The specialist in ‘Ilm’ul Usul will endeavour in his study...

The specialist in ‘Ilm’ul Usul will endeavour in his study to answer these two questions in accordance with the level of meticulousness and caution. If, therefore, he concludes his study with answers in the negative to both the questions, it means that he possesses no sources of proving the validity of al-Khabar as a proof. Consequently, he would exclude al-Khabar from the scope of deduction.

If, however, he is able to answer in the affirmative to either of the two questions, it means that he can prove the validity of al-Khabar as a proof and can include it in the process of deduction as a common element in ‘Ilm’ul Usul . We shall see in the forthcoming discussions that a number of common elements have been proved by the first source (i.e. al-Bayan al-Shar'i or a text of the Qur'an or the Sunnah) while a number of others have been proved by the second (i.e.

al-Idrak ul-'Aqli or intellectual discernment). In the first category falls the validity of al-Khabar and al-Zuhurul'Urfi as proofs, while an example of the second type is the law that states “an act cannot be both obligatory and prohibited at the same time”.

In the light of the above we come to know that it is essential, before beginning the study of ‘Ilm’ul Usul , to determine the common elements, so that we may study the fundamental sources which this science has to use to prove the validity of those elements, and to define their limitations so that afterwards we can use them in accordance with those limitations.

Text of the Qur'an or the Sunnah Al-Bayan al-Shar'i is one of the two fundamental means of proving the validity of the elements that participate in the process of deduction. By al-Bayan al-Shar'i we mean the following: (i) The Holy Book, i.e. the Qur'an that was sent down miraculously through revelation of both meaning and words, to the noblest of the Messengers -Muhammad (P). (ii) al-Sunnah, i.e. every statement originating from the Messenger or from one of the twelve infallible Imams.

The statements originating from them are of three types: (a) al-Bayanul Ijabi al-Qauli, i.e. the words spoken by one of the infallibles. (b) al-Bayanu'l Ijabi al-Fe'li, i.e. an act done by one of the infallibles. © al-Bayan al-Salbi, i.e. the silence of one of the infallibles about a specific situation in such a way as to reveal his approval of it and its being in. conformity with the Shari’ah . It is incumbent that we take all forms of' Bayan Shar'i into consideration.