The Risalah

Almost unique among the works of Muslim scholars, this book, which for Malikis is THE Risalah, was written for children when the author was 17 years old. The sheer pedagogical audacity of introducing children to what is in effect a complete overview of life and human society escapes most people and most Muslims today. The author commences with usul ad-deen - the roots of the deen - a survey of the vital Muslim worldview, proceeding then through purification and the acts of 'ibadah, the ordinary transactions such as marriage, divorce, buying and selling and so forth, and concluding with chapters of a general and miscellaneous nature. The book is here matched by the outstanding lucidity of the translation which reveals a book written in a narrative descriptive style rather than in a didactic scholarly tone, making it breathtakingly accessible. So significant was the book's authorship and so quickly was it recognised that its author became known as the "Young Malik" and his work became a foundational pillar of the madhhab of the School of Madinah and has endured for a millennium, in use both to teach absolute beginners as intended and as a resource for scholars. This edition presents the translation in parallel with the Arabic text without vowellisation (tashkeel). Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (310 AH/922 CE - 386 AH/996 CE) was born in Qayrawan in Tunisia, arguably one of the most important Muslim cities after Makkah and Madinah, which was always famous for learning and in particular for its staunch adherence to the school of the people of Madinah as transmitted by Imam Malik. His life was overshadowed by the Fatimid dynasty, during which he and the other teachers of Qayrawan calmly kept alive the teaching of the Book of Allah and the Sunnah. Among his other well-known works are the massive multi-volume an-Nawadir wa'z-Ziyadat and a mukhtasar-abridgement of the Mudawwanah of which only the Kitab al-Jami', a comprehensive work containing a wide variety of topics, is extant. Aisha Bewley is the translator of a large number of classical works of Islam and Sufism, often in collaboration with Abdalhaqq Bewley, notably The Noble Qur'an - a New Rendering of Its Meanings in English; Muhammad, Messenger of Allah - the translation of Qadi 'Iyad's ash-Shifa'; the Muwatta' of Imam Malik ibn Anas; and Imam an-Nawawi's Riyad as-Salihin.

This volume contains ground-breaking studies on such matters as the early development of legal theory in Islam, the emergence of "us l al-fiqh," theory vis-a-vis practice, various controversies among Muslim theorists, the construction of juristic authority, reformist concepts, and the role of "qaw cid."

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, working-class people across northern India found themselves negotiating rapid industrial change, emerging technologies, and class hierarchies. In response to these changes, Indian Muslim artisans began publicly asserting the deep relation between their religion and their labor, using the increasingly accessible popular press to redefine Islamic traditions “from below.” Centering the stories and experiences of metalsmiths, stonemasons, tailors, press workers, and carpenters, Pious Labor examines colonial-era social and technological changes through the perspectives of the workers themselves. As Amanda Lanzillo shows, the colonial marginalization of these artisans is intimately linked with the continued exclusion of laboring voices today. By drawing on previously unstudied Urdu-language technical manuals and community histories, Lanzillo highlights not only the materiality of artisanal production but also the cultural agency of artisanal producers, filling in a major gap in South Asian history.

The Studies in the History and Culture of the Islamic Orient (STIO) is the series of “Supplements” to the journal Der Islam. Both are published by the Section for the History and Culture of the Near East in the Asian-African Institute of the University of Hamburg. The Section was established in 1908, before the foundation of the University of Hamburg. Under its first Director, C.H. Becker, it was the first academic centre in Germany in which teaching and research concentrated on the historical and cultural aspects of the Islamic world, and not just on philological issues. Many of Germany’s leading authorities in Islamic Studies have studied and/or taught here. The “Supplements” have maintained the same high quality and met the same high demands as the journal Der Islam and have published numerous studies on the history and culture of the Islamic world which have represented milestones in their relevant fields. The “New Series” of Supplements appearing since 2004 carries this tradition forward and provides a platform for publishing studies on the history and culture of the Islamic world from the beginnings of Islam up to the present day.

Almost unique among the works of Muslim scholars, this book, which for Malikis is THE Risalah, was written for children when the author was 17 years old. The sheer pedagogical audacity of introducing children to what is in effect a complete overview of life and human society escapes most people and most Muslims today. The author commences with usul ad-deen - the roots of the deen - a survey of the vital Muslim worldview, proceeding then through purification and the acts of 'ibadah, the ordinary transactions such as marriage, divorce, buying and selling and so forth, and concluding with chapters of a general and miscellaneous nature. The book is here matched by the outstanding lucidity of the translation which reveals a book written in a narrative descriptive style rather than in a didactic scholarly tone, making it breathtakingly accessible. So significant was the book's authorship and so quickly was it recognised that its author became known as the "Young Malik" and his work became a foundational pillar of the madhhab of the School of Madinah and has endured for a millennium, in use both to teach absolute beginners as intended and as a resource for scholars. This edition incorporates the Arabic text without vowellisation (tashkeel). Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (310 AH/922 CE - 386 AH/996 CE) was born in Qayrawan in Tunisia, arguably one of the most important Muslim cities after Makkah and Madinah, which was always famous for learning and in particular for its staunch adherence to the school of the people of Madinah as transmitted by Imam Malik. His life was overshadowed by the Fatimid dynasty, during which he and the other teachers of Qayrawan calmly kept alive the teaching of the Book of Allah and the Sunnah. Among his other well-known works are the massive multi-volume an-Nawadir wa'z-Ziyadat and a mukhtasar-abridgement of the Mudawwanah of which only the Kitab al-Jami', a comprehensive work containing a wide variety of topics, is extant. Aisha Bewley is the translator of a large number of classical works of Islam and Sufism, often in collaboration with Abdalhaqq Bewley, notably The Noble Qur'an - a New Rendering of Its Meanings in English; Muhammad, Messenger of Allah - the translation of Qadi 'Iyad's ash-Shifa'; the Muwatta' of Imam Malik ibn Anas; and Imam an-Nawawi's Riyad as-Salihin.

This slim volume presents a practical introduction to the essential beliefs, practices, and moral rectifications mentioned in the Sacred Law. The primary text is Ahmed ibn Zayn al-Habashi's Al-Risalah al-Jami ah which has been a popular introductory text during the last four centuries. The text is read by students in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and, recently, North America and Europe. This edition includes the Arabic text, its translation, and notes drawn from the translator's other works. Readers of this text will learn the essential creed, acts of worship, and moral behavior that are considered personal obligations for all Muslims. They will also learn why these particular things are important. The notes are designed to equip students for personal practice and to prepare them for more advanced studies.

A scholarly edition of a classic textbook on logic Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī’s al-Risālah al-Shamsiyyah is a scholarly edition and translation of The Rules of Logic, with commentary and notes. Composed by Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī, a scholar of the Shāfiʿī school of law, al-Risālah al-Shamsiyyah is the most widely read introduction to logic in the Arabic-speaking world. It has probably enjoyed a longer shelf-life than any other logic textbook ever written, having been in use by madrasah students from the early eighth/fourteenth century up until the present day. Building on the theories of Avicenna, al-Rāzī, and other pioneers of logic, al-Kātibī discusses the many pitfalls of building arguments and setting out unambiguous claims in natural language. The enduring nature of the text is a testament to al-Kātibī and his impact on concepts of formal discourse and argument.