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The Shari'ah seeks to realize the benefit of man and to ward off harm and evil. After thoroughly extrapolating the responsibilities commanded by the Shari'ah, Imam al-Shatibi (may Allah have mercy on him) expressed this same incontrovertible conclusion in his Muwafaqat. He contended that Islamic law has been established to serve human beings' interests and that God has purposes in sending His messengers among other things for God the Almighty says, "[We sent] messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners so that mankind will have no argument against Allah after the messengers. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise" [4: 165] and "And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds" [21:107]. Al-Shatibi further concluded that this interpretation is ongoing regarding all details of the law. The above argument proves that the deduction of the rules of fiqh from legal evidences requires an aptitude for ijtihad in addition to an awareness and understanding of the prevailing conditions, familiarity with proofs, understanding the relation between the two, and reaching rulings that can be applied to specific cases. Our great predecessors, foremost of who was Abu Hanifa al-Nu'man (may Allah be pleased with him) have laid down the principles for this approach. The first paper in this edition discusses the scholarly pursuits of Imam Abu Hanifa and his usuli methodology. The paper explores the manner of how the Imam addressed the issues people dealt with at the time.
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