ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Basics of Islamic Jurisprudence Subjects of Jurisprudence The jurisprudential subjects are divided into two categories: acts of worship and dealings or transactions. Dealings are further divided into: contracts, one-party contracts and miscellaneous rulings.

Al-Shahīd al-Awwal divided jurisprudence into these subjects along the mentioned foundations when he said: “All of this is divided into four parts; worship, contracts, one-party contracts and miscellaneous rulings.” This classification is found in the books early day such as Sharāya‛ al-Islām by Muhaqiq al-Hillī. The subject of taqlīd or imitation (following a specific scholar) is mentioned in the books of jurisprudence, along with subjects relating to it, in the introduction section.

They say that it is obligatory for every mukallaf who has not reached the knowledge level of ijtihād to either follow someone in taqlīd or practice precaution in worship and transactions, even if these are regarded recommended or permissible actions, except where the ruling is self-evident. The condition for practicing precaution is that one is knowledgeable of the situations where precaution is applicable (only a few people actually do).

Without practicing taqlīd, the acts of worship and daily dealings of an individual - unless he or she is capable of precaution- are considered invalid.[^1] Then the section of worship is mentioned: Worship is an action that depends on having the intention of being close to Allah, for example, performing salat prayer.

Muhaqiq al-Hillī mentioned ten different subjects under the acts of worship category: Spiritual purification ( tahārah ): Spiritual purification is the use of a pure substance conditional upon an intention.[^2] There are two types of spiritual purification; spiritual purification from physical impurities that stem from the body ( khabath ) and spiritual purification from spiritual impurities ( hadath ).

Spiritual purification from a physical impurity consists of cleaning the body, clothes or anything else from the ten impure substances: urine, feces, blood, semen, touching carcass, etc. This form of purification does not stipulate having an intention. Spiritual purification from spiritual impurities consists of using water for wudū' , ghusl and tayammum . This form of spiritual purification is a prerequisite for such acts of worshipping as prayer and circulating the Ka’aba tawāf .