The method understanding of shihabuddin es-suhreverdi

This study focuses on the jurisprudential methodology of Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi. Known for his mystical and philosophical identity, al-Suhrawardi is the founder of the Illuminationist (Ishraqi) philosophy school. However, the aspect of al-Suhrawardi relevant to our study is his identity as a scholar of jurisprudential methodology. In his work "al-Tanqihat fi Usûl al-Fiqh", al-Suhrawardi addresses controversial issues in Islamic legal theory (usûl al-fiqh), presenting the evidence provided by various schools of thought. He evaluates these issues using a logical perspective and the methods of debate and discussion, often stating his own conclusions on the matters. Our study is divided into an introduction and three main chapters. The introduction covers the aim and significance of the thesis, the subject matter, the scope of the topic, and the methodology used in the research. Additionally, the introduction includes a discussion of al-Suhrawardi's life, personality, and works. The first chapter examines al-Suhrawardi's views on the primary sources of Islamic law: the Quran, Sunnah, consensus (ijma), analogical reasoning (qiyas), juristic preference (istihsân), presumption of continuity (istishâb), the sayings of the Companions (sahâbî qawl), and public interest (istislâh). The second chapter explores al-Suhrawardi's theory of legal inference (istinbat), covering topics such as general and specific terms (amm and khas), exception and restriction (istisnâ and taqyid), abrogation (naskh), and ambiguous and clear texts (mujmal and mubayyan). The third chapter examines al-Suhrawardi's approach to independent reasoning (ijtihad) and adherence to scholarly opinions (taqlid). General observations about al-Suhrawardi's understanding and identity in jurisprudence are presented in the conclusion. In our study, we found that al-Suhrawardi accepts all primary sources of Islamic law and considers presumption of continuity (istishab) and public interest (istislâh) as valid secondary evidence. However, he does not consider the sayings of the Companions (sahâbî qawl) and juristic preference (istihsân) as valid evidence. Additionally, it was observed that he supports the musawwiba approach in ijtihad, which suggests that multiple correct answers can coexist in matters of jurisprudential interpretation. Keywords: Şihâbüddîn es-Sühreverdî, Methodology, Evidence, Derivation, Ijtihad and Taqlid