The Etymological Meanings of “‘Ilm” & “Fiqh” in Relation to “Shari’ah” & “Diyn”
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is adapted from a paper by Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ghafur ‘Abd ar-Rahim. One of the factors which stand against change and reform of Islamic law is the current rigid conceptualisation of some basic terms. The development of fiqh led to the construing of the terms “ diyn ”, “ islam ”, and “ shari’ah ” in concrete fiqhi terms. The underlying ethical principles which the concrete fiqhi values embodied became insignificant or of secondary importance. Consciously or not, this in turn led to the equation of forms and principles, thereby making change extremely difficult. Any proposed change came to be conceived as undermining the principles themselves embodied in the fiqhi forms. The involvement of human intelligence was in the form of ‘ilm , learning; and fiqh , understanding. Learning, at first referred to as qira’ah , reading, involved reading, understanding, and learning the ...