# Usulism
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Usulism
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Usulism.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usulism
> Source revision: 1356815276
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{short description|School in Twelver Shia Islam}}
{{Twelvers|collapsed=1}}
'''Usulism''' ({{langx|ar|الأصولية
|translit=al-ʾUṣūliyya}}; from أصول meaning 'foundations' or 'principles') is the majority school of [Twelver](/source/Twelver) [Shia](/source/Shia) [Islam](/source/Muslim) in opposition to the minority [Akhbarism](/source/Akhbari). The Usulis favor the use of {{Transliteration|ar|[ijtihad](/source/ijtihad)}} (reasoning) in the creation of new rules of [jurisprudence](/source/fiqh); in assessing [hadith](/source/hadith) to exclude traditions they believe unreliable; and in considering it obligatory to obey a ''mujtahid'' when seeking to determine Islamically correct behavior.
Since its surpassing of the Akhbaris in the late 18th century, it has been the dominant school of Twelver Shi'a and now forms an overwhelming majority within the Twelver Shia [denomination](/source/Religious_denomination).
The name ''Usuli'' derives from the term ''[Uṣūl al-fiqh](/source/Principles_of_Islamic_jurisprudence)'' (principles of jurisprudence). In Usuli thought, there are four valid sources of law: the [Quran](/source/Quran), [hadith](/source/hadith), [ijma'](/source/ijma') and ['aql](/source/'aql). Ijma' refers to a unanimous consensus. Aql, in Shia jurisprudence, is applied to four practical principles which are applied when other religious proofs are not applicable:[{{Cite book
| last1 =Nasr
| first1 =Seyyed Vali Reza
| last2 =Dabashi
| first2 =Hamid
| last3 = Nasr
| first3 = Seyyed Hossein
| year =1989
| title =Expectation of the Millennium: Shi'ism in History
| publisher =State University of New York Press
| isbn =0887068448
}}]{{rp|284-5}} ''bara'at'' (immunity), ''[ihtiyat](/source/Recommended_precaution)'' (recommended precautions), ''takhyir'' (selection), and ''istishab'' (the presumption of continuity in the previous state).
The term Usuli is also sometimes used to refer more generally to students of ''usul'' especially among early Muslims, without regard to Shia Islam. Students/scholars of the ''principles'' of fiqh are distinguished from scholars of ''fiqh'' itself, whose scholars are known as ''faqīh'' (plural ''fuqahā''').[{{Cite book | first1=John | last1=Burton | title=The Sources of Islamic Law: Islamic Theories of Abrogation | publisher=Edinburgh University Press | year=1990 | isbn=0-7486-0108-2 | url=http://www.almuslih.org/Library/Burton,%20J%20-%20The%20Sources%20of%20Islamic%20Law.pdf | access-date=21 July 2018 | page=226 | ref=JBSILITA1990 | archive-date=4 January 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104171116/http://www.almuslih.org/Library/Burton,%20J%20-%20The%20Sources%20of%20Islamic%20Law.pdf | url-status=dead }}]
==Background==
The Usuli believe that the [Hadith](/source/Hadith) collections contained traditions of varying degrees of reliability, and that critical analysis was necessary to assess their authority. In contrast, the Akhbari believe that the sole sources of law are the [Qur'an](/source/Qur'an) and the Hadith, in particular [the Four Books](/source/the_Four_Books) accepted by the Shia: everything in these sources is in principle reliable, and outside them, there was no authority competent to enact or deduce further legal rules.
In addition to assessing the reliability of the Hadith, Usuli believes the task of the legal scholar is to establish intellectual principles of general application (''[Usul al-fiqh](/source/Usul_al-fiqh)''), from which particular rules may be derived by way of deduction. Accordingly, Usuli legal scholarship has the tools in principle for resolving new situations that are not already addressed in Quran or Hadith (see [ijtihad](/source/ijtihad)).
==Taqlid==
{{See also|Marja'}}
An important tenet of Usuli doctrine is [Taqlid](/source/Taqlid) or "imitation", i.e. the acceptance of a religious ruling in matters of worship and personal affairs from someone regarded as a higher religious authority (e.g. an 'ālim) without necessarily asking for the technical proof. These higher religious authorities can be known as a "source of imitation" (Arabic ''marja taqlid'' مرجع تقليد, Persian [marja](/source/Marja')) or less exaltedly as an "imitated one" (Arabic مقلَد ''muqallad''). However, his verdicts are not to be taken as the only source of religious information and he can be always corrected by other muqalladeen (the plural of muqallad) which come after him. Obeying a deceased muqallad is forbidden in Usuli.[{{Cite book
| last =Momen
| first =Moojan
|author-link= Moojan Momen
| year =1985
| title =An introduction to Shi'i Islam : the history and doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism
| publication-place =Oxford
| publisher =George Ronald
| isbn =0-85398-201-5
}}]{{rp|225}}
Taqlid has been introduced by scholars who felt that alongside Quranic verses and traditions like ahadith the use of {{Transliteration|ar|[ijtihad](/source/ijtihad)}} should also be highly used and that [ulama](/source/ulama) were needed not only to interpret the Quran and [Sunna](/source/Sunnah) but also use reasoning and therefore "new rulings to respond to new challenges and push the boundaries of Shia law in new directions."[{{cite book |last=Nasr |first=Vali |title=The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will shape the Future |publisher=Norton |year=2006 |isbn=0-393-06211-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/shiarevivalhowco00nasr/page/69 69] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/shiarevivalhowco00nasr/page/69 }}]
==History==
{{See also|Usul Fiqh in Ja'fari school}}
By their debates and books, [Al-Mufid](/source/Al-Shaykh_Al-Mufid), [Sayyid-al Murtada](/source/Sharif_al-Murtaza), and [Shaykh al-Tusi](/source/Shaykh_Tusi) in Iraq were the first to introduce the ''[Uṣūl al-fiqh](/source/Principles_of_Islamic_jurisprudence)'' (principles of Islamic jurisprudence) under the influence of the [Shafe'i](/source/Shafi'i) and [Mu'tazili](/source/Mu%60tazila) doctrines. [Al-Kulayni](/source/Muhammad_ibn_Ya'qub_al-Kulayni), in [Rey](/source/Rey%2C_Iran), and [al-Sadduq](/source/Ibn_Babawayh), in [Qom](/source/Qom), were concerned with a traditionalist approach. The second wave of the Usuli was shaped in the Mongol period when [al-Hilli](/source/Allamah_Al-Hilli) introduced the term ''[mujtahid](/source/mujtahid)'', meaning an individual qualified to deduce ordinances on the basis of authentic religious arguments. By developing the theory of the ''usul'', al-Hilli introduced more legal and logical norms which extended the meaning of the ''usul'' beyond the four principal sources. [Amili](/source/Muhammad_Jamaluddin_al-Makki_al-Amili) was the first scholar to fully formulate the principles of ''[ijtihad](/source/ijtihad)''.
These traditional principles of [Shi'a](/source/Shi'a) jurisprudence were challenged by the 17th-century [Akhbari](/source/Akhbari) school, led by [Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi](/source/Muhammad_Amin_al-Astarabadi). A reaction against Akhbari arguments was led in the last half of the 18th century by [Mohammad Bagher Shafti](/source/Mohammad_Bagher_Shafti) and [Muhammad Baqir Behbahani](/source/Muhammad_Baqir_Behbahani).