DUSHANBE, May 22, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik Leal Consortium (TLC) intends to set up the Center for Islamic Law Studies, the TLC head Rahmatillo Zoirov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, the center will be engaged in comparative research of different schools of Islamic jurisprudence and practice of application of laws of Islamic states.  “We mean not Usul al-fiqh but Furu al-fiqh, which regulates everyday relations in society,” Zoirov said.

He further added that all positive things from practice of those states would be proposed for improvement of Tajikistan’s legislation.

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence.  Fiqh is an expansion of the Sharia Islamic law—based directly on the Koran and Sunnah -- that complements Shariah with evolving ruling/interpretations of Islamic jurists.  Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation. There are four prominent Sunni schools of fiqh (Madh’ab) and two schools for the Shi’a.

Usul al-fiqh (the origins/fundamentals of the law) is the study of the origins, sources, and principles upon which Islamic jurisprudence is based. In the narrow sense, it simply refers to the question of what are the sources of Islamic law.  In an extended sense, it includes the study of the philosophical rationale of the law and the procedures by which the law applicable to particular cases is derived from the sources.

Furu al-fiqh is specific norms developed on the basis of this methodology.  These norms may evolve and be interpreted in different ways.  Agreeing with main provisions of Usul al-fiqh, Muslims always hold quite a broad spectrum of opinions on Furu al-fiqh.