Ahkam

Ahkam (Arabic: أحكام‎‎ "provisions", plural of Hukm حُكْم) is a reference to the Islamic commandments, derived and understood from religious jurisprudence resources (Arabic: مَنَابِعُ الفِقْهِ‎‎). A law, value, ordinance or ruling of Shari'ah (Islamic law). In order to arrive at any new legal doctrine, or hukm, one must employ a systematic methodology by which to extract meaning from the sources. Traditionally, this methodology has been categorized under the rules of ijtihad (independent reasoning, authentic scholarly endeavor).

The ḥukm shar‘ī (Aḥkām) in its literal sense carries the meaning of a rule of Islamic law. Thus aḥkām (rules) is the plural form of ḥukm (rule), which means rule, command, the absolute, order, judgment, injunction, prescription, and decree. This rule could be a rule of any kind; it is to command one to delegate an order to another whether approval or disapproval. You could say that the moon is rising or the moon is not rising, or that fire burns. Technically, it is considered a rule of Islamic law. Āmidī (d. 631/1234) defines adillah as the science of the proofs of fiqh and the indications that they provide with regard to the aḥkām of the sharī‘ah.

The ḥukm shar‘ī consists of four fundamental elements. These elements are: the Ḥākim (Lawgiver), the maḥkūm alayh (the subject), the maḥkūm fīh (the act of the mukallaf), and the ḥukm (ruling).

In the Qur'an, hukm denotes arbitration, judgement, authority, and Allah's will. Following the passing of Muhammad, with no central legal power in the post-Medina Muslim society, the noun acquired new meanings over time, with hukm coming to refer to temporal executive rule or to a court decision and the plural, ahkam, referring to specific Quranic rules, positive fiqh laws derived from Islamic legal methodology, and rules or edicts. Early in Muslim history, the Kharijites' declaration to accept only the hukm of Allah (Arabic: حُكْمُ اللّهِ ) gave the word a political connotation.

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