Qawa'id Fiqhiyyah

Legal maxims: short principles that gather the pattern behind thousands of separate rulings.

Also written · Qawaid fiqhiyyah · Qawaid · Qawa'id · Kawaid · Qaidah · Qaida fiqhiyya · Al-qawaid al-kulliyyah · legal maxims · juristic maxims · principles of fiqh · Ashbah wa nazair

The meaning

What Qawa'id Fiqhiyyah means in Islam

Five are counted as the great ones: matters are judged by their intentions; certainty is not lifted by doubt; hardship brings ease; harm is to be removed; and custom decides. They are teaching tools and aids to reasoning rather than sources in their own right, and every one of them has recognised exceptions. Al-Suyuti's al-Ashbah wa al-Naza'ir is the best known collection.

Evidence · Editorial · Our own summary, drawn from the sources named

Read beside it

Words that sit beside it

Usul al-FiqhThe science of how rulings are derived: which sources count, and how they are read.أُصولُ الفِقْه
Niyyah (in law)Intention, which decides what an act legally is, not merely whether it is rewarded.النِّيَّة
'UrfLocal custom, which fiqh accepts as a decider where revelation has left a matter open.عُرْف
DarurahNecessity: the state in which something forbidden becomes permitted in order to preserve life.ضَرورة