SHAFI'I FIQH

The Arkview Advanced Shāfiʿī Fiqh programme offers students the opportunity to study Al-Fiqh al-Manhajī, one of the most important contemporary works of Shāfiʿī Fiqh, directly from the Arabic under the guidance of Shaykh Mahdi Lock, the work’s English translator.

In each lesson, the original Arabic text is displayed on screen, read and translated, and then explained in detail. Students therefore engage directly with the language and reasoning of the text while developing a thorough understanding of the fiqh itself.

A unique feature of the programme is that students also participate in the translation process. The Arabic text is studied alongside Shaykh Mahdi’s English translation, while forthcoming volumes are studied using pre-release drafts of the translation. Students are therefore among the first readers of material that has not yet appeared in English.

This makes the classroom an important part of the translation process itself. Students identify typographical errors, raise questions about passages that require further clarification, and highlight places where the English could be made clearer. Their questions often prompt further consultation of authoritative works of the Shāfiʿī madhhab, leading to additional explanations, improved translations and beneficial footnotes.

The result is a mutually enriching process: students receive a deeper education in Shāfiʿī fiqh, while their engagement helps produce a clearer and more useful English edition of the work for future readers.

Arkview Advanced Shāfiʿī Fiqh is therefore more than a reading course. Students become active participants in the study, explanation and transmission of an important work of the Shāfiʿī madhhab.

Prerequisites:

* Previous study of a Shāfiʿī fiqh text, whether through Arkview Essentials or an equivalent course elsewhere.

* Basic knowledge of Arabic, particularly common fiqh terminology, and a long-term commitment to developing proficiency in Arabic.