Use of fikh procedures in Ibn Kudâme's Muğni

This study, in which we attempt to examine Ibn Qudamah?s approach to the principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) in his work el-Mughni, consists of an introduction and five chapters. In the Introduction; the objectives, methodology, importance and scope of this study shall be briefly described. The first chapter is on the scholar Ibn Qudamah, his life, his works belonging to various branches of science; and the el-Mughni.The second chapter details the foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence according to Ibn Qudamah and the Hanbali school, with examples from el-Mughni. In this context, we demonstrate that Ibn Qudamah examines the sources of Islamic law by assorting them into two categories, namely the conventionally accepted sources and the controversial sources; in a similar vein to the distinction of substantive (asli) and secondary (fer-i) sources in other schools of jurisprudence. We show, with examples from el-Mughni, that Ibn Qudamah examined under the substantive sources the Quran, sunnah, ijma and istishab; and of the sources which are regarded as controversial the sher?u men kableba (the former laws; in other words, Judaic and Christian legislations), the sahabi kavli (opinion of the sahabi), istihsan (preference) and maslaha (pragmatism, the idea of the risk-benefit).While he does not list qiyas (analogy, comparison) either as a conventional or as a controversial sources; Ibn Qudamah did ascribe qiyas value as a proof and base some of his research on it. On the other hand, we observe that although he did not include urf (customs) and sadd-al dharai (the prevention of evil) as proofs in his work on usul, the Ravzatü?n Nazir; he does at least take them as legal principles in el-Mughni.In the third chapter, the hukum taklifi, the hukum waz?i; and the concept of taklif will be described with examples from el Mughni. In the fourth chapter, the subjects of kalaam, nass, zahir, mujmal, mubayyan, amr, nahiy, mutlaq and muqayyad will be dealt with; with corresponding examples from el Mughni. The results are discussed, concluding the work.