His rulings on jurisprudential matters are not attributed to the opinions of earlier imams and scholars, but are always based on their evidence from texts and consensus. We mention, for example, what he presented in the discussion of the rulings for a person in a state of ritual impurity (junub) and what that impurity prevents them from doing, when he says: "As for the actions that ritual impurity prevents, they are six things: performing prayer of all its types, entering the mosque, reciting the Quran, touching the Mushaf, performing Tawaf, and I'tikaf. As for its prohibition from entering the mosque, the evidence for that is also from the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus. From the Book, His Almighty saying: 'And [forbid] the junub, except as travelers passing through, until you have bathed' (An-Nisa/43). And His Almighty saying: 'in houses which Allah has permitted to be raised and that His name be mentioned therein' (An-Nur/36). And from the Sunnah, the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him: 'The menstruating woman and the junub are not permitted into the mosque.' This is a sound hadith narrated by Abu Dawud, and practice continued on this basis. And in this manner of establishing rulings, all his jurisprudential compositions were conducted, deriving, preferring, and responding to some opposing opinions, all based on what the text necessitates according to its indication and its transmission.

The Mahdi intentionally aimed in this methodology to highlight the idea of establishing principles, as he would refrain from mentioning numerous details on a single issue, or he would abbreviate them, making his concern to link the rule or ruling to its origin and its evidence. This action on his part indicates that he had a goal beyond the jurisprudential goal of defining rules and rulings, which was to promote this methodology of establishing principles and to spread it among the people of the Maghreb. Thus, what he authored in jurisprudence represents, in one aspect, a method based on presenting examples in his call for establishing principles. He himself sometimes referred to this meaning, which increases our confidence in its correctness. An example of this is what he mentioned at the end of his discussion on bathing, when he said: "The rules of bathing from ritual impurity and its chapters and what branches from it, with the abbreviation of its details. The intention is only to point to what relates to the principles and foundations upon which it is built." This was narrated by Abu Dawud in the Book of Purification, chapter on the junub entering the mosque.

This is from Abu Dawud in the Book of Purification, chapter on the junub entering the mosque. Book of Prayer: Ibn Tumart. Same source.