Introduction to Fiqh

by Ahmed Khorshid

Upon completing Sheikh Kifah's "Introduction to Fiqh" class, I feel a great sense of accomplishment but also a sense of loss. I had grown comfortably accustomed to the weekly classes that briefly covered the Science of the Qur'an, Sunnah and Hadith, and Sharia and Fiqh. The students of the class included a large variety of the community members, including male and female, old and young, along with Arabic speakers and non-Arabic speakers. Because of the beauty of the subjects, it did not feel like a class at all, but rather like an interesting, in-depth Khutbah. At the outset of the class, we learned the specific steps of how exactly the Qur'an was compiled into the book that we read today. We then learned the processes of how the Hadith was documented and what constituted a weak or strong Hadith. We learned about the Sahabah and Tabeien and the different ways they contributed to the collection of our Islamic texts. We discussed the early scholars of Tafseer along with the early scholars of Hadith, including Imam Al Bukhari and Imam Muslim. We learned about the basic themes of Sharia. Also, we learned about the Mazahebs and their Imams and of some of the differences between each of them, along with many other subjects. The Sheikh consistently provided the students with beautiful Qur’anic and Prophetic examples to clarify points, making the class even more enlightening. To say that the class was interesting would be a grave understatement. I highly recommend it to anybody if it is ever offered again. Even if one is familiar with the subject material, I’m sure that they, like me, will find the class fun, educational, interesting and enlightening.