Posts here will go over various branches and chapters of fiqh. Since they’re my *notes*, literally, it will appear sloppy, but will be updated often, with the coming of new, ready-to-publish info. And I also welcome suggestions and links to detailed info that I may benefit from. As for exhaustive research into any specific issue, if I don’t agree with what is already available online in English regarding it, I may publish my own research of it.

I began my fiqh studies in Medinah, with curriculum classes in ibn Rushd’s Primer and then basic Hanbali fiqh from Shaykh Dr. Abdullah ibn Ibrahim al-Zaahim. From the latter I took a comprehensive exam and was the only one who passed out of a dozen other students, alhamdulillah. I translated his summary into English, and from that point, I add on and modify what I later learn. I benefited a lot from Sh. Muhammad BaJabir (of Jeddah) and his duroos as well as Sh. Ahmad Umar al-Hazimi (Makkah), while doing my masters in Fiqh and Usul at IIUM.

The first scholars that compiled and organized Islamic fiqh into a single set of volumes or chapters agreed in dividing fiqh subject matter into two broad categories: worship (ibaadaat) and transactions (mu`aamalaat). The two subjects were different in that worship was generally restricted except for what the Messenger specifically exemplified and guided his followers to practice. Transactions–encompassing trade, family law, and judiciary–had guidelines and some conditions but were much more flexible, often absorbing local customs with minimal correction as Islam spread in different regions.