The DEEN in BYTES Series | FIQH101 Evolution Of Fiqh – part 2:

THE DEVELOPMENT OF FIQH

The development of Fiqh, falls into 6 major stages; Foundation, Establishment, Building, Flowering, Consolidation, Stagnation and Decline.

1.      Foundation: Era of Prophet (saw) (609-632CE)
2.     Establishment: Era of the Righteous Caliphs, from the death of the Prophet till middle of 7^th century CE (632-661CE)
3.      Building: From the founding of the Umayyad Dynasty (661CE) until its decline in the middle of 8^th century CE.
4.     Flowering: From the rise of Abbasid Dynasty till (mid 8^th century CE) till the beginning of its decline (mid 10^th century CE)
5.    Consolidation: The decline of Abbasid Dynasty (around 960CE) till the murder of the last Abbasid Caliphs at the hand of the Mongols (mid 13^th century CE)
6.      Stagnation and Decline: From the sacking of Baghdad (1258CE) to the present.

The above mentioned stages will be described with special reference to relevant social and political context of the respective periods. Insights will be given into the evolution of Madzhabs (schools of Islamic Legal thoughts) and their contributions to Fiqh. It is hoped we will be able to appreciate the fact that all Madzhabs have contributed in different degrees to the development of Fiqh, and that no single Madzhab can properly be claimed to represent Islam or Islamic Law in its totality.

Fiqh is not determined by any one school of thought acting alone. All Madzhabs have been important instruments for the clarification and application of the Syari’ah. Together, Fiqh and Syari’ah should be unifying forces that unite all Muslims regardless of place, time or cultural background.

In fact, the only infallible ‘Madzhab’ which deserves to be followed without any questions is that of Prophet Muhammad (saw) himself – only his interpretations of Syari’ah can be considered divinely guided and meant to be followed till the last day of this world. All other Madzhabs are the results of human effort, and thus are subject to human error.

As Imam Asy-Syafi’e wisely put;

“There isn’t any of us who hasn’t had a saying or action of Allah’s Messenger elude him or slip his mind. So no matter what rulings I have made or fundamental principles I have established, there will be in them things contrary to the way of Allah’s Messenger (saw). However, the correct ruling is according to what the Messenger of Allah said, and that is my true ruling.” (Collected by Al-Hakim and Ibn Qayyim)

 (to be continued – main ref: Bilal Philips, The Evolution of Fiqh, 2006)