Legal studies in any language pose problems to
authors and readers alike. In translation, those same problems are compounded,
even many times over at some places in the text, so that quite often the result
is, to say the least, disappointing. Unfortunately, with regard to English
translations of classical works of the Islamic intellectual heritage, this sort
of disappointment has been the rule rather than the exception.

Certainly, to the student of Usul al Fiqh this disappointment has
been all the more acute. While translations of classical works in the field are
non-existent, with the shining exception of professor Khadduri's
excellent rendition of al Imam al Shafi'i's Risalah,
there is as yet no general and systematic study of the discipline in English. Even
survey literature on the subject is scarce.

Yet, despite this near desperate situation, the
International Institute of Islamic Thought has not published the present volume
merely in order to fill a void in the library. Rather, it is in recognition of
the dynamics of intellectual reform, and of the role of Ijtihad
in that process, that the Institute is undertaking to publish a series of works
by its President, Dr. Taha Jabir al 'Alwani, on the subject of al Usul and, in particular, Ijtihad.

This volume should be understood as an overview of
the field, and as an introduction to the classical discipline. Subsequent
volumes, however, will, In Sha'a Allah, present much that is original, and
even vital. For it is the conviction of the Institute that the source
methodology developed by the scholars of al
Usul for dealing with and interpreting
the texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah is what now needs
to be placed before our Muslim social scientists so that they, with this
important and versatile tool in hand, may proceed to fashion the outlines of a
new relevancy for Islam.

Certainly, for our part, we can only hope that we
have succeeded in making the text clear. Moreover, we have taken pains to
include a full Subject Index, with the help of Cindex
version 4.0 software, that should prove useful to
specialist and generalist alike. Also, while the Arabic edition of this book
was published with topic headings, it was not divided into chapters. In the
interest of clarity, we have divided the work into chapters by converting,
where necessary, topic headings into chapter headings; and by adding brief
explanatory notes. May Allah give His guidance to the Ummah
of Muhammad (PBUH).

A.S. Al Shaikh-Ali Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo
IIIT-London Department of Research-IIIT

Jumada al Akhirah 1411 AH

December 1990 AC