Islamic Jurisprudence: Usul al-Fiqh

Islamic jurisprudence or usul al-fiqh provides the foundation for any meaningful study of Islamic law. The present book has been in the field for more than a decade and has received a positive response from many quarters. It is used as a textbook ina number of university courses. The information in the book was kept to a bare minimum; it was generally considered sufficient to understand the sources of Islamic law along with the basic methods of interpretation, also called ijtihad. Over the years, however, students have shown an eagerness to know more. They have raised many questions whose answers the book does notprovide, because the book was not intended to answer those questions. Many of these students had recourse to the Internet and raised the questions in the hope of getting the right answers. Some of the answers given were, unfortunately, incorrect or misleading, primarily because they were not given by persons qualified to doso. The activity still continues and is gathering pace. It was also realized that there were several questions that had not been raised by the students and general readers, but these were questions thatshould have been asked. A catalogue of the questions asked, and those not asked, gave rise to the need to revise the present book.One main issue that was a cause of concern was that, even after reading the book, most readers fail to distinguish between the meaning of usul al-fiqh as sources and usul al-fiqh as a discipline.The phrase "usul al-fiqh are four" has become embedded so deeply in minds that it is difficult to think about the meaning of the discipline itself, which is the real purpose of studying usul al-fiqh.The present, third, edition of the book has, therefore, been revised and three chapters at the end have been completely rewritten. The slight increase in the size of the book has beenignored keeping in view the significance of the issues involved. The book continues to have five parts as earlier.