The Idea
This claim says that fiqh and usul al-fiqh were not born complete from the beginning, but rather took shape in the first two Hijri centuries within the life of the Muslim community and its practical questions. In this sense, they are the product of early ijtihad, not a fixed text that appeared all at once. The reading here invites us to understand legislation as a history of formation and accumulation, not merely as the preservation of a final formula from the very first moment.
Concise Formulation
Fiqh and usul al-fiqh: took shape: during the first two Hijri centuries
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This statement serves the book’s central idea, which holds that much of what we now consider fixed in the tradition took shape through a long historical process and only later acquired the status of self-evidence. Pointing to the early emergence of fiqh and its principles helps strip them of any absolute character and opens the way to Arkoun’s reading of the tradition as a field of human labor and ijtihad, not a closed treasury of final rulings.
Why It Matters
The importance of this claim lies in the way it changes how sharia itself is viewed: from being conceived as a ready-made block to being understood as a historical experience. This helps explain Arkoun’s project of criticizing what became sacred through habit and institution, not through origin alone. It also clarifies why he insists on reopening questions that were closed in the name of tradition.
Brief Evidence
Fiqh and usul al-fiqh took shape during the first two Hijri centuries. This means that they were not born complete from the beginning, but rather crystallized within the life of the Muslim community and its practical questions. In this way, legislation is understood as a history of formation and accumulation.
Reading Questions
- How does viewing fiqh as a historical formation change the way its rulings are approached today?
- What does Arkoun gain by linking usul al-fiqh to the earliest beginnings rather than to final completion?
Degree of Documentation
High: the claim appears in a clear location in the book’s material.