the science concerned with the general proofs of jurisprudence. This is because fiqh itself consists of two things: (i) specific cases for which a ruling is sought from among the five legal valuations, and (ii) the evidences by which those cases are judged. Hence fiqh is the knowledge of both the individual issues and their proofs.

These proofs fall into two categories. The first is universal: principles that cover every ruling of the same kind throughout the whole field of fiqh—such as the maxim, “An imperative denotes obligation,” or, “A prohibition denotes unlawfulness,” and the like. These universal proofs form the subject matter of uṣūl al-fiqh.

The second category comprises detailed, particular proofs that must be built upon those universal principles; once that construction is complete, they serve as the basis for issuing the concrete rulings.