Product Code Database
A faqīh (: fuqahāʾ, ; : فقهاء) is an jurist, an expert in fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic law.
Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam. In the modern era there are four prominent schools ( madhhab) of fiqh within Sunni practice and two (or three) within Shia practice.Glasse, Cyril, The New Encyclopedia of Islam, Altamira, 2001, p.141
The historian Ibn Khaldun 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 ( haram), recommended ( mustahabb), disapproved ( makruh) or neutral ( mubah)".Levy (1957). Page 150. This definition is consistent amongst the jurists.
These four types of evidence are seen as acceptable by the vast majority of jurists from both the schools of Sunni Islam jurists (the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali and sometimes the Zahiriyah), as well as Shia Islam jurists. However, Zahiriyah or Literalists do not see qiyas as valid.
While Twelver Shia see edicts of the Twelvers Imams as holding the same weight as the Quran and sunnah, this is not accepted by Sunni jurists.
The faqih who fulfills all conditions of ijtihad is sometimes referred to as a Mujtahid Mutlaq or Unrestricted Jurist-Scholar, while one who has not reached that level generally will have mastered the methodology ( usul) used by one or more of the prominent madhhab and will be 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 Restricted Jurist-Scholar. A Mujtahid Muqayyad must pass rulings according to the confines of his particular madhhab (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 and its entailing laws and legal theory.
|
|
