In the name of Allah the Most Gracious the Most Merciful

Should one start learning Usool Fiqh or Qawaa’id Fiqh first?

By Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-’Uthaymeen may Allah have mercy on him

The shaykh mentioned this point of benefit in his explanation of the fiqh poem “al-Waraqaat”. This particular excerpt can be found in his introduction to the book.

“Some scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, preferred (learning) usool because the branches (of fiqh) are built upon it. Therefore learn usool fiqh before learning fiqh.

And some scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, said rather learn fiqh because man is able to learn fiqh without returning back to its foundations. Also because knowledge of usool fiqh is not studied within fiqh. (Usool) only examines the evidences in fiqh. Therefore whenever it is possible man should learn fiqh before learning usool fiqh.

This has been the ongoing discussion for a long time. So much so that some of the scholars, from what I heard, would recite fiqh and not recite usool fiqh.”

Translated by: Michael AbdusSalaam Deonarain

الفقير الى الله