Answered by Shaykh Naeem AbdulWali, UK
When we look at the person of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) we see compositided in him the Ideal by which Allah Tala would have men and women to become.
He (Allah bless him and give him peace) is the embodiment of the Quranic revelation we may say. As such in understanding the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) in his daily life we are able to see with clarity what Allah tala intended in verses of the Quran which He Tala did not explicitly clarify in the Book itself. But like any person, his sanctified life was one with the visititudes that occur in any persons; he married, was a father, a ruler, an arbitrator, a military leader, etc. His life unlike others being guided by divine providence though was laid out before us as one to be ultimately emulated and internalized.
With this preamble we can began to glimpse why 'fiqh' can be tedious and at times difficult for it reflects the state of man. The purpose of fiqh and the methodologies worked out by the early generations of knowledgeable muslims is to allow us to come to a visualization of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) by which appealing to it we can operationalize the Prophetic Ideal into ourselves.
But just as the Prophetic Exemplar as reported in various narrations often times dealt with individuals, giving each addressed with what he or she needed, at times with complexity and at others with a brevity that is unparalled, so too does the jurisprudence worked out be the successors of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) upon close scrutiny of his sacred life have pointed out those conducts and ways which were compulsary, stressed, optional, disliked and finally proscribed, i.e., fard/wajib, sunnah, mubah, makruh and finally haram per t
To be truly universal in its nature though fiqh offers within its umbrella choices for each individual in relation to actualizing the Prophetic Example. As long as an individual fulfils the compulsory acts and avoids the proscribed he/she is allowed to move within the Ideal to the amount as one would have it actualized in oneself. One can have the 'bare bones' or the minutiae, though excellence consists in the venture of trying to draw nearer and nearer to the Prophetic Exemplar. And this 'drawing nearer' can only be operationalized in understanding and implementing the juristic rulings with ever more caution and attentiveness.
A hadith qudsi confirms the above: My slave does not draw closer to Me with anything more beloved to Me than that which I have made obligatory upon him. My slave continues to draw closer with optional extra acts until I love him.. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps and his foot with which he walks. If he asks Me I will definitely give him, and if he seeks refuge with Me I will definitely give him refuge. [Bukhari] Belovedness itself the unique relationship between Allah tala and the Messenger and something which the believers partake in when they clothe themselves externally and internally with his example as manifested in the Sacred Law.
This then is a way of understanding and taking to heart the importance of the detailed rulings found in the Sacred Law. May Allah Tala bless you and all of us in understanding and loving compliance to His sacred way.
