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This pioneering study examines the process of reasoning in Islamic law. Some of the key questions addressed here include whether sacred law operates differently from secular law, why laws change or stay the same and how different cultural and historical settings impact the development of legal rulings. In order to explore these questions, the author examines the decisions of thirty jurists from the largest legal tradition in Islam: the Hanafi school of law. He traces their rulings on the question of women and communal prayer across a very broad period of time - from the eighth to the eighteenth century - to demonstrate how jurists interpreted the law and reconciled their decisions with the scripture and the sayings of the Prophet. The result is a fascinating overview of how Islamic law has evolved and the thinking behind individual rulings.
This pioneering study examines the process of reasoning in Islamic law. Some of the key questions addressed here include whether sacred law operates differently from secular law, why laws change or stay the same and how different cultural and historical settings impact the development of legal rulings. In order to explore these questions, the author examines the decisions of thirty jurists from the largest legal tradition in Islam: the Hanafi school of law. He traces their rulings on the question of women and communal prayer across a very broad period of time - from the eighth to the eighteenth century - to demonstrate how jurists interpreted the law and reconciled their decisions with the scripture and the sayings of the Prophet. The result is a fascinating overview of how Islamic law has evolved and the thinking behind individual rulings.
1. A general model; 2. Preliminaries; 3. Women praying with men: adjacency; 4. Women praying with women; 5. Women praying with men: communal prayers; 6. The historical development of Hanafi reasoning; 7. From laws and values; 8. The logic of law making.
This pioneering study is a fascinating overview of how Islamic law has evolved and the thinking behind individual rulings.
Behnam Sadeghi has been an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University since 2006. His research spans Islamic thought and law in the early and post-formative periods. In addition, he has made groundbreaking contributions to the history of the Qur'ān and the ḥadīth literature in a series of published essays.
'Sadeghi's work is significant. His detailed analysis of a focused
set of legal debates is illuminating in its own right, and his
sophisticated discussion of the nature of legal change and
justification should make the work a touchstone for any future
thinking about this issue. Sadeghi's overall conclusion - that the
business of the typical pre-modern Muslim jurist was focused not on
the canon but on the precedent embodied in his school's doctrine -
is certainly true and important, but his elucidation of the logic
of change internal to Islamic legal discourse is even more
interesting and original.' Ahmed El Shamsy, Marginalia
'… I believe this book to be a contribution of the highest order.
It introduces an entirely novel yet exceptionally rational
approach, provides models for testing, sheds light on some of the
more challenging questions in Islamic legal studies, and - though I
often disagree with subsequent interpretations - conveys premodern
narratives and legal material with accuracy. The case studies are
valuable in and of themselves with regard to current research and
debates on several topics concerning the status and rights of women
in premodern Islamic law; the author's 'hypothetical' ijtihâd …
with regard to women's attendance at group prayers is itself
compelling. Most importantly, however, Sadeghi contributes an
articulate legal developmental paradigm that - though extreme in
its descriptive-centrism - is a formidable addition to the array of
current models in the field, and of particular import in
understanding the so-called Ḥanafî ṭarîqa of uṣûl al-fiqh. Walter
E. Young, Journal of the American Oriental Society
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