Ayat al-Ahkam in the Holy Qur’an: Command and Prohibition as an Example

Abstract

Abstract

The command and prohibition are considered among the important subjects that have occupied a number of scholars and researchers across various disciplines. The interest in them was not limited to one era; rather, throughout different historical periods, we find these two forms present. Scholars of usul (principles of Islamic jurisprudence) studied these two forms directly and explicitly and devoted extensive attention to them, perhaps due to their strong connection to deriving  ruling sharia (Islamic legal rulings). It is therefore not surprising to say that command and prohibition have firm ties with understanding ahkam sharia in terms of obligation, permissibility, choice, and other related categories.

Linguists also devoted significant effort to the subject of command and prohibition, placing them at the forefront of request forms and examining their primary and secondary meanings through description, analysis, and critique. Likewise, rhetoricians rarely produce a rhetorical work devoid of references to command and prohibition, due to the multiplicity of their meanings depending on the contexts in which these two forms occur.

Accordingly, this research examines command and prohibition in selected verses of the Holy Qur’an, specifically in  Ayat al-Ahkam as the field of study due to their connection to the Islamic legal rulings, in accordance with the researcher’s specialization. In this study, I addressed the concept of obligation and its forms (’If‘al / Lataf‘al); the imperative in the forms of (verbal noun / imperative in the infinitive / imperative in the nominal sentence).”. I then examined the Ayat al-Ahkam that convey the meaning of permissibility. Thereafter, I addressed prohibition and the verses containing rulings, explaining their meanings in a manner consistent with the aims of the research. This study relied on a variety of linguistic, jurisprudential, and other sources to fulfill the objectives of the research.

I hope that I have succeeded in presenting useful knowledge on this topic.