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.