AMBIGUITY IN ISLAMIC LEGAL HERMENEUTICS AND ITS IMPACT ON JURISTIC DIFFERENCES: AN ISLAMIC LEGAL THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Islamic legal hermeneutics can be identified in the writings of Muslim legal theorists. It focuses on the principles of interpreting the language of the Lawgiver for devising legal rulings on practical questions and how a language can govern a law. This paper attempts to show how ambiguity of religious texts affect legal determinations of juristic issues and to reveal the usuli approach of resolving religious ambiguous texts. It further aims at measuring whether Islamic legal theory was consistent with legal rulings derived by the Muslim jurisprudents. However, ambiguity is discussed on the level of the meaning of individual words and structures. This falls within the realm of equivocality and the interpretation of imperative forms. Though those principles were designed to show consistency between theory and practice, the outcomes were not ideal in the literal sense of the word. Legal theoretical precepts are probability maxims which are comprehensively applicable to all particulars