The Importance of Comparative Fiqh for Understanding Contemporary Issues and Emergent Questions

Abstract

In every age, there are always new issues and emergent questions that merit juristic and scholarly investigation and research, inviting Muslims to pay due attention to these issues and handling them from a Shari‘ah perspective. However, the developments and changes in this age are huge and dramatic, giving rise to a lot of questions whose Shari‘ah rulings need clarification. Hence, fiqh councils have been established, many conferences have been held, a lot of books have been authored and new departments have been created in Shari‘ah colleges to study contemporary issues and to find their rulings. In the same vein, I discuss in this research the importance of comparative fiqh for the juristic study of contemporary and emergent issues. This research is divided into three parts and conclusion. In the first part I discuss the definition of comparative fiqh, its subject matter and its importance. The second part explains the concept of contemporary issues and their characteristics. Part three discusses comparative fiqh and contemporary issues. The conclusion includes the most important findings and recommendations.