The textual sources of Islamic law are two: the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The verses of the Qur'an that have a legal content are called ayat al-ahkam, that is, the verses that form the basis of legal rules. The sunan (pl. of sunnah) are precedents laid down by the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) through his sayings, acts and approvals (tacit). These have been recorded in traditions compiled in authentic and well known reporters. A tradition may contain one sunnah or more than one sunan. Again, a number of traditions may be taken together to support a single meaning giving rise to a single rule.
    Our purpose here is not to provide English translations of the Qur'an or translations of the well known compilations of the traditions. These are already available on many sites. We intend to provide a classification of the verses dealing with the law so that the reader may be able to view all the verses relevant to a single legal topic. A similar classification for the traditions will also be provided.
    The main emphasis of this section, however, is on the discipline known as Ahkam al-Qur'an or the discipline that teaches one how the laws are derived from the verses of the Qur'an. Traditionally, this discipline includes the study of the traditions with the verses of the Qur'an, that is, we consider together the verses and the traditions on a legal issue and measure the combined impact of both for the derivation of the legal rule. In later times, and especially in modern times, the part dealing with the legal interpretation of the traditions has been separated and is called Fiqh al-Sunnah or the jurisprudence of the Sunnah (material is available on the web for this discipline). Following the earlier traditional method, we feel that dividing the discipline into two may not be a very good idea. We would, therefore, like to maintain the essential bond between the Qur'an and the Sunnah and treat the discipline of Ahkam al-Qur'an as including both Fiqh al-Kitab and Fiqh al-Sunnah. The main purpose of this section, then, is to develop the discipline of Ahkam al-Qur'an in English. This can never be a substitute for the study of the subject in Arabic, but there is no harm in trying and doing our best.
    We hope that the subject will grow gradually through the contributions made by interested persons. In the meantime, we have kept legal reasoning and interpretation that forms the basis of this discipline separate from the main field at present. This is included in what we have termed Exercises in Interpretation. When material on the exercises accumulates and reaches a level of sophistication, it will be converted into a text on Ahkam al-Qur'an. To see what we mean by exercises in interpretation, go to exercises.
    This section is divided into the following four sub-sections:

Sub-title 1: CLASSIFICATION OF THE LEGAL VERSES
Sub-title 2: CLASSIFICATION OF THE LEGAL TRADITIONS.
Sub-title 3. AHKAM AL-QUR'AN
Sub-title 4: HADITH TERMINOLOGY

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