Article: The Stages of Development of Shia Jurisprudence

The science of jurisprudence dates back to the earliest Islamic era. It deals with an array of problems confronting society based on Islamic principles, morals, and practical laws.

These precepts are manifested in the Qur’an and tradition as these are the main sources in which legal rulings derive from, and these rules are firmly abided by without exercising one’s own opinion. In this article, the stages of the development of jurisprudence will be clarified, along with revealing its prominent authors, major collections of narrations, and the notions that drove scholars to enhance jurisprudential progress.

What sets the school of the Ahl al-Bayt apart from other schools of thought is that it considers Islamic precepts manifested in the Holy Quran as well as Sunnah to be the main sources for the origin of legal rulings. This school sees the whole of the literature and narrations issued by the Prophet Muhammad and the Imams of his household to be what constitutes the Sunnah – a tradition which all must abide by and against which none can exercise their opinion. This school also deems it necessary that the whole process of jurisprudence is aimed at understanding these precepts and narrations. There are two stages (or eras) during the course of the history of this jurisprudence: 1) The stage of the issuance of Islamic precepts (fiqh of narrations), and 2) The stage of jurisprudence within the framework of Islamic precepts.

Bibliographic Information

Title: The Stages of Development of Shia Jurisprudence

Author: Sayyed Muhammad Hashemi

Published in: Message of Thaqalayn online Magazine

 Language: English

Length: 19 pages

Pub. Date: Winter 2012, Vol. 12, No. 4

Download the Article