Usul al-Fiqh

10

Ijtihad, taqlid, and the books to open

الاجتهاد والتقليد

Ijtihad is spending full effort to reach a hukm from the dalil. Its conditions are heavy: Arabic as a tool, the Quran and the Sunnah of the chapter, nasikh and mansukh, places of ijma, and the usul of a school. The door did not close. The number of people who can walk through it was never large.

Taqlid is following a mujtahid because you cannot extract. That is the state of most of the ummah, including most students for a long time. It is not a slur. It is honesty. Talfiq — stitching the easiest view from each school for one act — is not taqlid. The four warned against that as a game.

Worked example

A path, not a weekend

If you are Hanafi: Nur al-Idah for furu, then a short usul (al-Manar or a teacher’s notes on Bazdawi). If you are Shafii: Matn Abi Shuja, and al-Waraqat of al-Juwayni before al-Mustasfa. If you are Maliki: Ibn Abi Zayd, then Miftah al-Wusul. If you are Hanbali: Zad al-Mustaqni, and Rawdat al-Nazir. Furu and usul in the same hand.

  1. الرسالة

    al-Risalah

    al-Shafii (d. 204 AH)

    The first full book of usul. Start here to see the craft as a written method.

  2. أصول البزدوي

    Usul al-Bazdawi

    al-Bazdawi (d. 482 AH)

    The Hanafi spine of usul. Later books (Kashf, al-Tawdih) open it.

  3. المستصفى

    al-Mustasfa

    al-Ghazali (d. 505 AH)

    Shafii usul with kalam in the doorway. Clear on hukm, on amr, on qiyas.

  4. روضة الناظر

    Rawdat al-Nazir

    Ibn Qudamah (d. 620 AH)

    Hanbali usul, close to al-Mustasfa, shorter. A classroom book.

  5. مفتاح الوصول

    Miftah al-Wusul

    al-Tilimsani (d. 771 AH)

    Maliki usul with furu examples. Shows how a usul rule changes a case.

  6. جمع الجوامع

    Jam al-Jawami

    Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 771 AH)

    A dense later matn. Needs a teacher. Many shuruh.

  7. شرح الكوكب المنير

    Sharh al-Kawkab al-Munir

    Ibn al-Najjar (d. 972 AH)

    Later Hanbali usul, complete and used.

Nur is a map of the books. It is not your ijtihad. Hard cases go to a mufti who knows your land and your school. That is part of usul too: knowing who may speak.