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This module will begin a detailed study of legal maxims (al-qawāʿid al-fiqhiyya). Students will conduct a close examination of the content, evidential basis, application, and implications of some of the most important juristic principles employed in fiqhī reasoning and those not extensively covered during their studies of fiqh. Discussions and readings will be primarily based on Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim al-Muṣṭafawī’s al-Qawāʿid: miʾa qawāʿid fiqhiyya. By the end of the course, students will be expected to begin to be able to independently access, analyse, and apply legal maxims in fiqhī discourse.

Lesson Breakdown

Lesson 1      Introduction

What is a principle/maxim (qāʿida)

Lesson 2      The maxim of purity (qāʿidat al-ṭahāra)

                     The maxim of permissibility (qāʿidat al-ḥilliyya)

Lesson 3      The maxim of the Muslim market (qāʿidat al-sūq)

Lesson 4      The maxim of non-slaughter (qāʿidat ʿadam al-tadhkīyya)

                     The maxim of passing (qāʿidat al-tajāwwuz)

Lesson 5      The maxim of finishing (qāʿida al-farāgh)

                   The maxim of validity (qāʿidat al-ṣiḥḥa)

Lesson 6      The maxim that Islam erases what has occurred prior to it [i.e., Islam being accepted] (qāʿidat al-Islām yajibu mā qablahu)

Lesson 7      The maxim of binding (qāʿidat al-ilzām)

Lesson 8      The maxim of no doubt for one who is always doubtful (qāʿida lā shakk li-kathīr al-shakk)

                    The maxim of not repeating (qāʿidat lā tuʿād)

Lesson 9      The maxim of precautionary dissimulation (qāʿidat al-taqiyya)

Lesson 10    The maxim of averting hardship (qāʿidat nafī al-ḥaraj)

Lesson 11    The maxim of no harm (qāʿidat lā ḍarar)

Lesson 12    The maxim of legitimacy (qāʿidat al-firāsh)

                     The maxim of governorship (qāʿidat al-salṭana)

Lesson 13    The maxim of a non-expert referring to an expert (qāʿidat rujūʿ al-jāhil ilā al-ʿālim)

Lesson 14    The maxim of leniency in deducing proofs for recommended acts (qāʿidat al-tasāmuḥ fī ʿadillat al-sunan)

Prerequisites

Please note that level three courses are only available to those who have completed all courses in levels one and two. This is because the topics covered in level three require the historical and conceptual foundations which are built in levels one and two.

Hours of Study

14 hours

Assessment Method

Oral Exam (100%)

Course Instructor

Shaykh Ali Raza Khaki

Shaykh Ali Raza Khaki completed a BEng in Biomedical Engineering and a MSc in Computer Science at the University of Birmingham before beginning his seminary studies at the Al-Mahdi Institute. Upon graduating from AMI, he went on to complete an MA in Islamic Studies at the University of Birmingham in 2020. At AMI, Shaykh Ali Raza is the Lecturer in Islamic History and also teaches courses on legal theory and legal maxims. In addition to his teaching, he is also heavily involved in the running of the Centre for Intra-Muslim Studies and lectures to Muslim communities around the world. His current research interests include legal theory and hermeneutics, and Islamic history.