when seeking to determine Islamically correct behavior.
Since the crushing of the Akhbaris in the late 18th century, it has been the dominant school of Twelver Shi'a and now forms an overwhelming majority within the Twelver Shia denomination.
The name Usuli derives from the term
'aql. Ijma' refers to a unanimous consensus. Aql, in Shia jurisprudence, is applied to four practical principles which are applied when other religious proofs are not applicable:[1]: 284–5 bara'at (immunity), ihtiyat
(recommended precautions), takhyir (selection), and istishab (the presumption of continuity in the previous state).
The term Usuli is also sometimes used to refer more generally to students of usul especially among early Muslims, without regard to Shia Islam. Students/scholars of the principles of fiqh are distinguished from scholars of fiqh itself, whose scholars are known as faqīh (plural fuqahā').[2]
accepted by the Shia: everything in these sources is in principle reliable, and outside them, there was no authority competent to enact or deduce further legal rules.
In addition to assessing the reliability of the Hadith, Usuli believes the task of the legal scholar is to establish intellectual principles of general application (
Usul al-fiqh
), from which particular rules may be derived by way of deduction. Accordingly, Usuli legal scholarship has the tools in principle for resolving new situations that are not already addressed in Quran or Hadith (see Ijtihad).
An important tenet of Usuli doctrine is Taqlid or "imitation", i.e. the acceptance of a religious ruling in matters of worship and personal affairs from someone regarded as a higher religious authority (e.g. an 'ālim) without necessarily asking for the technical proof. These higher religious authorities can be known as a "source of imitation" (Arabic marja taqlid مرجع تقليد, Persian marja) or less exaltedly as an "imitated one" (Arabic مقلَد muqallad). However, his verdicts are not to be taken as the only source of religious information and he can be always corrected by other muqalladeen (the plural of muqallad) which come after him. Obeying a deceased muqallad is forbidden in Usuli.[3]: 225
Taqlid has been introduced by scholars who felt that Quranic verses and traditions were not enough and that ulama were needed not only to interpret the Quran and Sunna but to make "new rulings to respond to new challenges and push the boundaries of Shia law in new directions."[4]
Amili was the first scholar to fully formulate the principles of ijtihad
.
These traditional principles of
Shi'a jurisprudence were challenged by the 17th-century Akhbari school, led by Muhammad Amin al-Astarabadi. A reaction against Akhbari arguments was led in the last half of the 18th century by Muhammad Baqir Behbahani.[1]: 284–285 He attacked the Akhbari and their method was abandoned by Shia.[1]: 230 The dominance of the Usuli over the Akhbari came when Behbahani led the Usuli to dominance and "completely routed the Akhbaris at Karbala and Najaf", so that "only a handful of Shi'i ulama have remained Akhbari to the present day."[3]
Newman, Andrew J. (1992). "The Nature of the Akhbārī/Uṣūlī Dispute in Late Ṣafawid Iran. Part 1: 'Abdallāh al-Samāhijī's "Munyat al-Mumārisīn". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 55 (1). University of London: 22–51.
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