فقه
faqaha
To understand the ordinances of God, His revelation and His patterns in creation, which makes it a synonym of ʿilm; also to know Islamic law and apply it properly.
What it means
Faqaha means to grasp a matter with understanding, and it is the verb from which fiqh comes. The Quran calls on a party from every group to go out “to gain deep understanding in religion” and to warn their people on return (9:122). It also speaks of those who have hearts with which they “do not understand” (7:179), and the word there is the same root.
In its wide sense the verb is close to ʿilm, knowledge of what God has revealed and of how He has ordered creation. In its narrower sense it names knowledge of the rules of Islamic law and the skill to apply them. The Prophet said: “If God wants good for a person, He gives him understanding in religion” (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).
Often misunderstood as
Reduced to “jurisprudence”, which drops the first and wider sense of understanding God’s revelation and His order in creation.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 43, listed as FAQAHA. The definition is restated here.