5. The abridged versions of books of Fiqh

The Mutun (abridged versions of the books of Fiqh) became the norm in learning, and studying Fiqh and Islamic law. The students did not want to read the mutawalaat (large encyclopedias of Fiqh) so they asked Qabeelat Tayybah TCE Notes Revolution 103

the ‘ulema’ to summarize them. However, the languages used in the Mutun were very sophisticated and therefore it needed to be explained. This led the ‘ulema’ of the time to write commentaries on the Mutun. In this manner, the mutawalaat were summarized then enlarged to commentaries, summarized and enlarged. The commentaries were very well done; making Fiqh more organized and sophisticated. These works of the ‘ulema’ embodied the spirit of taqleed, giving preference to the final rulings resulting from the four great imams.