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Many Islamic sciences – as is known to its students – arose and matured before their rules were written, then after a period of time, they began to be codified and standardized, and the science of jurisprudential rules arose, after the science of jurisprudence spread, its details were written and codified, and the four schools of thought spread.
The Hanafi scholars excelled in establishing this science, at the hands of Abu Taher al-Dabbas, and after that each school of thought began to codify the rules related to its school of thought, or the rules of jurisprudence and fundamentalism in general.
But it is noticeable that the abundance of grammar books in all schools of thought was on the fundamentalist and jurisprudential side, and no school was devoid of – mostly – those who wrote in it. We saw a number of grammar books among the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali schools, and even among the Imami Shiites and Ibadis. We saw that recently. They had not previously had well-known books on jurisprudential rules, so the Omani Ministry of Endowments issued them, entitled: “Ibadi Jurisprudence Rules” in two volumes. Then it issued another work on Ibadi jurisprudential rules compared to the four schools of thought and the Zaidi school of thought, in six volumes, and it was also done by Dr. Mahmoud. Mustafa Abboud Al Harmoush.
However, it has been noted that the aspect of the Islamic faith – despite its importance and seriousness – lacks the establishment of a science of grammar for it, as is the case in jurisprudence and principles. While the science of fundamentalist and jurisprudential grammar has grown and flourished, in all schools of thought, and in a multiplying manner, it is very rare, and even never, in the aspect Belief, despite the urgent need for it, is an aspect related to faith and disbelief, and the rest of the vocabulary and details of the doctrine, and minds have often wandered, and feet have slipped, in this aspect, and the temptation of declaring disbelief, and the temptation of making people’s blood permissible, was due to the absence of such methodology and rules from those who study the doctrine and sciences. Islam in general.
In his book, Al-Shafi’i dealt with the history of the emergence of rules in general, then the locations of the rules of belief and their meanings, and the importance of issuing work on them. Although the book was published ten years ago, our Sheikh Al-Shafi’i did not follow up what he wrote with work that would complete what he started, and we have not been informed of any effort he undertook. Moving forward on this very important topic
Heritage attempts
We do not know in our jurisprudential and doctrinal heritage any attempts to limit the doctrinal aspect of it, except for what was reported by Imam Al-Subki in his book: (Al-Ashbah wa Al-Naza’ir), which is a book of rules according to the Shafi’i school of thought, but in one of the chapters of the book, he laid down rules that he called: “In the principles of speech, it is based on It has jurisprudential branches.” Researchers have drawn attention to these rules, such as Dr. Jamal al-Din Attiya in his book: (Jurisprudential Theorizing), as well as Dr. Hassan al-Shafi’i in his book: (A Foundational Introduction to the Science of Belief Rules).
Al-Subki also mentioned this from the Shafi’i school of thought, Imam Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, in his book: (Ihya’ Ulum al-Din), which is not a book of jurisprudence or rules, in the conventional sense. In his book, Al-Ghazali wrote several chapters, under the title: The rules of beliefs, even if they are not In the technical sense of the rules, but he explained in it a moderate explanation between brevity and elaboration of the doctrine of the Sunnis and the community, in the names and attributes of God, then the degrees of belief, then talking about the pillars of faith in general.
Some other books of jurisprudential rules were not devoid of the presence of rules related to belief, especially in the rules related to disbelief, especially the books of rules that were written in the order of the letters of the alphabet, and Imam Al-Zarkashi began this in his rules called: (Al-Manthur fi Al-Qawaa’id).
Those who explained these rules or wrote footnotes on them dealt with the same rules, whether by explanation or abbreviation, such as: Imam Al-Shaarani, when he dealt with the jurisprudential rules, and he did not call them jurisprudential, but rather called his book: (Al-Maqasid Al-Sunni fi Explaining the Sharia Rules), and he dealt with a single word: ( disbelief), and the rules related to it, and he laid down several very important rules and controls, in several few, but important, pages, and so did Imam Al-Abadi in his footnote on the rules of Al-Zarkashi.
The first traditional book on verbal grammar
In this time context – after Al-Ghazali, and in the century in which Al-Izz bin Abdul Salam, Al-Qarafi, and others, who were concerned with writing books on jurisprudential rules – a jurist was found who specialized in rules, so he wrote a book entitled: (The Book of Universal Rules… in a collection of scientific arts ), which is Shams al-Din al-Isfahani. It had not been published before, but it was recently published by the Turkish Endowment of Religion Publications, a few years ago. It is a book about rules. It dealt with a number of sciences and their rules, namely: logic, the science of disagreement, the foundations of jurisprudence, and the foundations of religion. . He devoted a section of his book to the general rules related to the fundamentals of religion, i.e. belief.
It seems that no one paid attention to the book; Because throughout these years it remained in manuscript, and it was not possible for researchers to view it until a few years ago. The book is considered the first heritage book concerned with the rules of belief, even if it is also not included in the chapter on rules in the conventional sense, but rather a general explanation of what could be the nucleus of comprehensive rules about the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. Debt.
Hassan Al-Shafi’i’s attempt
We do not know of a serious attempt or experience in our modern era on the subject, except for Dr. Hassan Al-Shafi’i, may God protect him. He has been busy and concerned with the subject for some time, and has written about it more than once, after it became clear that the scientific arena is devoid of effort in this field. Sometimes he writes Sometimes he writes an article, and sometimes he writes a research paper that is presented to a group of scholars for discussion and enrichment. Then, recently, he expanded this paper to be published in a medium-sized book, entitled: (A Foundational Introduction to the Science of Belief Rules).
In his book, Al-Shafi’i dealt with the history of the emergence of rules in general, then the locations of the rules of belief and their meanings, and the importance of issuing work on them. Although the book was published ten years ago, our Sheikh Al-Shafi’i did not follow up what he wrote with work that would complete what he had begun, and we have not been informed of any effort undertaken by him. Moving forward on this very important topic.
There is no doubt that Al-Shafi’i’s founding introduction is important and reveals the subject, its importance, the absence of it in the Islamic library, and his setting examples of these rules in the books of the Holy Qur’an. In that, he wrote an article about the doctrinal rules in Surat Al-Baqarah, as a model upon which to build, whether through Traditional or contemporary interpretation books that deal with the Qur’an’s talk about faith, whether through analytical or objective interpretation of the Holy Qur’an.
Then the rules in the Sunnah, and in the books of jurisprudential rules, and the books of belief, and he provided examples for that, and for the objective model in the rules, which is a good effort on his part, and a pioneering initiative. We do not know of any research or book that has developed an action plan for researching the rules of belief, as Dr. Al-Shafi’i’s book demonstrated.
Who bears this burden?
I believe that such a burden would be difficult for an individual to carry out alone, although starting with individuals will often be the quickest and most accomplished, but teamwork here is important, due to the breadth of the topic, especially for those of the age of His Eminence Dr. Hassan Al-Shafi’i, and the matter must come out of the framework of individuals. To another scientific collective framework.
This is done through: the Islamic Jurisprudence Academy, the Islamic Research Academy, or the large centers that are currently concerned with scientific research, and have large budgets that can accommodate the formation of a large work team worthy of the required work and its importance. This can be approved by the doctrine departments in Islamic universities to be proposed to students. Master's and doctoral degrees, in the form of specific chapters, but according to an integrated plan that is clear to those in charge of the work, and then these works are collected into books.
Sources of these rules
Dr. Al-Shafi’i, may God protect him, worked hard to explain the sources that can be consulted to write down these belief bases, and the important sources he mentioned, but other important sources are added to them, through previous and contemporary efforts in the field of jurisprudential complexity, and they help and assist in doctrinal complexity.
From the previous sources, all the books on the rules of jurisprudence, the rules of modernization, or the rules of interpretation, many of the rules that were mentioned in them, are suitable to be doctrinal rules as well, especially the general rules in these sciences, and the books that focused on universals in Islamic law, or in Islamic jurisprudence.
Also, in contemporary book verification, many contemporaries worked hard at it, and they began to add new types of indexes, related to the scientific, doctrinal, and other benefits of the verified books, by great scholars, such as the books of: Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, and others, especially the edition: Dar al-Fawa’id, which was in accordance with A plan drawn up by Sheikh Bakr Abu Zaid, may God have mercy on him, in many of which at the end of the book, when compiling indexes, indexes are placed for the benefits of belief, many of which are suitable to be rules of belief.
As well as the books of biographies that were summarized and refined, those responsible for them compiled scientific indexes, as in the works of Dr. Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif, in his revision of the book: (Biographies of the Noble Figures), which he refined and summarized in four volumes under the title: (The Journey of the Virtuous…Refining the Biographies of Noble Figures), and at the end of the book he placed a great index, according to the topics, including the topics of faith, belief, and disbelief, and it contains important rules, which were mentioned in the biographies of notable people, many of whom were scholars and great imams, as well as the rest of his books, which he summarized, in the series that he issued under the title : (History and Flags Series).
The desired encyclopedia
What is desired regarding this branch of Islamic sciences is to begin it by creating an encyclopedia of belief rules, in which the matter does not stop at the rules only, but is joined by the belief controls as well, so that it becomes an encyclopedia of rules and belief controls, and then the matter expands to address later: the differences of belief as well. Similar to: jurisprudential differences.
There are terms and vocabulary in the faith, which need to clarify the differences between them. Because of its importance, such as: the difference between disbelief in action and disbelief in belief, the difference between hypocrisy in work and hypocrisy in belief, the difference between faith and Islam, the difference between scriptural and unscriptural, the difference between an infidel and a heretic, and so on of terms and vocabulary that meet and diverge between them.
Previously, the Islamic Jurisprudence Academy undertook the burden of preparing, planning, and supervising the issuance of the Encyclopedia of Jurisprudential Rules and Controls, and it was named after: (Zayed’s Teacher), and the work continued for years, until it produced an important and great work, in large volumes that exceeded forty volumes, but it remained a source of pride and an important scientific achievement. Working on a similar encyclopedia of belief is no less important, but it awaits those who will adopt it and sponsor it, and there will be many directions, if the determination is sound and the intentions are sincere.
