الحمد لله الذي هدانا إلى الصراط المستقيم و الصلوة على من اختص بالخلق العظيم وعلى آله الذين قاموا بنصرة الدين القويم.
All praise belongs to Allah who has guided us to the straight path, and peace be upon the one who has been chosen with the best of character, and upon his family those who are steadfast in helping the true religion.
اعلم أن أصول الشرع ثلاثة الكتاب و السنة و إجماع الأمّة و الأصل الرابع القياس.
Know that the principles of shariah is based on three; the Quran, the sunnah and the consensus of the ummah. And the fourth principle is logical reasoning.
Commentators have mentioned that the reason Allamah al-Nasafi mentions أصول الشرع as opposed to أصول الفقه is to show that these three principles are not limited to fiqh only but rather encompass fiqh as well as aqeedah. This is the view of the mutaqaddimin, as opposed to the mutaakhirin, who disagree.
Why has the author mentioned three principles of shariah, and then mentioned a fourth? There are many reasons given; one reason given is that qiyaas is derived from the preceding four.
Another reason given to include qiyas as a fourth is that it is not qat’ee as opposed to the other three. One may question this; Is all of the evidence in the kitab and sunnah qat’ee? Is all qiyaas zanni? The response is that the majority is considered i.e. that the majority of evidence from the kitab and sunnah are qat’i, whilst the majority inferences from qiyas is zanni.
When the author mentions الرابع this indicates the order in which qiyaas comes, i.e. that it only comes after the first three. Such that as long as the ruling is found from one of the first three, there is no need for qiyaas.
أما الكتاب فالقران المنزّل على الرسول المكتوب في مصاحف المنقول عنه نقلا متواترا بلا شبهة
As for the Quran, it has been revealed upon the Messenger ﷺ and is written in the related books, with a continuous transmission, without any doubt.
The condition of tawatur has been added to the definition of Quran here to negate any rare readings of the Quran like the qira’ah of Ubay regarding the qadaa of Ramadan فعدة من أيام أخر متتابعات, or the qiraa of Ibn Masud regarding the punishment for stealing فاقطعوا أيمانهما, whereas in the Quran it is mentioned {فاقطعوا أيديهما}
و هو اسم للنظم والمعنى جميعا
And it (the Quran) is with words/structure and meaning both combined.
The reason meaning has been mentioned along with wording here is to negate the once held view of Imam Abu Hanifa, that it is allowed to perform salah in Persian for those who did not know arabic. He held the view that it is the meaning of the Quran that is important, and the نظم is not imperative. I.e. to focus on the arabic would detract ones concentration and humility in salah. This opinion was later retracted by Abu Hanifa.
و إنما تعرف أحكام الشرع بمعرفة أقسامهما و ذلك أربعة
Indeed the rules of shariah are known by recognising the two types of divisions. (نظم and معني) and the division of these two is split into four.
الأول في وجوه النظم صيغة و لغة و هي أربعة الخاص و العام و المشترك و المؤوّل
The first is in terms of structure, where it comes from and its literal meaning. And they are four; khaas (specific), عام (general), مشترك (no preference) and مئول (preference).
These will be clarified with examples later on in the text.
و الثاني في وجوه البيان بذلك النظم و هي أربعة أيضا الظاهر و النص و المفسّر و المحكم و لهذه الأربعة أربعة تقابلها و هي الخفي والمشكل والمجمل والمتشابه
The second is in terms of clarity of the structure. And it is of four types also; ظاهر (clear), نص (purpose/ definitive), مفسر (possible for abrogation) and محكم (not possible for abrogation). And for these four there are a further four which are opposite to it. And they are خفي (external), مشكل (confined meaning – can be found from text), مجمل (clarified by shariah), and متشابه (not clarified by shariah).
و الثالث في وجوه استعمال ذلك النظم و هي أربعة أيضا الحقيقة و المجاز و الصريح والكناية
The third is in terms of usage with regards to that structure. And it is also four also; حقيقة, مجاز, صريح (clear) and كناية (ambiguous).
و الرابع في معرفة وجوه الوقوف على المراد و هي أربعة أيضا الاستدلال بعبارة النص و بإشارته و بدلالته و باقتضائه.
And the fourth in terms of where the meaning stands and what is meant by it. And it is upon four types also evidence; عبارة النص (sentence bought for that purpose), إشارة النص (sentence not bought for that purpose), دلالة النص (text needs a word to make sense) and اقتضاء النص (implication e.g. Alhamdulillah implies there is no god but Allah).
و بعد معرفة هذه الأقسام قسم خامس يشمل الكل و هو أربعة أيضا معرفة مواضعها و معانيها و ترتيبها و أحكامها.
And after knowing these (twenty) types a fifth division comprises in all of them. And this is also of four types; وضع (clarity/place/definition), معنى (meaning), ترتيب (order) and أحكام (ruling).
