A faqīh (plural ''fuqahā'', ar, فقيه, pl. ‏‎) is an Islamic jurist, an expert in ''

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...

'', or Islamic

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

and

Islamic Law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

Definition

Islamic

or ''fiqh'' is the human understanding of the Sharia (believed by Muslims to represent divine law as revealed in the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing.: ...

and the ''

Sunnah In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and pass ...

'' (the teachings and practices of the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...

). Sharia expanded and developed by interpretation (''

ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a l ...

'') of the Quran and ''Sunnah'' by Islamic jurists (''

Ulema In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

'') and implemented by the rulings (''

Fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist ...

'') of jurists on questions presented to them. ''Fiqh'' deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam. In the modern era there are four prominent schools (''

madh'hab A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within '' fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence). The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries ...

'') of ''fiqh'' within Sunni practice and two (or three) within

Shi'a Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

practice. The historian

Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, o ...

describes ''fiqh'' as "knowledge of the rules of God which concern the actions of persons who own themselves bound to obey the law respecting what is required ('' wajib''), sinful ('' haraam''), recommended ('' mandūb''), disapproved ('' makrūh'') or neutral ('' mubah'')". This definition is consistent amongst the jurists. Another definition of ''fiqh'' is "Knowledge of legislative rulings, pertaining to the actions of man, as derived from their detailed evidences." *"Legislative rulings..." here excludes rulings that are purely theoretical in nature, such as those found in the science of ''uṣūl al-fiqh'', as well as those theological in nature, generally discussed in the books of

Aqidah ''Aqidah'' ( (), plural ''ʿaqāʾid'', also rendered ''ʿaqīda'', ''aqeeda'', etc.) is an Islamic term of Arabic origin that literally means " creed". It is also called Islamic creed and Islamic theology. ''Aqidah'' go beyond concise state ...

Kalam ''ʿIlm al-Kalām'' ( ar, عِلْم الكَلام, literally "science of discourse"), usually foreshortened to ''Kalām'' and sometimes called "Islamic scholastic theology" or "speculative theology", is the philosophical study of Islamic doc ...

. *"derived from their detailed evidences" here connotes two things: #that there is a method of derivation; and, #that the source for such derivation are the various evidences considered valid Islamically.

Methods of derivation

Methods of derivation are laid out in the books of ''uṣūl al-fiqh'' (principles of fiqh), and those evidences which are deemed valid for deriving rulings from are many in number. Four of them are agreed upon by the vast majority of jurists. They are: * The

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...

* The

* Ijma' or Consensus *

Qiyas In Islamic jurisprudence, qiyas ( ar, قياس , " analogy") is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Quran, in order to apply a known injunction ('' nass'') to a ...

or Analogy These four types of evidence are seen as acceptable by the vast majority of Jurists from both the schools of Sunni Jurists (the

Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named ...

Maliki The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primar ...

Shafi'i The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...

, and

Hanbali The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools ('' madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...

and sometimes the

Zahiriyah The Ẓāhirī ( ar, ظاهري, otherwise transliterated as ''Dhāhirī'') ''madhhab'' or al-Ẓāhirīyyah ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī in the 9th century CE. It is chara ...

), as well as

Jurists. However,

or Literalists do not see

as valid. While Twelver Shia see edicts of the Twelve Imams as holding the same weight as the Quran and Sunnah, this is unacceptable by Sunni Jurists.

Conditions for being a faqīh

The faqīh is one who has fulfilled the conditions for

Ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a l ...

either in their entirety or in piecemeal. In the Sunni point of view it is generally held that there are either no (or very few) Jurists or Fuqaha that have reached the level of Mujtahid Mutlaq in our day and age. In the

Twelver Twelver Shīʿīsm ( ar, ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; '), also known as Imāmīyyah ( ar, إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85 percent of all Shīʿa Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers t ...

(Ithna Asheri) Shia view, each of their

Marja' Marji ( ar, مرجع, transliteration: ''marjiʿ''; plural: ''marājiʿ''), literally meaning "source to follow" or "religious reference", is a title given to the highest level of Twelver Shia authority, a Grand Ayatollah with the authority gi ...

have reached this level. The faqīh who fulfills all conditions of Ijtihad is sometimes referred to as a ''Mujtahid Mutlaq'' or Unrestricted Jurist-Scholar, while he who has not reached that level generally will master of the methodology (''Usul'') used by one or more of the prominent ''madhhab'' and then able to apply this methodology to arrive at the traditional legal rulings of his/her respective madhhab. According to the Sunni Muslim website Living Islam, "There is no mujtahid mutlaq today nor even a claimant to that title." Below the level of Mujtahid Mutlaq is the ''Mujtahid Muqayyad'' or a Restricted Jurist-Scholar. A ''Mujtahid Muqayyad'' must pass rulings according to the confines of his particular

madhhab A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence). The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE ...

(school of jurisprudence), or particular area of specialization. This is according to the view that Ijtihad or the ability of legal deduction can be achieved in specified areas, and does not require a holistic grasp of the

Shariah Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

and its entailing Laws and legal theory.

References

External links

''Who is a Faqih'' - balagh.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faqīh Arabic words and phrases in Sharia Islamic legal occupations Arabic honorifics Islamic jurisprudence Islamic courts and tribunals

Definition

Methods of derivation

Conditions for being a faqīh

See also

References

External links