The Early Development of Islamic Jurisprudence

Abstract

Professor Ahmed Hasan has made a great contribution to the understanding of the early history of Islamic jurisprudence up to the time of al Shafi'i (d. 204 A.H.). A few works. such as The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence by Professor Joseph Schacht, have been published on the early development of Islamic jurisprudence. and Hasan's work is a valuable addition. Islamic jurisprudence is a dynamic, ongoing, and virtually limitless subject. The community cannot survive without it as long as new issues arise to be resolved and Islamized. Thi field of study helps the community to move forward, encouraging members to solve new problems that arise in their social lives. Hasan discusses how jurists debate one another over the extraction of God's law and how. ultimately, uch debates have developed Islamic jurisprndence and the different legal schools. ljma' (consensus) and qiyas (analogy) did not exist at the time of the Prophet; they developed through ijtihtid, based on the principle sources the Qur'an and Sunnah. The subject has a kind of progressive flow, tide, and dynamic character. Hasan divide his book into seven chapter, beside an introduction and a concluding discussion. He also includes a bibliography and an index. The author chose a period in the history of jurisprudence for which sources for synthesis are difficult co obcain. He shows the historical development of lslamic jurisprudence in the first two centuries of Hijrah based mainly on the work of Malik. Abu Yusuf, al Shaybani and al Shafi'i. This book is designed for readers who are particularly interested in Islamic law and history. In the introduction the author describes the meaning of fiqh and other allied terms. He analyzes the origins of the early schools of law-such as the schools of Medina and Iraq-that developed through the work of scholars who extracted God's law from the revealed sources. Further analysis by the author suggests that after the middle of the second century A.H., scholars were generally engaged in independent thinking on law. ln the same way. al Shafi'i developed his own legal theory and brought consistency into law. After him the regional character of the early schools began to disintegrate and faithfulness to one master and his principles gradually predominated. The author discusses the sources of Islamic law beginning with the development of the main five categories of judgment of Muslims' aces, namely, the obligatory. the recommended, the neutral, the disapproved, and the prohibited. These categories are ultimately based on four sources: the Qur'an, the Sunnah, ijma' and qiyas. The author first deal with the Qur'an, briefly pointing out that it is the primary source of legislation and guidance. The author discusses the doctrine of the abrogation of individual verses in the Qur'an (naskh) in a separate chapter, pointing out the development of the theory of naskh and its significant role in Islamic jurisprudence. Although naskh is an established doctrine in the field of Islamic jurisprudence, the author's long analysis of naskh suggests that since the Qur'an is eternal there can be no reasonable ground for the thesis ...