The purpose of this series is:

1- To appreciate the role and the effort spent by our previous scholars 2 - To illustrate the human endeavors in codifying the laws of Islamic schools or Islamic Jurisprudence

3 - To clarify the differences between Sharia and Fiquhe (jurisprudence) 4 - To show the dynamic development that resulted in several schools (Madhabs) 5 - To try to point towards a direction for the future

Jurisprudence

Definition:

To codify laws that can be used for conducting life

The laws can be A: Devine sent by God B:Human made based on the spirit of the Divine laws

Will divide the history into 4 stages that leads to the modern current era:

We will see that each stage carried its specific characteristics and its different methodology.

1--The prophetic era 22 Years

2- The period of the companions 90 Years

3-The era of recording and the time of Great Imams 250 Years

4- The era of imitation and stagnation 4th Century till now

For each Period I will try to follow Sheikh Khallaf’s classification.

1-Who had the authority to legislate?

2-Sources of legislation

3- Plan of Legislation

4-What did this period leave for the next one

The Prophetic period

The Meca period 12 years

Muslims were very few and weak not yet an organized society

This is why in the Meca Suras “as Yunns 10, Ar Ra’d 13, Al Furqan 25 Yasin 36 and Al Hadid 57 ” there were no detailed Jurisprudence

Most of these suras concentrated on Manners ,beliefs, the oneness of God, the hereafter, and stories of other prophets

The Madina period

10 years

Muslims became an organized society with the needs to have laws to regulate the relationship between them and others at time of peace and war

Laws about marriage, divorce ,inheritance , and Hudud punishment were revealed in Madina’s Suras ,as

“Al Baqarah 2, Al Imran3 ,An Nisa 4,Al Maida 5, Al Anfal 8,Al Tawba 9, Al Ahzab 33, An Nur 24”

Who made the laws ?The prophet, either through revelations or his own knowledge as inspired by God .

The approach of the Prophetic period:

1-Graduality

2-Few Laws , everything is lawful unless specifically prohibited

3- Selecting the easier way “Tayseer”

4-The law is to benefit people

The period of the Companions:

1-The Quran at the beginning was not bound in one document

2-The Sunnah was not recorded

3-What was left from the previous period dealt with actual events, not hypothetical situations

4-New issues emerged that are not covered by a text

5- This period lasted 90 years