Jurisprudence is the science or philosophy of law.

Islamic jurisprudence (will be replaced with Usul al-

fiqh) a is an aspect of Islam that entails the philosophy of laaw and ethics. Is The rules of fiqh are thus
derived from the Qur'an and Sunnah in conformity with a body of principles and methods which are
collectively known as usul al-fiqh. Some writers have described usul al-fiqh as the methodology of law, a
description which is accurate but incomplete. Although the methods of interpretation and deduction are
of primary concern to usul al- fiqh, the latter is not exclusively devoted to methodology. To say that usul
al-fiqh is the science of the sources and methodology of the law is accurate in the sense that the Qur’an
and Sunnah constitute the sources as well as the subject matter to which the methodology of usul al-
fiqh is applied.

Islamic Jurisprudence is the study of Islamic law. It is a type of science that explores the creation,
application, and enforcement of laws. It is the study of theories and philosophies regarding Islamic law.
If we understand the theories and philosophies behind law, then we can better understand laws.

Islamic Jurisprudence (Usul al Fiqh) discusses both the sources of Islamic law and the law. Primarily
Islamic Jurisprudence deals with the sources or roots of Islamic law. Islamic Jurisprudence deals with the
primary sources of Islamic law, the Quran and the Sunnah, and what are the methods of deduction of
law from primary sources. It also discusses the secondary sources of Islamic law, the Ijma (consensus),
Qiyas (analogical deduction), Istihsan (Juristic preference) and other methods of Ijtihad (reasoning and
investigation) etc. All the secondary sources are either directly or indirectly based on the primary
sources of Islamic law, the Quran and the Sunnah.

Example: The Science of Usool al-Fiqh is about the method by which rules are deduced from

indications (evidences), so imagine a man thinking of a way to pick a fruit from a tree! The man is the
mujtahid; the tree is the source/ evidence; the fruit is the hukm (ruling) and the method of picking is the
procedure of deduction.

1- The Rules (Fruit) 2- The Sources (Tree) 3- The Rules of Interpretation (Istinbaat)/ Implications
(Dalalaat) (Method of Picking) 4- The Interpreter (al-Mujtahid) and His Work (Ijtihaad) (Man)