Fiqh 1 — Foundations الفقه

Meaning of Fiqh الفقه

• Linguistically: understanding (from فَقِهَ يَفْقَهُ — "he understood").
• Technically: knowledge of the legal (sharʿī) rulings on the actions and speech of accountable people (mukallafīn), derived from their detailed evidences.
• Fiqh differs from ʿAqīdah (creed): fiqh is about actions/rulings, creed is about belief.

The 4 primary sources

1. The Qurʾān — Allah's revealed Word, the primary source.
2. The Sunnah — the Prophet's ﷺ sayings, actions and approvals; clarifies the Qurʾān.
3. Ijmāʿ (consensus) — agreement of qualified scholars on a ruling.
4. Qiyās (analogy) — extending a ruling to a new case by shared cause, e.g. extending wine's prohibition to modern narcotics.

Two more facts the lesson stresses

• Fiqh is comprehensive — 7 areas: ʿIbādāt (worship), personal-status law, muʿāmalāt (transactions), political jurisprudence, criminal law, ethics (akhlāq), international relations (siyar).
• Fiqh emphasises ease (yusr) and removal of hardship — it allows concessions (rukhṣah), e.g. praying seated, shortening/combining prayers when travelling.

Each term has a one-line definition and an anchor example — memorise the example and the term comes free.

• Farḍ الفرض (obligatory) — firmly commanded; reward if done, punishment if left. Ex: fasting Ramaḍān, the 5 daily prayers.
• Wājib الواجب (necessary) — in the Shāfiʿī school, Wājib = Farḍ, except in Ḥajj. A Ḥajj wājib, if missed, the Ḥajj is still valid but a sacrifice (dam) is owed. Ex: throwing the stones (al-ramy), entering iḥrām from the mīqāt.
• Farḍ ʿAyn فرض العين (individual duty) — every individual must do it. Ex: 5 daily prayers, Ramaḍān fasting, Ḥajj for those able.
• Farḍ Kifāyah فرض الكفاية (communal duty) — if some do it, it is lifted from the rest; if none do it, all are sinful. Ex: washing & burying the dead.
• Rukn الركن (pillar) — a required part inside the act. Ex in prayer: reciting al-Fātiḥah, rukūʿ, sujūd.
• Sharṭ الشرط (condition) — required but outside / before the act, making it valid. Ex: wudū, the prayer's time, facing the qiblah.
• Mandūb المندوب (recommended) — encouraged; reward if done, no punishment if left. Also called Sunnah, Mustaḥabb, Nafl, Taṭawwuʿ. Ex: Ḍuḥā, Tahajjud, six days of Shawwāl.
• Ḥarām الحرام (forbidden) — clearly prohibited; reward if avoided for Allah, punishment if done. Also called sin / disobedience. Ex: killing an innocent soul, consuming wealth unjustly (ribā).
• Makrūh المكروه (disliked) — two types: Taḥrīmī (close to ḥarām, may be punished — ex: voluntary prayer at sunrise/sunset) and Tanzīhī (no sin — ex: fasting only Friday, with no day before/after).
• Adāʾ الأداء (on-time) — doing worship within its time. Qaḍāʾ القضاء (make-up) — doing it after its time has passed (obligatory whether missed with or without excuse). Iʿādah الإعادة (repetition) — repeating it within its time for more reward (e.g. repeating a prayer in jamāʿah).

1. Pure & purifying (ṭahūr) — natural water (rain, river). Even if colour/taste changes by algae, soil, or time, it stays pure and valid for wudū & ghusl.
2. Pure & purifying but disliked (makrūh) — sun-heated (mushammas) water. Disliked only under 3 conditions: (a) a hot country, (b) a metal hammerable container (iron, copper — not gold/silver), (c) used on a body that can get skin disease. Still pure & valid. Ḥanbalīs: not disliked at all.
3. Pure but NOT purifying — two cases: (a) a small amount of already-used (mustaʿmal) wudū/ghusl water; (b) water mixed with a pure substance that changes it (tea, soft drinks). Clean to drink/cook, but cannot be used for wudū or ghusl.
4. Impure (najis) — impurity fell in. Two sub-cases by quantity (see below).

The two-qullah rule (impure water)

• Small water (< two qullahs) → becomes impure the moment najāsah touches it, even if colour/taste/smell do not change.
• Large water (≥ two qullahs) → impure only if the najāsah changes its colour, taste, or smell.
• Two qullahs ≈ 500 Baghdad raṭls ≈ 192.857 kg (a cube ~1¼ arm-lengths each side).
• Valid for purification: only types 1 and 2. Type 3 is clean but not purifying; type 4 is impure.

• Gold & silver — forbidden for any use (wudū, drinking, eating), for men and women, except in necessity (no other available). Keeping them is also forbidden.
• Bound/repaired with gold — forbidden, whether the amount is small or large.
• Bound with silver — depends: small & not for decoration → permissible; large & only for decoration → forbidden; large out of necessity, OR small for decoration → makrūh.
• Precious minerals (diamond, pearl, coral) — permissible (no prohibiting text; default is permissibility).
• Utensils of non-Muslims — permissible to use; washing them first is recommended, not obligatory (they may have held wine/pork). Same for their clothes.