The jurisprudential rules and their applications in the Shafi'i school of thought by Muhammad Al-Zuhaili

The book "Legal Rules and Their Applications" addresses the detailed explanation of the jurisprudential rules that appeared in the writings of the Imams of the Shafi'i school, clarifying their legal evidence, their meanings, and presenting the most important jurisprudential branches and real issues that fall under them. It also includes studies on the importance of legal rules and the extent of reliance on them in evidence. Recently, the movement of indexing and rooting the science of the principles of jurisprudence and its rules has been active, where many researchers have moved toward comprehensive statistical work on the principles of jurisprudence, with the editing of the texts of the rules, the various expressions of the rule, their evidence, and their jurisprudential applications, illustrating them with modern examples. It also mentions the jurisprudential exceptions for each rule across different schools of thought, relying on books dedicated to rules, similarities, and analogies from heritage, then on the main books of jurisprudence in the schools. This book was created to address these issues specifically within the Shafi'i jurisprudence. Dr. "Mohammad Al-Zuhayli" in his book first explains the Shafi'i jurisprudential rule, then writes the other expressions for it if they exist. If the phrase for the rule is consistent, the goal has been achieved. Then he clarifies the meaning of the rule, explains its intended purpose, and defines the general and shared meaning of its expressions, along with the evidence and the basis of the rule. He then mentions all examples found in one, two, or three books, along with the established exceptions, and clarifies the reference for each branch, issue, or example from the source from which it was taken, including the reference of the rule from other books and sources. He also indicates the sources of explanation, jurisprudential application, and exceptions to assist the reader, especially those studying the school and its details. The author found that most of the Shafi'i rules are limited to acts of worship, some are in other jurisprudential chapters, and some are disputed in their applications and branches within the Shafi'i school itself, which he explained in detail in his study. The author also confirmed the benefits and warnings mentioned at the end of each rule related to it, due to their importance, benefit, and the knowledge they contain. He included side headings for many of the warnings and benefits that appeared after the rules to help the reader understand the content of the warning from its heading. The author also found that many of the general jurisprudential rules in the Shafi'i school agree with the general rules in the Hanafi and Maliki schools, as stated by Ibn Nujaym in his book "Al-Ashbah wa Al-Nadha’ir." The author elaborated on and explained these to highlight their special nature within the Shafi'i school, as Shafi'i scholars have mentioned and explicitly stated them in many of their books, relying on them as foundational principles of the school. This study is an expanded summary — with much explanation, detail, and examples — of a previous study by the same author titled "Jurisprudential Rules and Their Applications in the Four Schools." In that work, the author addressed the fundamental rules that compile jurisprudential differences among the four schools, with comparisons between them.