This story is about 18th century BC.

This story is about 18th century BC. Sun-worshipping Hamurabi[^1], ruler of the green belt between the Twin Rivers, Dijla and Furat (Tigris and Eufrates) called Iraq, gave a 285 page constitution to his people. This constitution was engraved on slabs of stone with nails and is on display in a Paris museum since 1902. This manifesto might have been useful in its days but now being a dead document, it is an old sample of stone engraving.

The fact of the matter is that when a treatise loses its efficacy in different times, it does not matter if it is engraved in stone or in people’s hearts, it becomes a useless document. This is why those who have command over Islamic faculties of knowledge claim that our cache of fiqh and the roots of fiqh are such a wealth of high standard ever-lasting rules and regulations that they take care of a person’s needs for this world and hereafter from cradle to grave.

They have miraculous capabilities for encompassing the vast requirements of the society from each and every era. One of the main reasons is the perfection of the collection of laws. The other is the robust guiding principles that lead the mind to the root of the command. And then the process of searching for the right command in itself is such that it leaves its mark. What we have just alluded to, i.e., “principles of jurisprudence (fiqh)” is a great gift from God.

In this context a well-known intellectual of the scholarly world, Dr. Muhammad Hameed Ullah, says, “Probably the biggest achievement of the Muslims is “Principles of Jurisprudence (Fiqh)”. There were laws before Muslims. However, there is no such thing as “Principles of Jurisprudence (Fiqh)” in the whole world. And now we can say that it is a distinct addition that has taken care of a deficiency in the Faculty of Law.

Muslims can be proud of the fact that the laws did exist in all countries of the world but no nation presented the Faculty of Law in any form or shape. The “Principles of Law” is the faculty that can be applied not only to the Islamic laws but also to any laws of the world.”[^2] [^1]: Hamurabi is the same Namrud who wanted to take a vendetta by throwing Prophet Ibrahim (as) to a huge fire. [^2]: Khutabat Bahawalpur by Dr.

Muhammad Hameed Ullah, p 118, 120, Journal of Islamic Research Council, Islamabad Previous…