Abstract:

Although usūl al-fiqh as an Islamic discipline had been developed later, some major criteria of methodology could be found in the Prophet Muhammad’s words and deeds. The Prophet had clearly separated his words and the verbatim revelation (the Qur’ān) in terms of superiority in his life. But, after his death, scholars tried to ease the separation between Prophet’s words and the revelation. This investigation led them to discuss whether the Prophet’s private opinions are possible or not in the legal issues. According to our conclusion, the Prophet’s private opinions gave birth to legal analogy (qiyās), customs, and earlier laws –as they were documented later- in Islamic legal methodology. Mainly, we examined the literature by asking “what does legal evidence mean?” during the life of the Prophet

Keywords: