Usul al-Fiqh is a science that deals with Islamic jurisprudence and encompasses knowledge and skills required of Muslim jurists in deducing rulings. It elaborates the correct methodology, sources of guidance and approach that is required to be followed in the process. These requirements and etiquette set standards for an answer, hukm or fatwa being sound, valid and acceptable to follow, minimising the potential for errors. If the correct methodology of Usul Al-Fiqh is not followed, it results in misguidance and deviant ideologies. Just as rules of grammar protect those who follow them from mistakes in expressions, jurisprudence sets standards for interpreting legal texts and making legal arguments which, when followed correctly, protect from making mistakes in arriving at legal rulings.
Al-Waraqat is a renowned Islamic classical text on the subject of Usul al-fiqh. It paves the way for a foundational education on the sources of Islamic law and the procedures by which the law is derived from the sources. It gives a primer on basics of Usul al-Fiqh with regards to what it encompasses, the rules for interpreting Quran and Sunnah and tools that are available for mujtahids to utilise in their interpretation of sacred texts and deducing rulings. It is called Waraqat because it is concise, with the Arabic text (matn) fitting in roughly five pages. It is part of a series of Islamic classical texts, known as summarised works (mukhtasarat), that are considered essential study for every serious seeker of Islamic knowledge who wants to follow the methodology laid out by the scholars of Islam to facilitate the acquisition of beneficial knowledge.
This course is intended for beginners and those who have just started their journey to learn the wonderful field of Usul al-Fiqh.