Comparative Fiqh

In the previous post, we introduced the topic of Differences of Opinions. We listed the four ways of categorizing these differences. In this post, we will look at the first category: Differences due to interpretation of word meanings and grammatical constructions. Within this category, we have several sub categories: Shared literal meanings/Equivocality/Homonym (Ishtirak): An example of this would be the word “qur” which means menses as well as the time of purity between menses.

Muslims, living in the Muslim Countries, generally tend to have limited exposure to Fiqh and its rulings. There is usually one dominant madhab and that’s all people know about. Rarely, if ever, people are exposed to other madahibs. However, the situation for many of us living in west, like Canada, is quite different. Because of the diversity of muslims, from various countries, cultures and backgrounds, we are exposed to many madhabs.

Bismillah. One of the types of transactions that’s very common today is a down-deposit transaction. This happens all the time with somewhat large purchases, like wedding cakes, or cars. Say your sister is getting married. You go to the bakery to locate a nice cake; passing by towers of icing, you locate one that doesn’t seem too unhealthy. “That one?” the shopkeeper says. “That one is $200. There’s a non-refundable deposit of $50 on it.