a forward to the primer from the highly revered Maulānā Abul Hasan ʿAlī al-Hasanī al-Nadwī.
Rector, Nadwatul ʿUlamāʾ, Lucknow, India
All praise be to Allah and blessings and peace be upon the chief of prophets and last messenger Muhammad, upon his family-members, all his companions and those who follow him righteously till the Day of Judgment.
The educational system and academic curriculum in different ages and countries are based upon a number of factors. At times, it is experimental, based upon a specific educational ideology and in pursuance of well-defined goals. Sometime, it defers to religious, organizational and financial needs. At others, it is prepared to conform with the age, psychology, intelligence-level and needs of the students. However, the best curriculum and the one most worthy of persisting and continuing for the longest period is that which includes all the above aspects and pursues all the above goals.
This fact is observable in the old academic curriculum of the Indian sub-continent which has continued to be called the Nizāmī Curriculum from the second half of the 12th century AH, taking its name from the learned Imām Nizāmuddīn bin Qutbuddīn al-Sihāliwī al-Lakhnawī (d. 1161 AH). This current traditional curriculum is the latest stage in the development of the old curriculum which has remained prevalent in the Indian subcontinent since the blessings of Islamic conquest. It has been expanded, reduced, improved and renewed in accordance with the needs of the country, the governments and the society of Islāmic India. It has also been influenced by the trends in the neighboring Islāmic countries, especially Iran which has remained the guide and leader for this country, and the academic and ideological powerhouse for India, supplying and nourishing it with academic content, written books (especially in the science of philosophy) and teachers excelling in intelligence and academic research. The Iranians governed India in economic and academic fields and consequently had a huge impact on the academic system as well as on the standards of excellence, wisdom and intellect.
The continuing highs and lows and the process of additions and reductions in the curriculum did not stop till the Nizamī Curriculum came into being. And then, it halted at that particular boundary. Sadly, this happened at a time when the curriculum was in far greater need of development and revision than in any other time in the past due to changes in the political and legal landscape, changes in the governmental language, and conquest of the Western culture and civilization over this country.
The books in this curriculum started with extensive study of Fārsī language, literature and poetry that went on for several years. The student in his early teenage would then turn to Arabic grammar and fundamentals i.e., syntax and morphology, rhetoric, and elementary books in logic. The number of books prescribed for Arabic morphology (Sarf) alone would reach seven and in Arabic syntax (Nahw), there would be five. As for logic, the minimum number of books that a student was supposed to study
would be four or five. After completing all of this, he would enter the stage of studying books on Islamic Jurisprudence when he would have reached puberty recently or some time back. As for a student who started his study late due to any reason, he would have reached youth by that time. So, the student would not find any difficulty grasping the juristic details, rulings for sophisticated cases, and rare assumptions which the juristic books prescribed in this curriculum were filled with, like Qudūrī and Sharh Wiqāyah. He would not be overwhelmed by matters beyond his understanding, nor would his impulses and urges be aroused before time. The teacher – who nowadays feel inhibited by modesty and consideration for the students’ age and intellect-level from explaining and elaborating certain age inappropriate rulings – would not come across such a difficulty in this curriculum most of the time. Similarly, there would often be no need for a bridge to fill the wide gap between the student’s age and his expected intellectual level, nor would there be a need for deviating from the curriculum. Moreover, the early academic levels would include the study of Fārsī literature, advanced books on morphology and syntax, and complicated logic which would collectively tax the minds and develop the intellectual ability to take in, comprehend and grasp these sophisticated juristic rulings.
Then the time came when a considerable portion of the curriculum like the study of Fārsī language and literature, which used to engage a large portion of the student’s formative years and academic sessions, was excluded. The number of books prescribed for Arabic morphology, syntax and logic was cut down.
And above all, the goal of freeing up the student’s time and energy so that he got the opportunity to enter the field of professional life earlier, became paramount in people’s mind, on account of financial pressures, ever-growing influence of Western educational system, and the goal of life and sphere of competition getting confined to the field of business and job. In this situation, the religious student had no option but to study the books on religion and Jurisprudence at an early age, at most in his adolescent years, the most impressionable and complex years of life according to psychology, moral philosophy and medical science. He would be faced with rulings of cases, sub-cases and their derivations from the beginning of the chapter of Purification to the chapter of Marriage which would be hard to grasp. And in case, he was able to understand the issue, it would arouse impulses and urges before the appropriate age, at times leading to psychological and ideological predicament wherein being safe is not commendable and getting into disaster is not ruled out.
When I used to teach children and adolescents at Dārul ʿUlūm Nadwatul ʿUlamāʾ, this thought would cross my mind time and again. The thought of writing a Jurisprudence book appropriate for the age and intellect of students, conforming to the environment in which they live and the age in which they were born, would frequently occur to me. If I could not completely restructure the books, I should at least revise and amend them, I thought. And in spite of my numerous commitments, endless journeys and multifarious responsibilities, I did resolve to do this. I referred the book “Nūr-ul Īdāh” by the learned scholar Hasan bin ʿAmmār al-Shurumbulālī al-Hanafī al-Misrī. It is a simple book in Hanafī Jurisprudence which has gained widespread popularity and currency in recent years in our Islāmic seminaries which are called “Arabic madrasahs”. I started my writing work limiting myself and my efforts to the realm of this book. I also took assistance from one of the professors of Dārul ʿUlūm Nadwatul ʿUlamāʾ, dear brother Nazrul Hāfīz al-Nadwī. However, my other writing commitments and journeys obstructed me from completing this work though its need was intense and I realized its importance.
Nevertheless, the thought did not part from me at any time. So when it became certain that there was no alternative, I decided to assign this to one of the professors of Nadwah who had been engaged in teaching Jurisprudence, was aware of the science of Hadīth and was capable of writing for children in plain language and simple style.
My eyes for selection fell upon dear brother Shaikh Shafīq-ur Rahmān al-Nadwī. Allāh’s guidance was his ally in completing the work in accordance with what I envisaged and what I sketched out for him. He did the work in an excellent manner in a short time and came out with the book which I named “al-Fiqh al-Muyassar”. His main reference was the book “Nūr-ul Īdāh” owing to its several features. He has started every section and major chapter with Qurānic verse and Prophet’s ﷺ hadīth so that the student may know the significant position the juristic topic holds in Islāmic Sharīʿah and the important status it has with Allāh and His Prophet ﷺ. This will inculcate in him the consciousness about faith in Allāh and doing deeds for His pleasure. He then took up the definition, literal meaning and juristic description of juristic terms. He has kept away from mentioning the rulings which are inappropriate for the age and intellect of the students as this was the principal reason for writing this new book for children. He has also avoided discussing differing juristic opinions and has kept himself restricted to the juristic opinion to be followed in practice. He has also avoided things which could create confusion and misunderstanding.
So he has mentioned the nouns instead of pronouns and classified the subject-matter in the style of modern academic works. He has preferred plain and clear language and has added rulings of some issues which are needed in this age but had not occurred in the age of the authors of the past, like Salāh in a train or airplane. He has also provided the modern equivalents for ancient units of weights and measurements like dirham, mithqāl and sāʿ.
Thus, the book “al-Fiqh al-Muyassar” which lies in front of the readers comes up as a simple book for the young for learning Islāmic Jurisprudence and grasping its basics. It fills a void in the religious academic library of the young and fulfills the need of our religious seminaries which was being felt by the people running these seminaries, and those concerned with the education and psychology of the children, and ardent about educating the young students in religion and training them in a manner suitable for their age and intellect, and conforming with the temperament of the modern age and its natural development in the permissible bounds.
In the end, I thank the dear author for his endeavor and present this book, deriving authority from my strong bond with Nadwatul ʿUlamāʾ and my general association with religious seminaries, as a gift dedicated to the professors engaged in teaching at Dārul ʿUlūm in the faculties of Arabic language, literature, grammar and composition. I hope that the religious seminaries will welcome this book warmly and broaden the field in their academic curriculum so that this book takes its rightful position among the books of Jurisprudence and religious education. After all, wisdom is the lost property of a Believer. He is more worthy of it no matter where he finds it. All praise be to Allāh in the beginning and in the end, and blessings of Allāh and peace be upon His Prophet and chosen one.
Abul Hasan ‘Alī al-Hasanī al-Nadwī
Rae Barelī
06 Jumādal Ākhirah 1402 AH = Thu, 01 Apr 1982 CE