downloads available @ www.thefutureummah.com.ng RESO AH UR M C E M S U [email protected] +234 802 568 9893, 0816 797 7013 iqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is a section of Islamic law which deals with acts of Muslims, that includes both worship Fand daily life actions. Fiqh is often described as the human understanding of the sharia, that is human understanding of the divine Islamic law as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnah (the teachings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and His companions).
Fiqh expands and develop Shariah through interpretation (ijtihad) of the Quran and Sunnah by Islamic jurists (ulama) and is implemented by the rulings (fatwa) of jurists on questions presented to them.
Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam as well as political system. A person trained in qh is known as a faqīh (plural fuqaha).
The sources of qh in order of importance are: 1. The Quran 2. Hadiths 3. Ijma i.e. collective reasoning and consensus amongst authoritative Muslims of a particular generation, and its interpretation Islamic scholars. 4. Qiyas i.e. analogy which is deployed if Ijma or historic collective reasoning on the issue is not available.
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 01 DEFINITION OF SOME FIQH TERMS:
Batil: is an Arabic word meaning falsehood, and can be used to describe a nullied or invalid act or contract according to the sharia.
Bidia: In Islam, it refers to innovation in religious matters. Bidah denotes any newly invented matter that is without precedent and is in opposition to the Quran and Sunnah. Scholars generally have divided bidah into two types: innovations in worldly matters and innovations in religious matters.
Baligh: refers to someone who has reached maturity or puberty, and has full responsibility under Islamic Law.
Diyah: In Islām, it is the traditional compensation due for the shedding of blood. It is the nancial compensation paid to the victim or heirs of a victim in the cases of murder, bodily harm or property damage. It only applies when victim's family want to compromise with the guilty party; otherwise qisas applies.
Fahisha: It is an arabic word, commonly means lewdness and indecency. It is an important term in Islamic Terminology. The opposite of fahisha is haya.
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 02 Faqih: A faqīh is an Islamic jurist, an expert in qh, or Islamic Jurisprudence and Islamic Law.
Fasiq: It is an arabic term referring to someone who violates Islamic Law. As a fasiq is considered unreliable, his testimony is not accepted in Islamic courts.
Fard: Fard in Islam is a religious duty commanded by Allah. Muslims who obey such commands or duties receive hasanat, ajr or thwab each time for each good deed.
Fasad: It is an Arabic word meaning rottenness, corruption, or depravity. In an Islamic context it can refer to spreading corruption on Earth or spreading mischief in a Muslim land, moral corruption against Allah, or disturbance of the public peace.
Fatwa: It is a non-binding legal opinion on a point of Islamic Law (sharia) given by a qualied jurist in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwa is called a mufti, and the act of issuing fatwas is called iftā. Fatwas have played an important role throughout Islamic history, taking on new forms in the modern era.
Fitnah: (”temptation, trial; sedition, civil strife, conict”) is an Arabic word with extensive connotation of trial, afiction, or distress.
Furu A branch of Fiqh that deals with the elaboration of rulings al-qh: which govern ritual and social activities.
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 03 Hadiths: It refers to the record of the words, actions, and the silent approval of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Hadith is “the backbone” of Islamic civilization, and within the religion, the authority of hadith as a source for religious law and moral guidance ranks second only to that of the Quran.
Halal: is an Arabic word that translates to “permissible or lawful” into English. In the Quran, the word halal is contrasted with haram (forbidden).
Haram: is an Arabic term meaning forbidden. This may refer to: either something sacred to which access is forbidden to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowledge, or, in direct contrast, to an evil and thus “sinful action that is forbidden to be done”.
Haya: (bashfulness, decency, difdence, honor, humility, inhibition, modesty, self-respect, shame, shyness, timidity). It is an Arabic word that means “natural or inherent, shyness and a sense of modesty”. In Islamic Terminology, it is mainly used in the context of modesty.
Hukm: (plural ahkam) is an Islamic term with several meanings. In the Quran, the word hukm is variously used to mean arbitration, judgement, authority, or Allah’s will. In the early Islamic period, the Kharijites gave it political connotations by declaring The word .( ُ ْ ُﺣﻛم ّ ِ )that they accept only the hukm of Allah acquired new meanings in the course of Islamic history, being used to refer to worldly executive power or to a court decision.
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 04 In the plural, ahkam, it commonly refers to specic Quranic rules, or to the legal rulings derived using the methodology of qh.
Ibadah: Worship, obedience, submission and devotion to Allah.
Ijma: is an Arabic term referring to the consensus or agreement of Islamic scholars on a point of Islamic Law. Various schools of thought within Islamic jurisprudence may dene this consensus to be that of the rst generation only; or the consensus of the rst three generations of Muslims; the consensus of the jurists and scholars of the Muslim world, or scholarly consensus; or the consensus of all the Muslim world, both scholars and laymen. Sunni Muslims regard ijmā' as the third fundamental source of Sharia Law, after the Qur’an, and the Sunnah. The opposite of ijma (i.e., lack of consensus on a point of Islamic law) is called ikhtilaf.
Ijtihad: It is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in nding a solution to a legal question.
Ikhtilaf: (‘disagreement, difference’) is an Islamic scholarly religious disagreement, and is hence the opposite of ijma.
Ijazah: ("permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ijazahs or ijazat) is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such authority. It is particularly associated with transmission of
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 05 Islamic Religious Knowledge. The license usually implies that the student has acquired this knowledge from the issuer of the ijaza through rst-hand oral instruction, although this requirement came to be relaxed over time. An ijaza providing a chain of authorized transmitters going back to the original author often accompanied texts of hadith, qh and tafsir.
Isnaad: The chains of Hadiths narrations specifying the chain of human reporters from the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that authenticates the legitimacy of a hadith.
Istihlal: is a term used in Islamic Jurisprudence, or qh, to refer to the act of regarding some action as permissible, or halaal, although it is haraam; the implication is that such a regard is an erroneous and improper distortion of Islamic Law.
Istihsan: is an Arabic term for juristic discretion. In its literal sense it means "to consider something good". Muslim scholars may use it to express their preference for particular judgements in Islamic Law over other possibilities. It is one of the principles of legal thought underlying scholarly interpretation or ijtihad.
Istihab: means the belief that the past or present matter must be assumed to remain as it is in the present or future. i.e The judgement on a matter, positive or negative continues until there is evidence of a change of state.
Istishhad: is the arabic word for “matrydom”, "death of a martyr", or "heroic death".
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 06 Jihad: is an arabic word which literally means striving or struggling, especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Allah's guidance, such as struggle against one's evil inclinations, proselytizing, or efforts toward the moral betterment of the ummah.
Qadi: Is the magistrate or judge of a Sharia court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions, such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works.
Qiyas: Is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Qur’an, in order to apply a known injunction (nass) to a new circumstance and create a new injunction. Here the ruling of the Sunnah and the Qur'an may be used as a means to solve or provide a response to a new problem that may arise.
Quran: Is the religious text of Islam, a revelation from Allah.
Madh’hab: A school of thought within qh. The major Sunni madhhabs are Hana, Maliki, Sha'i and Hanbali.
Makruh: In Islamic terminology, something which is makruh is a disliked or offensive act (literally “detestable or "abominable"). This is one of the ve categories (al-ahkam al-khamsa) in Islamic law – wajib/fard (obligatory), Mustahabb/mandub
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 07 (recommended), mubah (neutral), makruh (disapproved), haram (forbidden). Though a makruh act is not haram (forbidden) or subject to punishment, a person who abstains from this act will be rewarded. Muslims are encouraged to avoid such actions when or as possible. It is one of the degrees of approval (ahkam) in Islamic Law.
Mandub: is an Arabic word meaning "permitted" It refers to an action that is not mandatory, recommended, reprehensible or forbidden.
Mu’amalaat: Islamic jurisprudence of transactions and the principles upon which Islamic nance is based.
Mubah: (neutral, merely permitted). It refers to an action that is not mandatory, recommended, reprehensible or forbidden. In Islamic property law, the term mubah refers to things which have no owner.
Muhaddith: The term muhaddith (plural muhaddithūn often translated as "traditionist") refers to a specialist who profoundly knows and narrates hadith, the chains of their narration (isnad), and the original and famous narrators.
Mujtahid: An individual who exercises ijtihad.
Mustahabb: Mustahabb ( 'beloved thing') is an Islamic term referring to recommended, favoured or virtuous actions. Mustahabb
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 08 actions are those whose ruling (ahkam) in Islamic law falls between mubah (neutral; neither encouraged nor discouraged) and wajib (compulsory). One denition is "duties recommended, but not essential; fullment of which is rewarded, though they may be neglected without punishment"
Mutawilli: The trustee of a waqf.
Sabab: (Reason or Cause)
meaning َ ِ َﺻﺣب Sahabah: meaning “the companions”, from the verb “accompany”, “keep company with”, “associate with”) were the disciples and followers of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who “saw or met the prophet during his lifetime and were physically in his presence”.
Sahih: It is an Arabic word that means genuine, authentic, sound and correct. It is used in classication of a hadith and is the highest level of authenticity given to a narration.
Salaf: (“ancestors” or “predecessors”), also often referred to with the honoric expression of “al-salaf al-sālih” (“the pious predecessors”) are often taken to be the rst three generations of Muslims, that is the generations of the ( Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his companions (the Sahabah), their successors (the “Tabi’un), and the successors of the successors (the “'Taba Tabi’in).
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 09 Sharia: means Islamic law, it is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the hadith. In arabic, the term sharīah refers to Allah's immutable divine law and is contrasted with qh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations.
Shia: Shia Islam or Shi'ism is one of the two main branches of Islam. It holds that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor and the Imam (leader) after him, most notably at the event of Ghadir Khumm, but was prevented from the caliphate as a result of the incident of Saqifah. This view primarily contrasts with that of Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did not appoint a successor and consider Abu Bakr , who was appointed caliph by a group of Muslims at Saqifah, to be the rst rightful caliph after Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). A person observing Shia Islam is called a Shi'i.
Sunnah: The traditions and practices of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), that constitute a model for Muslims to follow.
Sunni: It is the largest denomination of Islam , followed by 87–90% of the Muslims, albeit according to the Quran and authentic Hadith, there are no denomination in Islam, characterized by a greater emphasis upon the traditions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his companions. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the deeds and actions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 10 Tabi’un: “followers” or “successors”, are the generation of Muslims who followed the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) (sahābah), and thus received their teachings secondhand. A tābi' knew at least one sahābiyy. As such, they played an important part in the development of Islamic thought and philosophy, and in the political development of the early caliphate.
Tabi’al- is the generation after the Tabiun in Islam. Sunni Muslims Tabi’in: include them among the best generations on Earth, along with the Tabi’un and the Sahabah.
Tafsir: Tafsir refers to exegesis , usually of the Quran. An author of a tafsir is a mufassir. A Quranic tafsir attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding and conviction of Allah's will.
Taghut: It is an Islamic terminology denoting a focus of worship other than Allah. In traditional theology, the term often connotes idols or demons drawn to blood of pagan sacrices. In modern times, the term is also applied to earthly tyrannical power, as implied in Surah Nisa verse 60. The modern Islamic philosopher Abul A’la Maududi denes taghut in his Qur’anic commentary as a creature who not only rebels against Allah but transgresses His will.
Taqlid: Is an Islamic terminology denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another.
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 11 Tawbah: It is the concept of repenting to Allah due to performing any sins and misdeeds. It is a direct matter between a person and Allah, so there is no intercession. It is the act of leaving what Allah has prohibited and returning to what he has commanded. The word denotes the act of being repentant for one’s misdeeds, atoning for those misdeeds, and having a strong determination to forsake those misdeeds (remorse, resolution, and repentance). If someone sins against another person, restitution is required.
Tazkiah: is an Arabic-Islamic term alluding to “tazkiyah al-nafs” meaning “sanctication” or “purication of the self”. This refers to the process of transforming the nafs (carnal self or desires) from its deplorable state of self-centrality through various spiritual stages towards the level of purity and submission to the Will of Allah. It's basis is in learning the shariah and deeds from the known authentic sunnah and applying it in your own deeds through life resulting in spiritual awareness of Allah (being constantly aware that He is with us by His knowledge and knows all that we do, along with being in constant remembrance or dhikr of Him in your thoughts and actions) being the highest level of Ihsan. The person who puries himself/herself is called a Zaki.
Thawab: It is an Arabic term meaning "reward". Specically, in the context of an Islamic world view, thawab refers to spiritual merit or reward that accrues from the performance of good deeds and piety.
DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 12 Ulama: Literally “the learned ones”, also spelled ulema; feminine: alimah [singular] and uluma [plural]) are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam, including Islamic doctrine and law.
Urf: It is an arabic Islamic term referring to the custom, or ‘knowledge’, of a given society. To be recognized in an Islamic society, urf must be compatible with the Sharia law. When applied, it can lead to the deprecation or inoperability of a certain aspect of qh. Urf is a source of rulings where there are not explicit primary texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah specifying the ruling. Urf can also specify something generally established in the primary texts.
Usul principles of Islamic jurisprudence are traditional al-qh: methodological principles used in (qh) for deriving the rulings of Islamic law (sharia).
Wadia: A contract of safekeeping under Sharia law. A depositor places property with another party for safekeeping.
Wajib: What is required, a religious duty that Muslims are obliged to do.
Waqf: Is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitable purposes with no intention of reclaiming the assets. A charitable trust may hold the donated assets. The person making such dedication is known as a waqif (donor). DICTIONARY OF FIQH TERMS | PAGE 13