Abstract
In this article, the opinions of Muhakkık Hillî, one of the important scholars of the Shia-Hilla madrasah, on the fiqh methodology are summarized. Muhakkık Hillî rose to the position of the leader of the Shia-Hilla madrasah during his lifetime and brought the Shia-methodological thought to a systematic structure thanks to the books he left. While Hillî, on the one hand, touched on almost all the subjects of the fiqh methodology in his methodological work named al-Meʿâric fî uṣûli'l-fiḳh, on the other hand also mentioned the shar'i proofs at the beginning of his fürû-i fiqh work al-Muʿteber fî şerḥi'l-Muḫtaṣar. While explaining his methodological views, he prioritized his sectarian affiliation with his thoughts that for the acceptance of the news, the narrators must be imâmî and for ijma to be evidence, there must be the imam among the people of ijma'. According to Muhakkık Hilli, the ulema have to make ijtihad in order to meet the social needs, since the twelfth imam's occultation has lost contact with the imams. For this reason, fiqh method is important since it is necessary to determine the rules of action. According to him, the basis of shar'i judgments are five: book, sunnah, ijma, reason and istishap. Muhakkık Hillî does not include the description of the book in his work on fiqh. However, he gives examples from the Qur'an by introducing concepts such as zahir, nass, muevvel, mucmel, âmm, hass, emir and nehiy in the book. While the sunnah is divided into three as word, act and taqrir in terms of its structure, it is divided into mutawatir and al-khabar al-wāhid in terms of narration. If the members of Imāmiyyah accept a al-khabar al-wāhid, or if the truth of the khabar supports the intellect, the text of the book, the absolute sunnah and the presumptions of ijma, then action is taken with that khabar. Ijma is the alliance of people whose word is respected in religious affairs. It is possible for ijma to be realized in shar'i words and actions. At the time of the offer, it is absolutely necessary to have an innocent imam who protects the shari'ah, and it is obligatory to refer to his word in shari'a matters. Therefore, in order to be able to talk about ijma in any matter, there must be an innocent imam among those who participate in ijma. Muhakkık Hillî also examines the evidences of reason and istishap by dividing them into various parts. With these aspects, al-Meʿāric fī uṣûli'l-fiḳh is important for the Imāmiyyah sect, as it presents the identity of a compact fiqh method.