A Word From the Editors
Legal studies in any language pose problems to authors and readers
alike. In translation, those same problems are compounded, even many
times over at some places in the text, so that quite often the result is,
to say the least, disappointing. Unfortunately, with regard to English
translations of classical works of the Islamic intellectual heritage, this
sort of disappointment has been the rule rather than the exception.
Certainly, to the student of Usul al Fiqh this
disappointment has been all the more acute. While translations
of classical works in the field are non-existent, with the shining
exception of professor Khadduri's excellent rendition of al Imam al
Shafi'i's Risalah, there is as yet no general and systematic study of
the discipline in English. Even survey literature on the subject is scarce.
Yet, despite this near desperate situation, the International Institute
of Islamic Thought has not published the present volume merely in
order to fill a void in the library. Rather, it is in recognition of the
dynamics of intellectual reform, and of the role of Ijtihad in that process,
that the Institute is undertaking to publish a series of works by its
President, Dr. Taha Jabir al 'Alwani, on the subject of al Usul and,
in particular, Ijtihad.
This volume should be understood as an overview of the field, and
as an introduction to the classical discipline. Subsequent volumes,
however, will, In Sha'a Allah, present much that is original, and even
vital. For it is the conviction of the Institute that the source methodology
developed by the scholars of al Usul for dealing with and interpreting
the texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah is what now needs to be placed
before our Muslim social scientists so that they, with this important
and versatile tool in hand, may proceed to fashion the outlines of a
new relevancy for Islam.
Certainly, for our part, we can only hope that we have succeeded
in making the text clear. Moreover, we have taken pains to include a
full Subject Index, with the help of Cindex version 4.0 software, that
should prove useful to specialist and generalist alike. Also, while the
Arabic edition of this book was published with topic headings, it was
not divided into chapters. In the interest of clarity, we have divided
the work into chapters by converting, where necessary, topic headings
into chapter headings; and by adding brief explanatory notes.
May Allah give His guidance to the Ummah of Muhammad (PBUH).
A.S. Al Shaikh-Ali Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo
IIIT-London Department of Research-IIIT
Jumada al Akhirah 1411 AH
December 1990 AC
