98 ḤIKMAT

2. "Al-Qawā'id al-Fiqhīyyah," ascribed to Aḥmad b. Ḥasan b. 'Abd Allāh, known as Ibn Qāḍī al-Jabal (693-771/1294-1369), Ms. 1924, Ibn Sa'ūd Islamic University.

5. Imāmiyyah Fiqh

In so far as Sunnī Jurists, especially the early ones, were willing to use particular methods of reasoning such as qiyās and istiḥsān to infer legal precepts, it must be acknowledged without any doubt that they made a greater effort to systematize the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. Nevertheless, it appears that many of the general principles mentioned in Sunnī sources are found in an identical form in the traditions transmitted from the Imams of Imāmī Shī'īs—some of which are narrated from the Holy Prophet (ṣ) himself, and others drawn directly from the teachings of the Imāms. If these teachings are taken into account, then it can be stated with certainty that, compared with Sunnī fiqh, Imāmiyyah fiqh is not only not later in this respect, but that it in fact played a pioneering role. As is revealed by extant riwāyāhs, the method of instruction used by Shī'ī Imams generally consisted in elucidating general rules and principles. Thus, by following the special methodology in which they were trained and by refraining from applying any kind of analogical reasoning (qiyās) prior to attaining the real criterion and the primary cause of a ruling through explicit legal texts or direct legal references—their disciples were able to draw the corollaries and infer the necessary ramifications of a rule. In this regard, we have the following dictum from al-Imām al-Riḍā (peace be upon him): “We shall deliver the general principles and rules, and from these, you must deduce the corollaries and particular legal precepts for each case.”⁸ The history of Shī'ī fiqh bears witness to the fact that the dynamic quality of Shī'ī ijtihād is essentially inspired by these instructions.

Among the numerous works on fiqh, for instance, are those compiled by Shaykh Ṭūsī (385–460/995–1068).