Absolute and General Redefinition and Its Benefits

Ilm al-Usul or the science of the principles of jurisprudence is the logic of understanding the apparent meaning and the authority of what is known as proof or evidence. The interplay between the different pieces of evidence is based on their distinction and technical definition. Thus, the definition and recognition of the imaginative and judgmental aspects of the evidence are considered to be among the important issues of this study. The general and absolute definition, its conceptual distinction, impacts and implications are among those important discussions. Despite all efforts made by legal theorists and experts in the field of Ilm al-Usul to define and sort out general and absolute words as well as to explain the differences between these various terms, it seems that there still is some ambiguity as to the meanings, definitions and the application of those terms. In this article, using an analytical and applied method and elaborating on the origin of the ‘general and absolution discussion’, the writer suggests a single criterion for differentiating the area where each of those terms could be used distinctively. He clarifies the borderlines and does away with the ambiguities of this issue.