The acts of the Prophet in Shawkānī's understanding of fiqh

Correctly understanding the Sunnah, one of the two primary evidences of Islamic law, is one of the most important steps in correctly understanding religion in general and religious provisions in particular. For this reason, examining the actions of the Prophet Muhammad which are an important part of the Sunnah, and examining their ways of indicating the rule, was one of the most important concerns of methodologists. Islamic law methodologists have spent a long time on investigating the rule of following the actions of the Prophet and to derive the ruling of following his actions upon his ummah, and they differed on some details. This study aimed to identify and evaluate the views of Muhammad b. Ali al-Shawkānī (1250–1834), one of the 19th-century Islamic scholars, on the actions of the Prophet and its provisions. In this regard, first, the views and classifications of some of the famous uṣūl scholars who lived before Shawkānī regarding the actions of the Prophet are conveyed chronologically. Presenting the perspectives of the scholars before him on the subject, enabled us to see the basis of Shawkānī's views and whether they differ from existing views. Then, we took a general look at Shawkānī's understanding of sunnah. In the last part of the thesis, Shawkānī views on the actions of the Prophet and their rules on the ummah are included. As a result of the study, we concluded that Shawkānī is one of the uṣūl scholars who classify the actions of the Prophet in the most detail and his approach style has original qualities at some points, as well as we reached some other results on the subject.