The hanafi approach to the clear (wāḍiḥ) words of the legislative text (mufesser and muḥkem)

Abstract

This paper elaborates on how the scholars of the Hanafi School of Law theoretically considered mufesser and muḥkem. Mufesser and muḥkem represent two out of four categories (ẓāhir, naṣṣ, mufassar and muḥkem) in the categorization of the clear meaning of the legislative text (wāḍiḥ) in the Hanafi school. Naming examples, the paper analyses the use of mufesser and muḥkem in the Hanafi scholars’ ijtihād and shows the results and consequences of their understanding of the indications of these categories. At the beginning of the paper, the discipline of linguistics in Uṣūlu-l-fiqh is briefly explained, and then the linguistic and terminological definitions first of the concept of mufesser and then also of muḥkem in the Hanafi School of Law are presented. At the end, the legal value of mufesser and muḥkem and the value of their indications in legal reasoning in Shariat (ijtihad) are explained. Keywords: Ḥanafī scholars, legislative text, clear meaning (wāḍiḥ), clarified, interpreted meaning (mufesser), precise, solid meaning (muḥkem), legal reasoning (ijtihād).