Usul 1

More, more.

• warning: The audio transcript is too fragmentary to reconstruct confidently.

This requires some technological preparation. Are you familiar with the Noor software? I do not want to impose an expense on you; perhaps some of you have access to a library or a laptop. Do all of you have laptops?

If you do not have a laptop, you can use the computers here. The software should probably already be installed; if it is not, let me know. These programs offer educational packages that you can obtain online. We also have something called Noor. Do you know what that is?

This cloud-based platform gives you access to all the Noor software, but you must purchase an annual account. When your annual subscription ends, you will need to renew it; once you purchase it, however, you will have access to everything you need. Which of you have gone to the library during this period of study?

So, you have not gone. If you had, you would have understood how necessary these things are. Without these tools, it is genuinely difficult to work; I myself find it hard to work without them.

• warning: The middle of the source passage consists largely of repeated, unintelligible material.

We have these two software programs and their accompanying materials. Why? Because works on uṣūl al-fiqh—especially comprehensive works of jurisprudence—are useful in certain places. Understand that uṣūl al-fiqh consists of the discussions that will be applied in fiqh. In English, you might call it “The Principles of Jurisprudence”: these discussions function within jurisprudence and fiqh as its underlying layer. In fiqh, they do not repeat the discussion; they say, for example, “What was our basis in istiṣḥāb in uṣūl?”

• term: Key terms are retained in transliteration: uṣūl al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence), fiqh (jurisprudence), and istiṣḥāb (the presumption of continuity).

In fiqh, they use that basis of istiṣḥāb. We discussed istiṣḥāb in the fiqh class: sometimes one must exercise precaution, sometimes there is a choice between alternatives, and sometimes other principles are involved. In discussions of taʿādul and tarājiḥ, we likewise examine the foundations here and apply them in fiqh. One problem is that the connection between our fiqh and uṣūl books is not always clear. To make that connection clearer, I want your help. What kind of help do I mean?

• term: Taʿādul and tarājiḥ refers to the treatment of apparently conflicting proofs and the preference of one over another.

I want you to find this uṣūlī issue in the fiqh books. I am assigning this task so that you can see where each uṣūlī discussion is applied in the fiqh books. I think I will present the material with PowerPoint.

• warning: A long repeated portion of the transcript is unintelligible; the reconstruction preserves only the recoverable instruction.

Apparently, there is a problem with the air conditioner, and I am getting cold. Excuse me. Our comprehensive fiqh resource needs this kind of tool here. For example, we study a topic such as aṣālat al-ḥaqīqa. What is aṣālat al-ḥaqīqa?

• term: Aṣālat al-ḥaqīqa is the presumption that a word is being used in its literal or proper meaning.

I am asking you to find each of these discussions—for example, aṣālat ʿadam al-qarīna—in a fiqh problem and send it to me. This will allow you to see in practice what you are studying. Educationally, that is very rewarding. I think you should begin a new chapter from this point; of course, you must do the work yourselves. If you invest your own time, the work will become more enjoyable and rewarding. The aim is to study uṣūl and fiqh together; you are studying the two alongside each other, correct?

• term: Aṣālat ʿadam al-qarīna means presuming that no contextual indicator limiting the apparent meaning exists.

The aim is uṣūl and the aim is fiqh; you are studying the two together, correct? Sharḥ al-Lumʿa is an excellent book and is useful for understanding how the material is applied. Since Sharḥ al-Lumʿa is not entirely argumentative, you will not find all the fiqh arguments presented in it as they would be in an advanced dars khārij. But if you learn the uṣūlī foundations here, your understanding of Sharḥ al-Lumʿa will increase and become deeper.

• term: Dars khārij is an advanced seminary lecture based on independent analysis beyond a fixed textbook.

Which Arabic books have you read before this? Before this class, we mostly worked with Persian texts. One difficulty in working with you is that some students’ Persian level is lower; now the difficulty has increased because Arabic has been added as well, and the Arabic text makes the work harder. I have one request: if you can, read the Arabic text fluently. If you have no difficulty with it, that is excellent.

• warning: The names and several phrases in the latter part of the source are unclear.

If you can, help the others as well. Ustād ʿAlī and I are here with you, and if you have any difficulty, send it to me on Eitaa. God willing, I will try to answer, perhaps with some delay; if I do not respond immediately, I will certainly reply later. For the next reading, please do the preliminary study if you can.

Do not deprive yourselves of a better understanding of the class by coming without preliminary study. If you take one step further, make pre-discussion a strongly recommended practice. It is excellent if someone can conduct a pre-discussion with you, but you should do the preliminary reading yourselves at home, even if it is only for five minutes.

• term: The lecturer uses the seminary categories of mustaḥabb and mustaḥabb muʾakkad for recommended and strongly emphasized practices.

Do the preliminary reading, even for five minutes. If you do this, it gradually becomes an indispensable habit, because it affects your understanding of the class so strongly that you will no longer be able to abandon it. We have one recommended practice, preliminary reading, and one strongly emphasized recommended practice, pre-discussion.

We also have an emphatically obligatory practice, one that cannot simply be set aside. What is it? Discussion. If you fail to do some of the other things, that is understandable, but you should regard discussion as a religious obligation placed upon yourselves. A seminary is not like a university, where someone comes, gives a lecture, and leaves. The seminary has features that the university does not, and these have existed from long ago; one of the most important is baḥth, or structured discussion. Do not abandon it.

• term: Mubāḥatha or baḥth is the traditional seminary practice of students reviewing and debating lessons together.

Now arrange your discussion groups. Whom are you studying with? Mr. Sayyid Mūsā and Mr. Idrīs have not yet arrived? If someone is on leave or is not attending, you should find another person, even if only for a week or two. Hold the discussion in the dormitory or at home.

• warning: Several names and details in the source are uncertain.

Is there no one available? Find someone—even use ChatGPT. Say: “I want to discuss uṣūl al-fiqh. I will present the material; identify the problems in my argument and tell me any additional points you can.” Sometimes, when I do not have an English class, I use ChatGPT to discuss a topic so that I do not lose contact with English, and I write a prompt for it.

I even give ChatGPT sentences that are not very native-like and ask it to polish them, make them sound native-like, and tell me how to express them. The books contain a story about a grammarian named al-Akhfash. They say that he had no study partner and held discussions with a goat.

• context: The anecdote about al-Akhfash and the goat is presented humorously as an illustration of the importance of having a discussion partner.

They say that the goat would sit opposite him while he explained: “For example, this is the subject and this is the predicate.” The goat would nod its head. Why? Because you need confirmation from the other person. When you speak, the other person sometimes nods; the goat did the same. Mr. Sayyid Nīsā, whom do you discuss with?

• term: Mubtadaʾ and khabar are the grammatical subject/topic and predicate/comment in Arabic grammar.

Sayyid Nīsā, are you with Farhān? Are there three of you? Good. I will not keep exact statistics on your discussions, but I may ask about them once a week. Your positive responses motivate and encourage me. Sometimes your experiences in discussion are even more rewarding for me than the class itself.

• warning: Names and some wording are uncertain in the source.

Your class grade will be determined in part by your activity. I will observe your participation throughout the term and design the final examination accordingly. If you are active during the term, you will perform well on the final; if you are not active during the term,

• warning: The sentence is incomplete in the source passage.

If you have not made an effort, you will be forced to work for the final examination. That is your choice. I genuinely do not enjoy giving examinations, but assessment is necessary.

• warning: The source contains extensive repetition after the recoverable statement.

I also had an examination in another class. Some of the students are married, some have recently married, and some have several children; they genuinely have more difficult circumstances. I told them that I would give them twenty hours and hold the examination within those twenty hours, but many of them performed poorly.

• warning: The opening wording and some demographic details are partly uncertain.

There were thirty students, and many performed very poorly. One person received 20, while most received around 15, 14, or 13. One student received 10. That student messaged me, so I asked, “What did you get?”

• warning: The source switches briefly into Persian numerals and contains repeated fragments.

He said, “Ten.” I asked, “What is the passing grade?” He said, “Twelve.” I felt sorry for him, so I messaged the administration again and asked them to add two points. You do not have those kinds of excuses; you do not have children to care for or similar circumstances. So work properly and consistently. Does anyone here have a mother or guardian with them?

• warning: The final question is uncertain and may refer to family circumstances.

You do not have those excuses, so spend more time. If you can connect with a subject from the beginning and relate to it, your relationship with that subject will remain good through the end. But if you fail to understand something at the outset, you will not understand the later lessons either.

This is also discussed in educational psychology: if you continually fall behind in a subject, you will not understand the later material either, because the gaps accumulate. For example, why do some children dislike mathematics? Because they did not understand the first lesson well, either because they did not work hard enough or because the teacher was unable to teach it effectively.

Their self-confidence decreases, and then a new topic or unit is presented while their confidence is low. These difficulties accumulate and gradually produce a feeling of helplessness. In psychology, this is called learned helplessness. There is also an experiment concerning it; if I remember correctly, the first such work was conducted with dogs. You can search for “learned helplessness” on YouTube.

• term: Learned helplessness is a psychological state in which repeated perceived failure reduces initiative and expectation of control.

All right, we have another test now. What do you think it is? Begin and see how much you have understood. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.

• warning: The source repeats the basmala many times; only one instance is retained in the reading edition.

In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. To be honest, I obtained its new edition; many things have changed in it. This is the new edition, whereas the one I previously had was older. You do not have the previous edition now?

• warning: The object referred to by “its” is unclear in the transcript.

Do you think there is anything else? For example, did we also have a commentary? No, we did not have a commentary. One point I forgot to mention is that Āyatollāh Subḥānī has a more extensive book called al-Wasīṭ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh. This is also a good book and it has two volumes; our book has one volume, while the two volumes together are approximately the same size. Many of the ambiguities found here are resolved there because that book provides more explanation.

• term: Al-Wasīṭ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh is identified as a more detailed work by Ayatollah Jaʿfar Subḥānī.

Ayatollah Subḥānī also has a more extensive work called Irshād al-Adhhān fī ʿIlm al-Uṣūl. This is another good book, and it has four volumes. Both books are available in the Uṣūl al-Fiqh software. Another book in the Shiʿi uṣūl software has the advantage of being more explanatory; it is based on the lessons of Ayatollah Fāḍil Lankarānī. It is presented in the style of dars khārij and is in Persian, so you can consult it when you need a Persian text.

• warning: The exact title of the second work and some bibliographic details are uncertain.

This book is more explanatory and is arranged in the style of dars khārij, but it is in Persian. If, for example, you want to know what al-uṣūl al-lafẓiyya are and find the main text unclear, you can consult this book; it discusses the subject with greater explanation. The book we are currently reading has only 261 pages.

• term: Al-uṣūl al-lafẓiyya are principles concerning the interpretation and evidentiary force of verbal expressions.

The book has 267 pages. How many years does one complete cycle of advanced lessons in uṣūl al-fiqh take? It depends on the teacher. If the teacher is Najafī, one cycle may take thirty years; regarding Āqā-yi Waḥīd, people have said twenty-five or thirty years. These 267 pages are examined day after day. Ayatollah Subḥānī says that one cycle takes six or seven years. The point is that this text has tremendous potential for expansion and explanation.

• warning: Names, durations, and the exact reference to the teachers are uncertain in the source.

I have had an idea, although I do not know whether you are ready to carry it out. If you like, we can include it in the program as an additional assignment: converting this body of knowledge into flashcards. You will not find a complete course in uṣūl al-fiqh elsewhere with this combination of concision and comprehensiveness. Set a definite scope, assign one person each day, and have that person turn that day’s section into flashcards.

Make a front and a back for each flashcard, share it with the others, and then review it yourselves. You may not believe this, but one of the advanced teachers in Qom, Ayatollah Niyāzī, whose office I used to visit and who is also a member of the Assembly of Experts, said that he reads this book from beginning to end once every year. Do you know why?

• warning: The speaker’s identification of the scholar and institutional details may be imprecise.

He said, “I myself read it from beginning to end once every year.” Do you know why? Because one very important matter is istiḥḍār: keeping knowledge present in the mind. For example, when a discussion arises somewhere, a uṣūlī question may suddenly come up: is the endpoint included in the delimited term or not?

• term: Istiḥḍār means retaining knowledge in a readily accessible and mentally present form.

Ghāya means an endpoint. For example, you say, “Up to such-and-such a place.” If I say, “I traveled from Qom to Mashhad,” Mashhad is my endpoint. Is Mashhad included in the journey or not? In other words, do I travel as far as Mashhad itself, or only to its gate? This discussion has a fiqhī consequence.

• term: Ghāya is the endpoint of a limit; al-mughayyā is the act or rule bounded by that endpoint.

For example, in the verse “Wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows,” is al-marāfiq included? Must the elbow also be washed? There are different opinions on whether the endpoint is included in the delimited rule. One day, in the advanced lesson of a major teacher—whose name I do not want to mention—the question arose again: is the endpoint included in the delimited term or not?

• context: The Qurʾānic phrase is Qurʾān 5:6; the example concerns whether the stated limit includes the endpoint.

That advanced teacher may have spent two months discussing the issue, but he no longer remembered the point. He said, “Let me call the person who transcribes my lesson and ask him to send me the text.” About five minutes later, that person called; apparently he first needed the residence’s Wi-Fi password so that he could send the lesson file to the teacher on Eitaa. The teacher consulted the transcript to see what he himself had said. This illustrates why Ayatollah Niyāzī said that he reads the book once every year.

• warning: Several logistical details in the anecdote are unclear in the source.

I myself read through the work on uṣūl al-fiqh once every year so that I remember the discussions. Turning this course into flashcards means that when you enter uṣūl al-fiqh and later reach al-Ḥalaqāt, the differences and distinctions will stand out clearly in your minds. You should know, for example, the conditions of istiṣḥāb, the difference between istiṣḥāb and the principle of certainty, the circumstances in which principles apply, what the uṣūl al-nafsiyya are, and what the types of indication are. This is one of the problems in our education.

• term: Al-Ḥalaqāt is a well-known uṣūl al-fiqh textbook. Uṣūl nafsiyya refers to practical principles concerning the agent’s state of uncertainty.

You may say that you have a great deal of information, but if I ask you now about what you studied last year, you may not be able to answer correctly because you have not kept it present or returned to it. I myself studied advanced lessons on ḥajj for three years. If I wanted to review all the discussions from beginning to end, I might need two or three months for each topic. After that, I wanted to prepare to serve as the religious guide of a ḥajj caravan.

• warning: The source contains several unclear words around the description of the lecturer’s ḥajj studies.

I wanted to review the material, examine the chains of transmission of the narrations, and organize the documents; perhaps on a ḥajj trip, one out of every six people will ask you about some issue. But I realized that I did not remember the material because I had not returned to it. Flashcards create that return for you. Now decide among yourselves who will be responsible for the class.

• warning: The numerical example and the final assignment of responsibility are somewhat uncertain.

Assign one person for a week. How should this method be implemented? Are you familiar with the Anki software? It may help: you can create cards with a question on the front and an answer on the back. A simpler method is to create a project in Google Docs.

There, whoever is responsible should create a card; for example, the title can be distinguished from the other sections in bold type. We need to establish a structure and framework: one side of the card, one reverse side, with the question and answer clearly marked. For example, in verbal principles we say that there are four principles; one of them is aṣālat al-ẓuhūr.

• term: Aṣālat al-ẓuhūr is the presumption that an expression should be understood according to its apparent meaning.

Write on the flashcard: “What is aṣālat al-ẓuhūr?” Then provide its definition and a fiqhī example. If the discussion concerns the authority of a solitary report, you should know its definition and proof. For example, on what basis is a solitary report authoritative?

• term: Khabar al-wāḥid is a solitary report; ḥujjiyya means evidentiary authority or probative force.

There are also certain Qurʾānic verses and expressions that you should know. I previously said that, for familiarity with the relevant verses, you should memorize pages two and three of Sūrat al-Nisāʾ. Had I not told you this?

• warning: The specific Arabic examples in the source are too unclear to reconstruct.

Some matters, such as kalāla, ūlū al-arḥām, and inheritance questions, are complicated. During your years of religious service, perhaps only a few people will ask you about them; but if they do, you must be able to answer.

• term: Kalāla and ūlū al-arḥām are Qurʾānic and jurisprudential categories in inheritance law.

If someone asks you about family or inheritance matters, it is difficult to say, “Let me look it up.” When you are a scholar, people expect you to answer. After all these years of study, you must have scholarly and mental readiness.

• warning: The source contains extensive repetition and an incomplete ending.

Mental preparation and having knowledge readily present are very important. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. We have very little time, so we will continue from here. Is everyone present? I only saw Farhān.

• warning: Names and the transition at the end of the passage are uncertain.

I am not a sayyid. Are the others not sayyids either? All right, read from the beginning and translate two lines for me: “The first matter: the definition of the science of uṣūl, its subject, and its principles.” Vocalization is very good, but it is not our first priority at present; our immediate priority is comprehension, that is, understanding the text. Of course, knowing the grammatical vowel endings is also valuable, but do not worry about it for now.

• term: Sayyid denotes a person traditionally regarded as descended from the Prophet’s family; iʿrāb means grammatical inflection and vocalization.

Do not let grammatical vocalization increase your anxiety and reduce your comprehension. Read the words and give their meaning. The passage says: “Uṣūl al-fiqh consists of two words, indicating that there are principles and rules upon which fiqh relies. Therefore, fiqh must first be defined, and then its principles.” Uṣūl al-fiqh consists of two words, uṣūl and fiqh. First you must define fiqh, and then uṣūl. The text is simple, and one of Ayatollah Subḥānī’s advantages is precisely this simplicity.

• warning: The Arabic quotation has been lightly normalized because the ASR contains grammatical and lexical distortions.

The definition of fiqh is: “Knowledge of the subsidiary religious rulings derived from their detailed proofs.” Subsidiary religious rulings are the fiqhī rulings, as distinct from foundational or general rulings. “Derived from their detailed proofs” means that they are derived from particular proofs, such as Qurʾānic, narrational, or consensus-based evidence.

• term: The standard definition is al-ʿilm bi-l-aḥkām al-sharʿiyya al-farʿiyya ʿan adillatihā al-tafṣīliyya.

We have foundational rulings and subsidiary rulings. Subsidiary religious rulings are discussed in fiqh. “Their detailed proofs” means proofs presented in particular detail, such as Qurʾānic, narrational, or consensus-based evidence.

• warning: The remainder of the passage contains only repeated filler and cannot be translated as substantive lecture content.

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• warning: The source passage contains only repeated filler; no recoverable lecture content is present.

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• warning: The source passage contains only repeated filler; no recoverable lecture content is present.

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• warning: The source passage contains only repeated filler; no recoverable lecture content is present.

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• warning: The source passage contains only repeated filler; no recoverable lecture content is present.

“And that each person will have only what they strive for.” A person receives the result of their own effort. Sometimes someone has little aptitude and works very hard in proportion to it; someone else has greater aptitude and works less in proportion to it. The apparent result may be the same for both, but which one is superior before God?

• context: The quotation is Qurʾān 53:39.

If I have given one person an aptitude of 100 and they make an effort of 10, while I have given another an aptitude of 50 and they make an effort of 40, the second person’s effort is more valuable before God, even if the outcome reaches only 80. The only thing I ask of you is that you make an effort. I want to see progress, even if it is extremely slow and tortoise-like.

I am not asking you to become a mujtahid immediately. I only want us to see, by the final class, that a difference has emerged—a difference in your understanding and comprehension. We have classes until 14 Shahrivar. In total, we have 79 sessions, and our main text is about 300 pages; putting these together means that we should read approximately one page per day.

• term: Mujtahid is a jurist qualified for independent legal reasoning.

In each session we should read about half a page. We must examine our assignments in class; merely moving through pages is not enough—we must consolidate what we have read. In some places, of course, we may cover two or three pages at once. I will tell you about those sections in advance, because they are less important and we need to preserve more time for the main discussions.

Here we found it necessary to increase the pace slightly so that we will have time when we reach the more important discussions. We should keep an average in mind: about one and a half pages per day. This schedule requires your cooperation—preliminary reading, pre-discussion, and discussion. If you cooperate, we can cover the entire scope of the material and finish it. What if we obtain the book al-Wasīṭ?

No, al-Wasīṭ is already in the same software. You should obtain the edition that you have been using. No, al-Wasīṭ differs from this book; they are not the same—the one is multi-volume and the other is a single volume. Yes, that is all.

• warning: The final exchange is partially unclear in the source.