Thus, while previously' those carrying out the tasks of Fiqh...

Thus, while previously' those carrying out the tasks of Fiqh were using the common elements in the process of deduction without completely grasping their nature and limitation and the significance of their role in it -the entrance of the trend of ‘Ilm’ul Usul onto the stage of the thinking of ‘Ilm’ul Fiqh , they began to pay attention to these common elements and to study their limitations.

We do not doubt that the seeds of the thinking of ‘Ilm’ul Usul were to be found with the jurists among the companions of the Imams since the days of the Sadiqain (Imam Muhammad Baqir and Imam Ja'far Sadiq) at the level of their legal thinking.

Historical testimony to that is contained (among other things) in the books of A Hadith (traditions) about the questions concerning some of the common elements in the process of deduction posed by a number of narrators to Imam Sadiq and other Imams and the answers received from them.[^1] Those questions reveal the existence of the seeds of the thinking of ‘Ilm’ul Usul among them and their tendency to establish general laws and to delineate the common elements.

This view is strengthened by the fact that some pf the companions of the Imams like Hisham bin Hakam wrote booklets on some of the problems of ‘Ilm’ul Usul . Hisham wrote a book on 'Terms'. However, in spite of that, the concept of common elements and the significance of their role in the process of deduction were not sufficient clear and propound in the beginning.

The elucidation of these characteristics and their increase in comprehensiveness took place gradually during the expansion of the tasks of ‘Ilm’ul Fiqh and the development of the processes of deduction. But the study of these common elements did not become a separate study, independent of the researches of ‘Ilm’ul Fiqh , until a long time had elapsed after the birth of the first seeds of the thinking of ‘Ilm’ul Usul .

Thus the study of ‘Ilm’ul Usul remained for a long time mixed with the researches of ‘Ilm’ul Fiqh and not independent of it. The thinking of ‘Ilm’ul Usul in the meanwhile intensified its role with, increasing clarity until it reached the degree which enabled it to become independent of ‘Ilm’ul Fiqh . It seems that up to the time ‘Ilm’ul Usul reached the level which qualified it for independence, it continued to waver between ‘Ilm’ul Fiqh and ‘Ilm’ul Usul’ud Din (science of theology).