn al-Hajib (d. 1248), which is itself a commentary on an earlier book, also by Ibn al-Hajib.
Laknawi, Muhammad Amin Allah. Qamar al-Aqmār li Nūr al-Anwār fī Sharḥ al-Manār. 2 vols. Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyah, 1995.
Based on a central Hanafi usul work, al-Manar by Abu al-Barakat al-Nasafi (d. 1310), this text includes a commentary by Mulla Jiwan (d. 1717), and a supercommentary by ʿAbd al-Halim al-Laknawi (d. 1868).
al-Mardawi, ʿAli ibn Sulayman. Muqaddimat al-Tahbīr Sharḥ al-Taḥrīr fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh al-Ḥanbalī. 8 vols. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Maktabat al-Rushd, 2000.
A commentary by al-Mardawi (d. 1480–1481) on a Hanbali usul text written by Ibn Muflih (d. 1361).
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abbasid Caliphate
- `Abdolkarim Soroush
- 'Abduh, Muhammad
- ʿAbdul Razzāq Kāshānī
- Abraham
- Abu Sayyaf Group
- Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP)
- Adoption
- Afghani, Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-
- Africa, Islam in
- Afterlife, Heaven, Hell
- Ahmad Khan, Sayyid
- Ahmadiyyah Movement, The
- Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar
- `A'isha
- 'A’isha al-Baʿuniyya
- 'Alī Ibn Abī Ṭālib
- al-Ḥallāj, Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr
- Alawis
- Alhambra
- Al-Jāḥiẓ
- Al-Kindi
- Al-Maʿarrī
- Almohads
- al-Sadiq, Ja`far
- Al-Siddiq, Abu Bakr
- Amin, Nusrat
- Ḥanbalīs
- Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM)
- Animals
- Apostasy
- Arab Painting
- Arab Salafism
- Arab Spring
- Arabic Language and Islam
- Arabic Praise Poems
- Archaeology, Islamic
- Architecture
- Art, Islamic
- Ashʿariyya
- Ashura
- Australia, Islam in
- 'Aysha Abd Al-Rahman
- Ayyubids
- Azhar, al-
- Baha'i Faith
- Balkans, Islam in the
- Banna, Hasan al-
- Bektashi Sufi Order
- Berbers
- Body
- Bourgiba, Habib
- Britain, Islam and Muslims in
- Caliph and Caliphate
- Caucasus
- Central Asia, Islam in
- Chechnya: History, Society, Conflict
- Christianity, Islam and
- Cinema, Turkish
- Civil Society
- Clash of Civilizations
- Contemporary Islamic Popular Culture in Southeast Asia
- David Santillana
- Daʿwa
- Death, Dying, and the Afterlife
- Democracy and Islam
- Deoband Madrasa
- Disabilities, Islam and
- Dome of the Rock
- Dreams and Islam
- Dress and Fashion
- Druze
- Education
- Ethics
- Europe, Islam in
- European Imperialism
- Fahad al-Asker
- Fairuz
- Fana and Baqa
- Farangī Maḥall
- Fatima
- Female Islamic Education Movements
- Finance, Islamic
- Fiqh Al-Aqalliyyat
- Five Pillars of Islam, The
- Gender and Sexuality
- Gender-based Violence and Islam
- Ghadir Khumm
- Ghazali, al-
- Gökalp, Mehmet Ziya
- Gülen, Muhammed Fethullah
- Granada, Nasrids of
- Hadith
- Hadith and Gender
- Hadith Commentary
- Hadith: Shiʿi
- Halal Studies
- Hamas
- Hanafi School, The
- Hasan
- Hausa
- Hijaz
- Hijaz Railway
- Hilli, al-
- Hip-Hop and Islam
- Historiography
- History of Astronomy and Space Science in the Islamic Worl...
- Hizb al-Nahdah
- Homosexuality
- Human Rights
- Husayn
- Ibadiyya
- Ibn al-ʿArabī
- Ibn Baṭṭūṭa
- Ibn Bâjjah
- Ibn Khaldun
- Ibn Rushd (Averroës)
- Ibn Sīnā
- Ibn Taymiyya
- Ibn Ṭufayl
- Ijtihad
- 'Ilm al-Khilāf / Legal Controversy
- Indonesia, Islam in
- Inheritance
- Inji Efflatoun
- Internet, Islam and the
- Iqbal, Muhammad
- Iran, Islam in
- Iranian Revolution, The
- Islam, Environments and Landscapes in
- Islam in Ethiopia and Eritrea
- Islam, Nature, and the Environment
- Islamic Aesthetics
- Islamic Calligraphy
- Islamic Exegesis, Christians and Christianity in
- Islamic Law and Gender
- Islamic Print Media
- Islamic Salvation Front (FIS)
- Islamic Studies, Food in
- Islamic Trends and Movements in Contemporary Sub-Saharan A...
- Islamophobia
- Japan, Islam in
- Jesus
- Jewish-Muslim Relations
- Jihad
- Jilani, `Abd al-Qadir al (Gilani)
- Ka`aba
- Karbala in Shiʿi Ritual
- Khaled Al Siddiq
- Kharijites
- Kharijites and Contemporary Scholarship, The
- Khatami, Muhammad
- Khomeini, Ruhollah Mousavi
- Kurds, The
- Law, Islamic Criminal
- Literature and Muslim Women
- Maher Zain
- Malcolm X
- Malikis
- Maḥmūd Gāvān
- Marriage
- Martyrdom (Shahada)
- Mary in Islam
- Mawdudi, Sayyid Abuʾl-Aʾla
- Medina
- Medina, The Constitution of
- Method in the Study of Islam
- Middle East and North Africa, Islam in
- Mihna
- Miskawayh
- Modern and Contemporary Egyptian Art
- Modernism
- Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin
- Moses
- Māturīdī
- Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī
- Muhammad
- Muhammad, Elijah
- Muhammad, Tomb of
- Muharram
- Muslim Brotherhood
- Muslim Nonviolence
- Muslim Pilgrimage Traditions in West Africa
- Muslim Television Preachers
- Mutʿa
- Mu`tazilites
- Nana Asma'u bint Usman ‘dan Fodio
- Nation of Islam
- Nationalism
- Nigeria, Islam in
- Nizar Qabbani
- North America, Islam in
- Nursi, Said
- On the History of the Book in Islamic Studies
- Organization of Islamic Cooperation
- Orientalism and Islam
- Ottoman Empire, Islam in the
- Ottoman Empire, Millet System in the
- Ottoman Women
- Pamuk, Orhan
- Papyrus, Parchment, and Paper in Islamic Studies
- PAS
- People of the Book
- Philippines, Islam in the
- Philosophy, Islamic
- Pilgrimage and Religious Travel
- Political Islam
- Political Theory, Islamic
- Post-Ottoman Syria, Islam in
- Pre-Islamic Arabia/The Jahiliyya
- Principles of Law
- Progressive Muslim Thought, Progressive Islam and
- Prophecy, The Finality of
- Purity
- Qaeda, al-
- Qaradawi, Yusuf al-
- Qur'an
- Qurʾan and Contemporary Analysis
- Qurʾan and Context
- Qutb, Sayyid
- Razi, Fakhr al-Din al-
- Reformist Muslims in Contemporary America
- Russia, Islam in
- Sadra, Mulla
- Safavids
- Sahara, The Kunta of the
- Saiyid Ahmad of Rai Bareli
- Salafism
- Sarekat Islam
- Science and Medicine
- Shafi`is
- Shari`a (Islamic Law)
- Shari'ati, Ali
- Shaṭṭārīya
- Shaykhism
- Shiʿa, Ismaʿili
- Shiʿa, Twelver
- Shi`i Islam
- Shi‘I Shrine Cities
- Shi'i Tafsir, Twelver
- Sicily, Islam in
- Sociology and Anthropology
- South Asia, Islam in
- Southeast Asia, Islam in
- Spain, Muslim
- Sīra
- Sufism
- Sufism in the United States
- Suhrawardī, Shihāb al-Dīn
- Sukarno
- Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan III
- Sunna
- Sunni Islam
- Tabari, -al
- Tablighi Jamaʿat
- Tafsir
- Tafsir, Women and
- Taha, Mahmūd Muhammad
- Taliban
- Tanzīh and Tashbīh in Classical Islamic Theological Though...
- Textual Criticism, Qur'an and
- The Babi Movement
- The Barelvī School of Thought
- The Nizari Ismailis of the Persianate World
- Theology
- Turabi, Hassan al-
- Turkey, Islam in
- Turkish Language, Literature, and Islam
- Twelver Shi'ism in Modern India
- Twelver Shi'ism in Pakistan
- Umayyads, The
- Wahhabism
- Women in Islam
- Yemen, Islam in
- Zaydiyya