Evidence Theory in Islamic Law Methodology: Classification of Shari’a Evidence through Conceptual Framework, Basic Principles and Characteristics

Abstract

There is no doubt that the perceptions offer in all sciences, whether mental (akli) or
transmitted (nakli), are legitimate and In order to be accepted, these views must be under
the principles that are applied in every science method. At the same time, these views
should be based on evidence that is compatible with reason and absolute truth which is
required. Opinions that are not based on real evidence lose their credibility and legitimacy,
and they do not mean anything. For this reason, the judge of the book of Allah ta’ala,
who made fard/wajib and contingent (vazi) provisions in all areas of life, in the judge of
the book, he based the judgments he preached on reasonable and beneficial evidence and
clearly expressed the reasons and wisdom of the judgments in many places. It would not
be an exaggeration to say that the science of fiqh, the main subject and main purpose of
which is undoubtedly the evidence on which the mujtahid will base while deducing the
religious and practical judgments, and the methods and methods used to draw conclusions
from this evidence, is actually the theory of evidence. Because most of the scholars of
methodology have drawn attention to this issue by defining this science as “sharia proofs,
the state, and condition of these proofs, the principles, and rules that benefit from the
inference of judgment from these proofs”. In this article, after revealing the conceptual
framework of the word “evidence” under the title of “evidence theory in Islamic legal
procedure”, we will compare the word “evidence” with other concepts used in this sense
and examine the aforementioned concepts in terms of lexicon and signification and try to
identify their similar or different aspects. We will try to convey the views of procedural
(usul) scholars on the classification of the shar’i evidence according to whether the information
he expresses is certain, whether the mujtahid has contributed to its formation, or
whether there is an independent source of law.