When Fiqh goes too far OR how an obsession with Fiqh is harming the religion

Modernity has done a lot of damage to people’s understanding of Islam. The extreme misinterpretations of the religion today are just as much a product of modernity as the liberal misinterpretations. Both are a reaction to modernity. One such disastrous misinterpretation is an overemphasis on Fiqh at the expense of everything else.

To begin, let me make it clear, Fiqh is important. It is important to follow scholarly opinions, to understand the basics of halal and haram, and to avoid any actions that are clearly haram. There are, however, in the modern world too many misunderstandings of what Fiqh is, how Fiqh works, and its importance in the religion.

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The science of interpretation

Fiqh is the science of interpreting and extracting laws from the revealed texts (Quran and Sunnah), and from other principles when there is no clear texts. For the most part, Fiqh is speculative (dhanni). It is a science that is prone to error. This is understood by scholars, who accept that their opinion has the potential to be wrong, and they are simply stating what they believe is the most probably conclusion. Fiqh is not Shariah, and Fiqh is not fact. For the most part, it is opinion, and often there are a multitude of opinions on any Fiqh matter.

Allah made our religion practical and flexible enough that it can accommodate a multitude of legal interpretations. These different opinions are meant to make the religion easier for the layman, allowing for the application of different schools of thought in different lands. These opinions were never meant to be treated as facts or undisputable.

Any serious student of knowledge knows that very few Fiqh issues are matters of consensus, and most are open to at least some level of interpretation. This knowledge is lost on many today who treat the opinions in Fiqh books written 100 or 200 years ago as if they are revelation. Fiqh is treated as an absolute science, and those who differ are treated like apostates or deviants. This is a new modern misinterpretation of Fiqh and its place within the religion.

One science among many

The problem with many people’s understanding of Islam today is to assume that Fiqh is everything or all that matters. All that matters is that something is haram or halal. This is just one consideration among many. Islam is a comprehensive way of life that is natural, practical, flexible, and realistic. Fiqh gives you only one piece of the equation. By limiting one’s understanding of Islam to Fiqh, Islam becomes unnecessarily stringent, harsh, and limiting. It also leads to really illogical life choices.

We see this often in the Fiqh of marriage. A successful marriage cannot be built on blindly enforcing a book of Fiqh. In relationships, Fiqh exists primarily to handle court cases and provide the boundaries that should not be exceeded. They are not textbooks on how to build a good marriage. Limiting one’s understanding of Islam to Fiqh drastically reduces one’s chances of building loving long-lasting relationships.

Many Muslims excuse behaviour that will destroy their relationships on the basis that it is technically halal. When building relationships, halal/haram is just one consideration. You also have to consider wisdom, character, manners, and personal circumstances. It is not enough to get a fatwa justifying what you want to do if it will destroy your relationships. Fiqh should not be the primary consideration in marriage.

Let us look at an example that may be easier for some people to understand; business and money. Because of their love of wealth, most people do not take this same Fiqh-focus with business because it would lead to losses. It seems that people are okay losing relationships but not profits.

Let us consider a scenario. A young man asks his teacher for advice on a business he wants to start. The teacher explains why the business idea is a bad idea and will lead to loss and bankruptcy. The student becomes defensive and says, “But it is halal. You cannot make the halal haram. You cannot stop me from doing something halal.” This scenario seems implausible to many of us because we value our profits too much. Sadly, this is the exact approach many people take to marriage, indicating that such people do not value their marriages the same way they value their businesses.

The place of Fiqh in the life of the average Muslim

Historically, Fiqh was a subject studied and taught by scholars. The layman would learn just enough to ensure they lived their lives within the boundaries of the Shariah. This primarily focused on the Fiqh of worship as it is essential that our worship is done in a way that is valid. Other categories of Fiqh like marriage and business were not mastered by the layman.

They simply learned enough to ensure they did not oppress or harm anyone in their dealings with other people. If there was an issue or a dispute, they would take the matter to a judge or scholar who would then either advise them on how to move forward, or in worst case scenarios, enforce things with Fiqh rulings.

The average Muslim did not live their lives obsessed with the fiqh of everything. They knew what the major sins were, what the cultural taboos were, and how to ensure their worship is valid. Beyond that, there was a general understanding that everything else is halal, and people should make wise decisions based on what is best for the community. Fiqh rarely factored in these decisions. Whether it came to marriage, business, parenting, or entertainment, Fiqh simply provided broad boundaries and did not dictate every little detail within the broad circle of halal.

Misplacement of Fiqh

Within Muslim empires of the past, the average Muslim lived a relatively free life, rarely constrained by Fiqh rulings. As most Fiqh issues are subjective and open to difference of opinion, enforcement of specific opinions on the layman was generally frowned upon. In such a culture, people were able to live free and fulfilling lives very few constraints related to the primary laws of the Shariah. These includes the obligations to pray, fast and give charity, and the prohibitions of vices like stealing, murder, gambling, and fornication.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Muslim minorities scrambled for relevance and something to cling to. No longer was there an empire, a Dar al-Islam, or a broader Muslim culture to adhere to. Isolated and surrounded by a new dominant culture that threatened to destroy their own, Muslims in these lands became more insular. This led to the formation of new revivalist sects, each with their own focus on what went wrong and what needs to be revived. For some of these groups, clinging to Fiqh became clinging to what remains of the Shariah.

Living away from Muslim cultures and actual Shariah in action, minorities learned Shariah primarily from books and their few local teachers. In the process, they began to confuse the two, Fiqh and Shariah. Suddenly clinging to and enforcing every little law on their communities became a coping mechanism to prevent the loss of Islam.

Minor issues like “pants below ankles” and “playing chess” were elevated to major issues. Minor and major sins treated the same. Differences of opinion and matters of consensus treated the same. In their attempt to preserve Islam, they made it too strict, too stringent, too focused on minute issues, and in the process, they chased more people away.

This was compounded by a new type of performative piety. In an attempt to preserve what remained of Islam in their community, some of these groups created unrealistic standards for the layman. Qualities that in the past would have been considered “the height of piety” or “exclusive practice of the righteous” were now treated like the “bare minimum” that every Muslims was expected to adhere to. Failure to meet these unrealistic standards meant judgment and condemnation. Only the perfectly pious were welcomed in these communities. Everyone else was written off as already lost.

The dangers of reducing the religion to Fiqh rulings only

Fiqh is a science meant for scholarly discussion, establishing the validity of deeds and contracts, and establishing the boundaries of acceptability. It is not meant to dictate every move of our lives, and constrain us from using wisdom, experience, cultural norms, advice, and common sense to guide our worldly dealings. It is meant to be one piece of the religion, not all of it.

When the religion is reduced to Fiqh alone, it becomes unnecessarily rigid and harsh. People with a “fiqh-only” mindset tend to be less friendly, tolerant, merciful and human. They view every action of everyone around them through an exaggerated lens of performative righteousness. In the process, they become unable to see the humanity in others and simply see sinners who failed to live up to their unrealistic standards.

The overemphasis on Fiqh in some communities has made the religion very difficult to practice. It has reduced matters of difference of opinion to “clear cut issues”, elevated all violations of any opinions to “major sins” and established standards in society that are simply not possible for the average person to live up to. The result is that it creates a wrong image of Islam and chases many people away from it.

Balance between Fiqh and everything else

Fiqh is important, within its proper place. Learning the fundamentals of Fiqh ensures that our acts of worship and contracts are valid. It also provides guidelines regarding the boundaries of the Shariah. However, it is one piece of the comprehensive Islamic worldview. Reducing anything to just a piece of it strips it of its true nature. In this case, Islam loses its practicality, universality, humanity, and wisdom when it is reduced to a checklist of do’s and don’ts.

In our efforts to revive Islam, we must take the middle path. We must teach Fiqh to people as per their level. But we must ensure that our Islamic education system is more comprehensive than this. We need to return to teaching Islam holistically. This includes our beliefs, ethics, character, timeless wisdom, purification of the soul, and cultural diversity. The perfection of Islam is seen when it is viewed comprehensively, not piecemeal.

I end with a reminder to follow the advice of the Prophet who warned us again extremism and reminded us that the religion is easy. Modern fiqh-obsessed versions of the religion are anything but easy.

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Verily, the religion is ease, and no one burdens himself in religion but that it overwhelms him. Follow the right course, seek closeness to Allah, give glad tidings, and seek help for worship in the morning and evening and a part of the night.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 39)

We need your help to keep this website going. Our new membership system is designed to sustain our website. We need 300 more members to make this website sustainable. Consider becoming a member to support our work. Membership options available here.