Full course description
As a registered charity, we charge course fees to cover our running costs. However, we aim to make our education accessible to as many people as possible and are therefore able to offer a 65% fee waiver. To make use of this fee waiver, please use the code AMI65 when purchasing your courses.
Students in need of further financial assistance should contact the education team at education@almahdi.edu to enquire about the possibility of further fee waivers.
This course on the first part (al-Ḥalaqat al-ūlā) of al-Shahīd Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr’s Durūs fī ʿilm al-uṣūl allows students to build upon their knowledge of uṣūl al-fiqh that they developed in level one with more depth and familiarise themselves with one of the most influential works of legal theory of the last century. It also acts as an excellent foundation for the more in-depth study of uṣūl al-fiqh which students embark on in levels three and four. This course covers sections on linguistic discussions, evidences, and procedural principles.
Lesson Breakdown
Lesson 1 Introduction
Introduction to course
Overview of the textbook and the author
Defining jurisprudence (taʿrīf al-fiqh)
Defining legal theory (taʿrīf uṣūl al-fiqh)
Lesson 2 Subject matter of legal theory (mawḍūʿ ʿilm al-uṣūl)
Logic of jurisprudence (manṭiq al-fiqh)
Importance of the science of uṣūl in the process of derivation
Relationship between the legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) and jurisprudence (fiqh)
Lesson 3 Analogy (qiyās)
Ijtihād
Personal opinion (raʿy)
Lesson 4 Types of derivation
Application of procedural principles (al-uṣūl al-ʿamalīyya)
Meaning of certainty (qatʿ)
Lesson 5 Securing evidences (al-ʿadilla al-muḥrizza) and their types
Lesson 6 Authoritativeness (ḥujjiyya) of apparent evidences (ẓawāhir)
Lesson 7 Usage of words
Metaphorical (majāzī) and real (ḥaqīqī)
Lesson 8 Division of words
Linguistical analysis
Assent (taṣdīq)
Lesson 9 Informative and declarative sentences
Lesson 10 Conditional particles (ādāt al-sharṭ)
Lesson 11 Evidence of the authority of apparent meaning (ḥujjiyyat al-ẓuhūr)
Contextual elements that clarify meanings
Lesson 12 Establishing issuance
Lesson 13 Rational evidences
Relationship of the opposing nature of obligation (wujūb) and prohibition (ḥurma)
Does prohibition necessitate invalidity?
Relationship between a ruling and its subject matter
Referent and pre-requisites
Lesson 14 Procedural principles (uṣūl al-ʿamalīyya)
Primary and secondary principles
Excusability in summative knowledge (al-qāʿida al-munajjaziyya al-ʿilm al-ijmālī)
Situations of doubt
Principle of continuity (al-istiṣḥāb)
Lesson 15 Conflict of evidences (taʿāruḍ al-ʿadilla)
Types of opposition
Conflict between securing evidences (taʿāruḍ al-ʿadilla al-muḥrizza)
Conflict between principles (taʿāruḍ bayn al-uṣūl)
Conflict between a securing evidence and a principle
Prerequisites
Please note that level two courses are only available to those who have completed all courses in level one. This is because the topics covered in level two require the historical and conceptual foundations which are built in level one.
Hours of Study
24 hours
Assessment Method
Essay (40%)
Written Exam (60%)
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.