Fiqh
means to follow the orders (ahkam)
of Allah. According to Islam,
the purpose of creation of human
beings is to submit to the will
of Allah, i.e., to lead a life
in this world according to the
ahkam of Allah. Islam teaches
that we are actually created for
the next world (akhirat) and not
for this temporary world. The
life in this world is a trial
period for all human beings in
order to judge who follows the
ahkam of Allah and who does not.
In order to follow the ahkam of
Allah, it is essential to
acquire knowledge and understand
the ahkam of Allah (i.e. fiqh).
Two Sources of Fiqh
There are two main sources of
knowledge of fiqh: the Quran and
the Hadith. While the holy Quran
is available in a single book
form, the literature of Hadith
is scattered in different books
written over different times.a)
Holy Qur’an.
b)
Sunnah. Holy Qur’an
is the word of Allah as revealed
to Holy Prophet (SAW) and Sunnah
means the sayings, actions and
silent approval of the Holy
Prophet (PBUH) and the Holy
Imams (AS). There are over 6000
Quranic verses and around 70,000
hadiths (Sunnah). Both the
Holy Qur’an and Sunnah have
equal status as far as wajibat
is concerned. If one wajib is
mentioned in Sunnah only, it has
same weight as one wajib
mentioned in Quran only.
A
Mujtahid is an alim who has
acquired a thorough knowledge
and understanding of the Quran
and the Hadith. A Marja is that
Mujtahid who is the most
knowledgeable (highest ranking)
among all Mujtahids.
Islam expects every Muslim to
either become a Mujtahid or do
taqleed of the highest ranking
Mujtahid (i.e. follow a Marja).
Hence taqleed is wajib for all
Muslims who can not become a
Mujtahid. A mujtahid writes a
book of ahkam (Islamic Laws),
which is used by his followers (muqallideen)
to know his rulings (fatwa)
about different issues.
According to Hadees, if we do not acquire
knowledge of fiqh, we may die as the biggest
kafir or the biggest munafiq (Aarabee).Islam
reminds us that our real life is
the life hereafter, which is
forever. Our present life on
this earth is short, temporary
and a trial period for the next
permanent (real) life. This life
is a transit in our
ultimate destination to heaven
or hell. This present life is a
test period to judge who obeys
the orders of Allah and who does
not.
According to Hadees of
Imam Ali (AS), anyone who follows
Islam without the knowledge of fiqh
is on the right path but is going in
the wrong direction.!
In Islam, lack
of knowledge of fiqh (shariah) is
not an excuse for not following
tenets of Islam correctly.
Lack of
knowledge of fiqh about a good deed
can sometime lead to punishment
(azaab) instead of reward (sawab)
from Allah even though the intention
may initially be good. There are
many examples of this.
Story of a wife,
who after the death of her husband,
donated all his property and wealth
to the poor, but she earned hellfire
because she did not know the rules
of fiqh that after the husband’s
death, his property and wealth must
be distributed to heirs according to
the Islamic laws of inheritance.
According to fiqh, the wife gets
only a small portion of husband's
property and wealth. After
husband's death, she can not even
spend his money on his children
unless the husband has made her as
his wali (guardian) during his life
time or through a will. Writing of
Will (wasiyah) is very important for
people living in the West.
Fundamentals of Islam :
ISLAM
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Beliefs (Aqidah)
Actions (Amal)
or Roots of
Religion
or Branches of Religion
(Usool-e-Deen)
(Furoo-e-Din)
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All Wajib Acts
Usool-e-Islam
Usool-e-Iman
or
Usool-e-Deen
or Usool-e-Mazhab
There are
three USOOL-E-ISLAM:
1.
1.Tauheed (Oneness of Allah)
2. 2.
Risalah (Prophethood)
3.
3.Qiyamah (Day of Judgement)
There are two
USOOL-E-IMAN: -
4. 4.
Adalah (Justice of Allah)
5. 5.
Imamat (Belief in12 Imams)
A Muslim is
one who believes in ALL THREE
Usool-e-Islam and a Shia Muslim
or Momin is one who believes in
ALL FIVE Usool-e-deen.
A kafir is
one who does not believe in or
who denies in any of the
following four things:-
i) i)
Tauheed
ii)
Risalah
iii)
Qiyamah
iv) Necessities of Religion
(Established tenets of Islam).
Necessities
of religion are those things on
which all Muslims agree as
established commandments of
Islam, eg. Salat, Sawm, Hajj,
Hijab, finality of prophethood
etc. For example, Qadiyanis are
kafir because they do not
believe in the finality of our
Holy Prophet, while all Muslims
agree on Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
to be the last Prophet of Allah.
Furoo-e-Din
are wajib on a person, who has
the following 4 conditions:i)
Alive (Zinda)
ii)
Mature (Baligh)
iii)
Sane (Aql)
iv)
Capable (Mukhtar)
There are
differences in fiqh in Sunni &
Shia Islam. For example: rabbits
and crabs are halal in Sunni
fiqh but they are haram in Shia
fiqh.
Conditions for Following Fiqh
(Sharaet-e-Takleef-e-Sharai)
Acting on fiqh
is wajib only if a person meets four
conditions:
i)Alive (Zinda)
ii)Mature (Baligh)
iii)Sane (Aqil)
iv)Capable (Akhtiyar)
If someone’s life
is in danger then all haram becomes
halal or vice versa except in two
situations:
a) Jihad is wajib even if life is in
danger or
b)
Killing another Muslim is haram even
if one’s own life is in danger.
Islam and
knowledge of fiqh are not the
necessary conditions for a person
for following the fiqh.
Hukm (Laws) are
of two types:-
o -
Hukme Takleefi
(regarding sawab or azaab)
o
-Hukme Waz-ee
(regarding other characteristics
like right or wrong)
From Fiqh point of view, a girl
becomes baligh at the age of 9
Islamic years even if her monthly
period has not started. A boy
becomes baligh at the age of 15
Islamic years or at an earlier age
if he starts discharging semen
(Ehtelam) or pubic hairs appear
below his navel.
If a na-baligh child offers salat,
sawm etc, he will get the sawab of
these acts, if he is of such age that
he can distinguish good from bad or
right from wrong (Mumaiyaz in
Arabic).
It is wajib on
wali (guardian) to stop na-baligh
children from certain major haram
things, which include Wine, Pork,
Haram Meat, Music, and Stealing.
When a non-shia
becomes shia, then he has to re-pay
zakat and fitra paid during the
period he was non-shia. Why?
Because in shia fiqh, the zakat and
fitra must go to poor shia.
However, he does not have to repeat
salat, saum, hajj etc performed
earlier.
When
a kafir becomes a Muslim, he does
not have to offer qaza of salat or
sawm missed during the period of
kufr. But he has to pay khums and
zakat on his previous year's
savings/items on the day he becomes
a Muslim.
On
the Day of Judgement, a kafir will
get punishment of not accepting
Islam, and also for not offering
salat, sawm etc during his period of
Kufr.
HISTORY & FIQH
Some knowledge of history is
essential to understand how our Holy
Imams (AS) propagated the knowledge
of Fiqh and also to understand the
philosophy/logic of some masail of
Fiqh.
Open dissemination of Fiqh
knowledge was started by the 5th
Imam, who is also known by the title
BAQIRUL ULOOM. Our 5th & 6th
Imams are known by a common title of
SADIQAIN.
The real benefits of martyrdom of
Karbala started appearing in the
time of the 5th Imam,
when people started enquiring openly
about real Islam and it’s laws.
The 5th & 6th
Imams established the first Hawzae
Ilmiya (Islamic University). They
also gave knowledge about the
established system of Taqleed and
Khums.
According to all Muslims (including
Wahabis), the best family lineage in
the world is family of our Holy
Prophet (SAW) through Bibi Fatima
(AS) and Imam Ali (AS).
Our 5th Imam has unique
distinction of having Masoom
grandfathers from father’s side as
well as from mother’s side. The
father of 5th Imam was
Imam Zainul Abideen (AS), the son of
Imam Husain (AS). The mother of 5th
Imam was Fatima, the daughter of
Imam Hasan (AS).
LAW OF ILZAM
(Qanoon-e-Ilzam)
In order to understand the topic
of Ijtihad and Taqleed, it is first
necessary to understand the law of
Ilzam in fiqh.
Law of Ilzam helps in solving
problems due to differences in
fatwas from different Mujtahids on
the same issue.
Law of Ilzam also solves problems
arising due to conflicting laws in
fiqh between Shia school of fiqh and
Sunni school of fiqh on the same
issue.
These laws were first explained by
our 5th Imam (AS).
According to the Law of Ilzam, if
a thing is incorrect (batil) in Shia
fiqh, but if the same thing is
considered correct according to
Sunni fiqh, then a shia can take a
benefit from it. This is best
explained by examples:
Example 1: Divorce Laws.
There are major differences in
divorce laws in shia and sunni fiqh.
Shia fiqh is very strict in divorce
laws (divorce formula must be
recited in Arabic, 2 witnesses must
be present and the woman must be
free from menstruation at the time
of divorce). In sunni fiqh, only the
recitation of word Talaq three times
is enough and other conditions are
not necessary. If a sunni gives
divorce to his wife according to
rule of his fiqh, then (according to
law of Ilzam), shia fiqh recognises
the divorce as valid and a shia is
allowed to marry such a divorced
woman.
Example 2: Inheritance
Laws. According to Quran, when
husband dies, his wife gets 25% of
his property if he had no children,
or 12.5% if he had children. The
property can be of 2 types: Movable
(clothes, house building, cash etc)
or Immovable (land of house, farm
land etc). In shia fiqh, a wife gets
a share only in movable property. In
sunni fiqh a wife will get share
from movable and immovable
properties. If a shia wife gets a
share from her sunni husband’s
immovable property, it is halal for
her even though it is incorrect in
her own fiqh.
Example 3: Jamaat Prayers.
In shia fiqh, the Imame Jamaat must
be a shia ithna asheri along with
other conditions such as being adil.
But if a sunni Imame jamaat is
leading salat according to his sunni
fiqh, then a shia can pray jamaat
behind such a sunni imam (he should
make a niyyat of jamaat and recite
suras himself too).
The same law of Ilzam applies to
differences in fatwas on fiqh by two
or more shia Mujtahids. Examples are
the differences in fatwas in moon
sighting laws, Taharat of Ahle Kitab
etc.
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Ehtiyate Wajib: While a Mujtahid spends his whole life in acquiring
the knowledge of fiqh, no Mujtahid is able to understand 100% of
Hadith. Hence, there are always some issues (masail) for which he
can not give a clear ruling (fatwa). For such issues, he uses a term
called Ehtiyate Wajib, which means he allows his followers to refer
to the next most high ranking Marja for that particular issue.
RULING OF AYATULLAH SEESTANI ON TAQLEED
If
a baligh person has done taqleed of a Mujtahid, who is now dead
(e.g. Ayatullah Khui or Ayatullah Khumaini), and if that person
wants to do taqleed of Ayatullah Seestani now, then it is wajib for
that person to continue to follow the masail of that dead Mujtahid
as long as he is sure that the present state of knowledge (ilm) of
Ayatullah Seestani is not yet more than the knowledge of his dead
Mujtahid. If that person is not sure about whose knowledge is more
now, then also he must continue to follow the masail of his dead
Mujtahid if the knowledge of that dead Mujtahid was more than the
knowledge of Ayatullah Seestani at that time.
Thus
all followers of Ayatullah Khui and Ayatullah Khomeini, now through the
above fatwa of Ayatullah Seestani, must continue to follow the masail of
their dead Marja as long as the above conditions exist. Only in new
masail (not covered by their dead Marja), they can follow the fatwa of
Ayatullah Seestani.
Due to
above fatwa of Ayatullah Seestani, only two types of persons can start
and remain in complete taqleed of Ayatullah Seestani:
(a) A person, who has never done taqleed of any Marja
before,
(b) Children born in or after 1985 (because these children
became sensible after the death of two main Marja i.e. Khui and
Khomeini; Khui died in 1992 and Khomeini in 1989).
CONTINUING IJTIHAD BY A MUJTAHID
A
Mujtahid, even if he has become a marja, continues to do further study
and research and undertakes jurisprudence (ijtihad) in different masail.
He can even review and change his opinion on an issue, on which he has
already issued a fatwa earlier. Thus a Mujtahid can change his fatwa and
issue a new fatwa on the same issue.
Ayatullah Seestani published his first book of ahkam (Islamic Laws or
Tauzeehul Masail) about 10 years ago. He has published a revised book of
ahkam in 2002, in which he has made changes to some of his previous
fatwas.
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