Methodology
Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Karkhī was born in the year 260 A.H. and died in the year 340 A.H. Karkh is a town located on the western bank of the Tigris in Baghdad. He was a student of Abū Sa‘īd al-Barda‘ī (who was a student of Ismā‘īl ibn Ḥammād who was a student of Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfah). He had many students among whom Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ and al-Shāshī are better known. Karkhī’s influence is visible very clearly in the works of al-Jaṣṣāṣ.
The first question a non-Muslim asks on hearing the word “sharī‘ah” (pronounced sha ree ‘ah,) is: what is the sharī’ah? This is a perfectly natural question. The correct answer, however, is not known even to ninety-nine percent, or more, of the Muslims. Those who attempt to answer cause more confusion than clarity. We will first note the typical answer very briefly for identification, without reproducing the various answers, as pursuing those answers is not the purpose here.
The Shaykh, the Imam, the Eminent and the Pious, Shams al-A‘immah wa Fakhr al-Islam Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Abi Sahl al-Sarakhsī (God, the Exalted, bless him) said:
The Positive Money proposals and the 100% reserve debates, which have almost a century of discussions and research behind them, have now gathered considerable momentum.