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Afaqīh (pl.:fuqahāʾ,Arabic:فقيه;pl.: فقهاء) is anIslamic jurist, an expert infiqh, or Islamicjurisprudence andIslamic law.
Islamicjurisprudence orfiqh is the human understanding ofSharia, which is believed by Muslims to represent divine law as revealed in theQuran andsunnah (the practices of the Islamic prophetMuhammad).[1][2] Sharia is expanded and developed by interpretation (ijtihad) of the Quran andsunnah by Islamic jurists (ulama)[2] and implemented by the rulings (fatwas) of jurists on questions presented to them.
Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam. In the modern era there are four prominent schools (madhhab) offiqh withinSunni practice and two (or three) withinShia practice.[3]
The historianIbn Khaldun describesfiqh as "knowledge of the rules of God which concern the actions of persons who own themselves bound to obey the law respecting what is required (wajib), sinful (haram), recommended (mandub), disapproved (makruh) or neutral (mubah)".[4] This definition is consistent amongst the jurists.
Methods of derivation are laid out in the books ofusul al-fiqh (principles of fiqh), and the types of evidence which are deemed valid for deriving rulings from are many in number. Four of them are agreed upon by the vast majority of jurists. They are:
These four types of evidence are seen as acceptable by the vast majority of jurists from both the schools ofSunni jurists (theHanafi,Maliki,Shafi'i, andHanbali and sometimes theZahiriyah), as well asShia jurists. However,Zahiriyah or Literalists do not seeqiyas as valid.
While Twelver Shia see edicts of theTwelve Imams as holding the same weight as the Quran andsunnah, this is not accepted by Sunni jurists.
Afaqih is one who has fulfilled the conditions forijtihad either in their entirety or piecemeal. In the Sunni view it is generally held that there are no or very few jurists that have reached the level of Mujtahid Mutlaq (see below) in our day and age. In theTwelver Shia view, each of theMarja' have reached this level.
Thefaqih who fulfills all conditions ofijtihad is sometimes referred to as a Mujtahid Mutlaq or Unrestricted Jurist-Scholar, while one who has not reached that level generally will have mastered the methodology (usul) used by one or more of the prominentmadhhab and will be able to apply this methodology to arrive at the traditional legal rulings of his/her respective madhhab. According to the Sunni Muslim website Living Islam, "There is no mujtahid mutlaq today nor even a claimant to that title."[5]
Below the level of Mujtahid Mutlaq is the Mujtahid Muqayyad or Restricted Jurist-Scholar. A Mujtahid Muqayyad must pass rulings according to the confines of his particularmadhhab (school of jurisprudence), or particular area of specialization.[6] This is according to the view thatijtihad or the ability of legal deduction can be achieved in specified areas, and does not require a holistic grasp of theShariah and its entailing laws and legal theory.
According to Article 5 of theConstitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in the present time of theMajor Occultation, thehead of state that must administer theUmmah is required to be afaqih.[7] He has to begod-fearing.
