The Juridical Theology of Shâfi’î

The Juridical Theology of Shâfi’î: Origins and Significance of Uṣûl al-Fiqh By George Makdisi

The Juridical Theology of Shâfi’î

There are some problems connected with the history of Islamic jurisprudence, a science which has come down to us under the designation of us.’l al-fiqh, literally, “the roots of law”.

These problems have to do with its origins, its designation, its constituent elements, and its purpose. The names of several doctors of the law are involved in its origins.

No exact date can be assigned to its foundation based on the available data. The designation given to this science belongs to a period which, though it cannot as yet be exactly determined, is nevertheless much later than the first work treating of it, perhaps as much as two centuries.

 The works on this subject vary considerably in method and content; its authors in the Middle Ages are divided on the matter of its constituent elements, and modern scholars are not in agreement as to its purpose. In the following pages an attempt is made to provide some answers to these problems, answers which, for the time being, should be considered, at least in part, as provisional, pending a more elaborate study now in progress.