Islamic Law

Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah was well-versed in Islamic law and showed keen interest in spreading this knowledge to the Muslim world through his lectures and writing. His contribution as a scholar of Islamic law had been remarkable. A part from translating the works on Islamic law in Urdu from different languages, he himself produced many important works on this subject. In these works he thoroughly discussed different aspects of Islamic law and interpreted the provisions of Sharî‘ah keeping in view the demands of modern times and problems of the present days. He also examined the sources of Fiqh and methodology for bringing out legal points through them. His discussion about the importance and scope of Ijtehâd, principles of its application and contribution of early jurists to the development of this institution has great significance. It is noteworthy that while responding to the problems of modern period, he himself applied the mechanism of Ijtehâd. His emphasis on the institutional Ijtehâd was a revolutionary step in this direction. Keeping these, the present work gives detailed account of Islamic views of Dr. Hamidullah.