Explanation of the system of jurisprudential rules system of Uthman bin Sind al-Basri رحمه الله

Explanation A D Abdulaziz bin Muhammad bin Ibrahim Al-Owaid for Imam Abdul Rahman Al-Sadiah and the complete Koari. All praise be to Allah, we praise Him, seek His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the bad of our deeds. Whomever Allah guides, there is no misleader for him, and whomever He misguides, there is no guide for him. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. As for what follows: We have before us a beneficial message from Sheikh the scholar Abdul Rahman bin Nasser Al-Sadiah, who passed away in the year 1376 AH. The Sheikh, may Allah have mercy on him, has many writings in which he elaborates on knowledge, bringing it closer to his students with strong verification. He combined the elaboration of knowledge, its clarification, and thorough investigation. Therefore, it is appropriate for a student of knowledge to pay attention to the Sheikh’s writings, may Allah have mercy on him, with wide mercy. And before us is this poem (mandooma) of Sheikh, may Allah have mercy on him, in which he compiled what was easy to gather of the foundational rules of jurisprudence. He mentioned many beneficial jurisprudential rules that a student of knowledge should understand well, so that he can comprehend the science of jurisprudence, which is built upon understanding these rules. We need to distinguish between jurisprudential rules, foundational rules (usool), doctrinal rules (madhhab rules), and principles (adwaa’). When we say: this is a jurisprudential rule, or we say this is a principle, or we say this is an usool rule, or we say: this is a rule in the Hanbali school, or a rule in the Shafi’i school, or a rule in the Maliki school, or in the Hanafi school, we need to differentiate between these rules. The rule in language is the foundation upon which something is built. For example, the foundation of a house is its cement and iron placed inside the ground. The jurisprudential rule is what is intended in these lessons. We have an usool rule, a principle, and a madhhab rule.