An Introduction to Islamic Law (49 page)

usul al-fiqh:
a discipline or a field of study specializing in methods of interpretation and reasoning (q.v.
ijtihad
), with the aim of arriving at
new legal norms for unprecedented cases or rationalizing existing ones. This discipline produced many important treatises dealing with the subject, and referred to as
usul al-fiqh
works.

usury (interest; Ar.
riba
):
categorically prohibited in Islamic law; literally meaning “excess,”
riba
refers to receiving or giving a lawful thing having monetary value in excess of that for which the thing was exchanged; interest charged on a debt is a prime example.

Vilayat-i Faqih:
see
Marja
-Taqlid
.

waqf
(also
habous
in North Africa):
a charitable endowment; usually, immovable property alienated and endowed to serve the interest of certain beneficiaries, such as members of the family, the poor, wayfarers, scholars, mystics, the general public, etc. Constituting more than half of real property in many parts of the Muslim world, endowments sustained the legal system and its institutions, and supported public life and a flourishing civil society. Examples of endowments are: mosques, schools and graduate colleges, hospitals, soup-kitchens, public drinking fountains, bridges, street lights and real estate.