Derived Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence Concerning Generality in Al-Tahawi’s Mukhtasar Ikhtilāf al-ʿUlamāʾ: A Study of the Book of Marriage

Abstract

Praise be to Allah, who revealed His Shari'ah as guidance and mercy to the worlds, and made jurisprudence in religion one of the greatest paths to understanding and action. May blessings and peace be upon the trustworthy Prophet, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon all his family and companions. Now then: It is no secret to scholars that the science of Usul al-Fiqh is one of the most sublime Islamic sciences, as it is the methodology that assists the mujtahid in deriving rulings according to controls that reconcile the correct understanding of Islamic texts and the intent of the Lawgiver. At a time when the Islamic world is witnessing many new developments and events that require a disciplined jurisprudence, the importance of this science emerges as a tool to maintain a balance between what is established in the tolerant Shari'ah and what changes and emerges in reality, and as a barrier preventing misguided fatwas that harm our religion and plunge society into confusion. Hence, the importance of this research emerges to shed light on the significance of the principles of jurisprudence in regulating ijtihad and organizing disagreements, all through a scientific, systematic study that addresses the impact of the principles of jurisprudence on the branch of jurisprudence. In this research, I limited myself to the rules that pertain to generality, which is considered one of the most important topics of the meaning of words in the science of the principles of jurisprudence, because of its great impact on deriving legal rulings from texts. I chose three rules: generality has formulas, the meaning is based on the generality of the word, not the specificity of the cause, and the common has no generality. I followed the scientific methodology in deriving hadiths and so on. The research consists of one topic with four demands. The first demand is a definition of the principles of jurisprudence and Imam al-Tahawi, and it is written in a brief manner. The three demands are for the principles of jurisprudence that I derived, with their explanation and comparative study, with their jurisprudential applications and an explanation of how the jurisprudential branch applies to the rule, and a conclusion and a list of sources and references.