Hicrî II. Yüzyılda İstihsân ve Maslahat Kavramları

The formatiye period of Islamic legal methodology, i.e. the second century after the Hegira, witnessed the emergence of some new concepts and terms. The concept that was established on an ad hoc basis to overcome the challenges, which the striet reasoning (qiyas) causes, was named as istihsan. The classical sources mention that Abu Hanifa introduced the term istihsan to the lslamic legal thought. Although we do not know his definition of this technical term, there are some explanations narrated from him in the works of his disciples such as Abu Yusuf and alShaibani, and in the works of al-Shafii who was an opponent of istihsan. In this article, depending on the early sources, i argue that the principle of istihsan has already existed as part of the aetual rea$Oning of the jurists before Abu Hanifa, and i try to explore the meaning of this principle when it emerged.