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al-Qawaʿid al-Fiqhiyya al-Kulliyya

An introduction to the five foundational maxims of Islamic jurisprudence (al-qawaʿid al-fiqhiyya al-kulliyya), presented not as a technical catalogue but as a map of how Islamic law inhabits the whole of a person’s life. Drawing on Abdullah ibn Saʿid al-Lahji’s Idah al-Qawaʿid al-Fiqhiyya as its backbone, the course opens with two sessions on the history and placement of the science, works through the five core maxims in al-Lahji’s order, and closes with two deepening sessions on the fiqh of weighing harm and the indigenisation of Islam. Each maxim is walked across six spheres of life — worship and knowledge, the inner life, family, society, the ummah, and creation — through living examples drawn from the world the students actually inhabit.

The governing aim is shumuliyya: fiqh as a science that reaches the whole of a person’s life, not a narrow chapter of it. The course opens on the history of a science and closes at the far southern edge of the ummah, with the Cape as the proof that Islam is inherently local — a tradition that takes root wherever it lands.

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Skill Level: Beginner
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About the text:

The student matn is al-Faraʿid al-Bahiyya, the celebrated nazm of Abu Bakr al-Ahdal, a verse rendering of the five core maxims used for memorisation and recitation in class. The teacher’s reference is Idah al-Qawaʿid al-Fiqhiyya by Abdullah ibn Saʿid al-Lahji al-Hadrami (Dar al-Diya’, Kuwait), which provides the takhrij of each maxim’s Qurʿanic and hadith proofs, named endorsements from the early masters, subsidiary qawaʿid, and furuʿ illustrating each principle in practice.

The maqasid spine is drawn from Qawaʿid al-Ahkam fi Masalih al-Anam by al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salam. The register and method model is Living Islam with Purpose by Dr. Umar F. Abd-Allah, whose framework of Islam’s openness toward culture is rebuilt throughout the course with examples localised to the world the students actually inhabit.
About the Author:

The backbone text is by Abdullah ibn Saʿid al-Lahji al-Hadrami, a Shafiʿi scholar from the Hadramawt tradition. Al-Lahji’s Idah al-Qawaʿid al-Fiqhiyya stands in the chain of the great Shafiʿi qawaʿid genre stretching from al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salam — the Sultan al-ʿUlama who reduced the whole of fiqh to the single principle of securing benefit and warding off harm — through Taj al-Din al-Subki and his Al-Ashbah wa al-Nazaʿir, and Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti’s great Al-Ashbah wa al-Nazaʿir. Al-Lahji is a faithful and detailed successor in that chain, published by Dar al-Diyaʿ, Kuwait.

The student matn, al-Faraʿid al-Bahiyya, is by Abu Bakr al-Ahdal, a Hadrami Shafiʿi scholar who versified the five kubra in a form designed for memorisation and classroom use. The maqasid spine, Qawaʿid al-Ahkam, is by al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salam (Sultan al-ʿUlama, d. 660 AH), the foundational figure of the whole genre and the maqasid tradition within Shafiʿi fiqh.
Who is this course for:

 • Young Muslims who want to understand how Islamic law is structured and how its governing principles reach every dimension of life — from worship and personal character to family, society, and contemporary challenges.
 • Students with some foundational exposure to fiqh who wish to organise and deepen what they already know.
 • Those who want to understand not merely what the rulings are, but why the law produces them — and how to approach new and unprecedented cases with principled thinking.
 • Participants in the SeekersGuidance Istanbul Summer Intensive 2026 — Junior Cohort — Daytime Track.
Learning outcomes:

 • Name and recite the five core maxims (al-qawaʿid al-khams al-kubra) in Arabic, with their meanings and Qurʿanic and hadith proofs.
 • Situate the science of qawaʿid within the broader fiqh genre and distinguish it clearly from usul al-fiqh.
 • Trace the chain of scholars through whom the science was transmitted, from al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salam to al-Subki, al-Suyuti, and al-Lahji.
 • Apply each maxim across multiple spheres of life, recognising how one principle governs worship, character, family, dealings, and contemporary cases.
 • Identify the key exceptions (istithnaʿat) to each maxim and explain why they exist without undermining the maxim.
 • Articulate the maqasid dimension of each maxim, connecting its rulings to their higher purposes in the law.
 • Use the darurat apparatus and the maratib to approach unprecedented cases with a disciplined method of weighing harms and benefits.
 • Understand how Islamic law takes root in diverse cultural contexts through the maxim al-ʿada muhakkama, with the Cape as the closing case study.