The Logic Of Law Making In Islam

"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.

The American profession should welcome this exhaustive and authentic work edited by two scholars who are authorities on the law of Islam and also students of the law of the United States. These editors have enlisted leading authorities on special subjects and have presented the whole in a manner that should appeal to American interest and understanding. Dr. Khadduri and Dr. Liebesny are entitled to our thanks and to our congratulations. It is to be hoped that Law in the Middle East will be widely read and pondered by the American legal profession and all who believe understanding begets good will.

In the critical period when Islamic law first developed, a new breed of jurists developed a genre of legal theory treatises to explore how the fundamental moral teachings of Islam might operate as a legal system. Seemingly rhetorical and formulaic, these manuals have long been overlooked for the insight they offer into the early formation of Islamic conceptions of law and its role in social life. In this book, Rumee Ahmed shatters the prevailing misconceptions of the purpose and form of the Islamic legal treatise. Ahmed describes how Muslim jurists used the genre of legal theory to argue for individualized, highly creative narratives about the application of Islamic law while demonstrating loyalty to inherited principles and general prohibitions. These narratives are revealed through careful attention to the nuanced way in which legal theorists defined terms and concepts particular to the legal theory genre, and developed pictures of multiple worlds in which Islamic law should ideally function. Ahmed takes the reader into the logic of Islamic legal theory to uncover diverse conceptions of law and legal application in the Islamic tradition, clarifying and making accessible the sometimes obscure legal theories of central figures in the history of Islamic law. The book offers important insights about the ways in which legal philosophy and theology mutually influenced premodern jurists as they formulated their respective visions of law, ethics, and theology. The volume is the first in the Oxford Islamic Legal Studies series. Satisfying the growing interest in Islam and Islamic law, the series speaks to both specialists and those interested in the study of a legal tradition that shapes lives and societies across the globe. The series features innovative and interdisciplinary studies that explore Islamic law as it operates in shaping private decision making, binding communities, and as domestic positive law. The series also sheds new light on the history and jurisprudence of Islamic law and provides for a richer understanding of the state of Islamic law in the contemporary Muslim world, including parts of the world where Muslims are minorities.

This pioneering study examines the process of reasoning in Islamic law. By analyzing rulings from the Hanafi school, the author interrogates whether sacred law operated differently from secular law, why laws changed, and how different cultural and historical settings impacted on the development of legal rulings. The result is a fascinating overview of the evolution of Islamic law and the role of its jurists.

A welcome contributes to the small number of English language works on Islamic legal theory, and it is a work which all libraries that have an interest in Islamic Studies and cognate areas should acquire." Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1982 Dr.Masud has clearly put much thought and effort into the making of Islamic Legal Philosophy, and the result is a work of which serious students of both Islamic modernism and of the history and theory of Islamic law will have to take account. It is a work that must be taken into consideration in any future research into the question of maslaha, for on this point the author shows himself capable of keen observation and insights... Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1979 Throughout the centuries, there has been a basic question asked among Islamic jurists and Muslims: "Why did Allah issue the commandments that Allah did?" While some schools of thought, such as the Ash'ari philosophers, think that this is an invalid question altogether (for if Allah had reasons for doing what Allah does or did, then He would be caused or compelled by some outside power, a theological impossibility) other schools have thought have gone to the other extreme, such as the Mutazilites, some of who have suggested Allah had to do what is best for humanity. Muhammad Khalid Masud's detailed consideration of one philosopher, al-Shatibi, others a much more complex consideration of possible principles behind the injunctions of Islamic law, Shari'ah. Primarily, this book is a consideration of the concept of maslaha, or "the good," and the role it plays not only in the actual injunctions of Islamic law but also in reasoning about the law, making determinations in specific cases and what extent the concept of the good of humanity can provide insights into the law. Masud masterfully outlines the development of the concept of maslaha (his treatment of al-Razi being of particular importance) and sets the scene of al-Shatibi, during a time of great social change.

This work deals with the law and legal theory in classical and medieval Islam. Among the topics covered are: non-analogical arguments in Sunni juridical Qiyas; logic and formal arguments in Sunni jurisprudence; inductive corroboration; and al-Shafi'i and his influence on Islamic jurisprudence.