COMPILATION OF FIQH DURING THE ERA OF MUSLIM POWER

The root of this tragedy lies in the fact that the foundational corpus of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) was compiled many centuries ago during the Abbasid Caliphate. This era marked the zenith of Muslim global dominance, with the Muslim world recognized as the most formidable political power of its time. A poet aptly captured this reality with the following verse:

“From East to West, we were dominant across the world, No nation’s scale was weightier than ours in the world.”

The fiqh that exists today was compiled during this era of dominance. As a natural consequence, the spirit of that time became embedded in it. This compiled fiqh thus became a form of authoritative jurisprudence.