Fiqh Made Easy addresses a specific, practical need: a single-volume guide to Islamic jurisprudence written in plain language for readers who are not specialists, whether new Muslims, students in weekend Islamic schools, or converts navigating the Shari'ah's daily requirements for the first time.
Dr. Salih Ibn Ghanim Al-Sadlan, professor at the College of Shari'ah at Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, prepared this work originally for translation into the languages of the newly independent Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union — communities emerging from decades in which basic religious instruction had been unavailable. That original purpose shaped the book's method: Al-Sadlan presents the fiqh positions that are widely agreed upon across the schools of Islamic law, stating conclusions plainly rather than working through the detailed evidentiary arguments that specialists debate. Where scholars differ, he notes it without turning the book into a comparative survey of madhhab opinion.
Translated into English by Jamal al-Din M. Zarabozo, the book moves through three parts covering the full span of a Muslim's ritual and civil obligations. Part One treats the acts of worship: purity and ablution, the five daily prayers and the Friday and 'Id prayers, zakat, fasting and i'tikaf, Hajj and 'Umrah, and the legal category of jihad. Part Two covers transactions among people: the conditions of lawful buying and selling, prohibited transactions, riba and how Islamic law closes the door to interest, leasing and hiring, endowments (waqf), and bequests. Part Three addresses family matters, including the conditions and etiquette of marriage and rulings particular to women.
Each topic is organized for reference rather than continuous reading — definitions, then the essential components of an act, then its obligatory, recommended, and disliked elements, followed by what nullifies or negates it. Qur'anic verses and hadith are cited throughout in Arabic with English translation, and technical terms are transliterated and explained on first use.
As the translator notes in his introduction, the book was chosen for translation in part because it treats subjects — endowments and bequests among them — that receive little attention elsewhere in English-language Islamic literature. It remains suited to its original purpose: a teaching text for workshops, weekend schools, and study circles, and a first reference for anyone approaching Islamic jurisprudence without prior training in the subject.