Deriving Jurisprudential Rulings from the Verses of Qur’an (An Applied Study of Some Divorce Rulings Found in the Tafsir of Al-Bahr Al-Muhit)

Abstract

In order to emphasize the importance of grammar and syntax in comprehending the verses of the Holy Qur'an, the research attempts to determine the processes used to derive jurisprudential rulings from the Qur'anic verses and the relationship between that and syntax. It does this by applying the study to two verses of the rulings. Descriptive analytical methodology was employed by the researcher.

The primary source for all sciences is the Noble Qur’an. Jurisprudential rulings are one of the sciences that are derived from the Noble Qur’an because it serves as the initial framework for legislation and the derivation of such rulings. The verses from which rulings are derived may explicitly mention the ruling or may require the application of consideration and thought. Additionally, as the Qur’an is written in Arabic, the researcher (mujtahid) and jurists need to be proficient in language and syntax, since language allows one to infer the meaning intended by the verses. The researcher discovered a strong correlation between the variations in language and syntax used by jurists to derive rulings from the Qur’anic text and the variations in syntax and its various aspects, which in turn account for variations in rulings derived from the verses. The researcher studied two verses from Abu Hayyan Al-Andalusi's book Al-Bahr Al-Muhit that dealt with divorce rulings. Moreover, the researcher searched jurisprudence books from various schools of jurisprudence and explained how jurists' reliance on language and its rules affects how they derive their jurisprudential rulings. The researcher's findings then included the following: syntax and jurisprudential rulings are closely related because syntax aids in comprehending and extrapolating the meanings of Sharia texts; language and grammar rules served the Holy Qur'an and aided in its understanding.