ʿIlm al-aḥkām concerns Qur'anic statements from which normative rulings about human actions are derived. Its broad categories are:
Wājib: obligatory.
Mandūb: recommended rather than obligatory.
Mubāḥ: originally permitted.
Makrūh: disfavored.
Ḥarām: prohibited.
Determining a ruling requires attention to wording, context, related texts and legal principles. Not every imperative can be assigned an identical legal force without examination, nor is every prohibition analyzed in precisely the same way. Fiqh and uṣūl al-fiqh investigate such details systematically.