Sano, Qutub Mustapha. “Theologians (Mutakallimūn) and Principles of Jurisprudence (Uṣūl al-Fiqh): A Reading into the Dialectical Relationship between the Uṣūl and Kalām Sciences,” Year 3, issue 9 (Summer 1418 AH/ 1997 CE), Pp. 37-70.

Abstract

Qutub Mustapha Sano’s article aims to highlight the dimensions of the dialectical relationship between the sciences of uṣūl al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence) and kalām (theology), assimilating the study of uṣūl al-fiqh in the study of kalām. He analyzes the intellectual and political conditions that prompted theologians to focus on the science of kalām as opposed to others, and he highlights the development of its fields of study and topics by theologians. Moreover, he discusses the extent to which kalām was influenced by political and social conditions, and its interaction with the problems of its time, notwithstanding that its frame of reference was Divine revelation. Sano contends that the theologian’s study of uṣūl al-fiqh caused a substantial shift in the structure of this science, elevated it, and allowed it to benefit from the Greek philosophical tradition and from the instruments of observation and analysis in contemporary social sciences, culminating to generate a new fiqh that is up-to-date with new developments.