How learning jurisprudence helps me live a better life

 

Some of us, when unaware of the intricacies of a certain subject, tend to take it lightly or underestimate its meaningfulness in our lives. Likewise, our inability to test the vast-scale generalizations that people around us make can increasingly deter us from learning things that might offer us a new and unknown world.
 
I do not exclude myself from this. Before I started my journey of learning jurisprudence and its principles on a very basic level, I was gullible enough to believe any claim that was made against its effectiveness. I raised questions as to why fiqh was needed in a world moving towards atheism and worst. What difference does it make if I washed my hand above the elbow or below, but guess what? It makes a huge difference.
 
Out of all the least-forecasted outcomes of learning fiqh, one that continues to amaze me the most is that it fosters healthy relationships. As soon as I began to learn the minute details that surround everybody that is related to you with regards to rights and duties towards them, it dawned on me that I lacked very basic pieces of knowledge that are of unnegotiable importance. I began to look into the unjustified expectations that I had from some people, knowing that the shariah hasn’t obliged them. You might reach this conclusion through some other means too but fiqh allows you to do this without stepping into any self-victimization, since you know it’s decided by Quran and Sunnah.
 
Aren’t things difficult when you have to make all decisions by yourself? A plenty of times, the amount of stress that is released by a verdict from scholar is more invaluable than the whole world. Enabling me to have important decisions of my life made by people who are more scholarly and learned than me in all aspects, fiqh has made my life a lot easier than before. Similarly, whenever I get the opportunity to lift somebody’s confusion regarding a fiqh-related matter, I see a burden of huge mountain being released from their shoulders.

Good news! Fiqh is our way out of hopelessness. May Allah protect us from sins and evil practices, but if anybody has ever had to enter the dark world of a prayer-less life, of money polluted with illegitimate means of earning or unpaid zakat, of unfulfilled oaths and deliberately broken fasts, and is genuinely guilty, he should know that a scholar of fiqh can show him the light.

One incredibly satisfying quality of fiqh is that it has helped me know my boundaries and set my priorities. When you know that something is فرض (obligatory), you tend to do it before the نفل (optional). This idea has enabled me to to say yes or no to something without feeling doubtful about it. For example, it is forbidden to have unislamic activities in a wedding, it remains no longer a question for us to feel isolated while refusing to partake or guilty upon not showing flexibility. What is wrong should be established wrong without guilt. Also, seeing giants like Imam Abu Hanifa (رحمه الله) following principles set by the Quran and Sunnah and not compromising on truth out of fear of criticism, before attempting to declare a verdict, I indirectly feel persuaded to achieve this amount of clarity and humility in my life, which I may not have earned by now but at least, aim to.
 
Last, but not the least, fiqh has made me more mindful. A long-forgotten sacred practice. Over the years, due to concepts like multitasking and the capitalistic urge to make our lives more productive, we have forgotten the importance of being mindful of our acts of worship. Despite of trying multiple times, to revive the khushoo in our prayers and the purity of intent in our charities and fasts, fiqh can play a huge role in keeping us in the present, considering that we are less-likely to lose focus, when we are aware that every tiny aspect of our worship matters and, if done incorrectly, can affect the entire act or require repeating it. Examples of it could include the little things that can nullify a prayer, break a fast, or declare the unexpected end of a marital-contract.

To the core of fiqh, is the concept of the 4 imams. Before having any knowledge of this realm, I had no idea of how to disagree without any respect decreased for the opposite verdict. The 4 imams and the continued coexistence of disagreements and respect amongst them takes me by surprise and amazement every time I pick a book on fiqh. (رحمهم الله)