Download Islamic Law and Society

Islamic Law and Society
Foundations and
Development
Roots of Islamic Piety and
Law
1) The Book of God (al-Quran)
2) The Sunna of His Messenger
(Muhammad)
3) The early Muslim community
The Quran - History of the Text
• A History told by Muslims
• Revealed Piecemeal from 610-632
• Compilation
– Written down or memorized by Muslims during the
lifetime of Muhammad
– 632 Abu Bakr orders a comprehensive copy made,
held by Hafsa, daughter of ‘Umar
– ‘Uthmanic text: disagreements lead ‘Uthman to
order one consonantal text in 650 (on camel
parchment). Oldest full test of Quran comes from
the mid 900’s
• An Oral Text/ the Arabic Script:
– Consonants not dotted example
– Consonants not vowelled example
– At least 10 well-known ‘readings’ of the Quran
Other Theories?
• Archaic Material, Later Compilation:
the Quran addresses Near Eastern
audience, so is it from the postconquest period…
• Christoph Luxemberg: Muslims
misreading the Quran
• But:
– how did it escape the civil wars?
– What gives us a right to shift languages
when reading a text?
– No evidence of real changes to text
Quran as Recitation
• Keryana: Syriac for recitation
– “Indeed its collection and recitation is upon
us”
– “Read from the Quran what may be easy for
you”
– “We have heard a wondrous Quran”
• Style of the Quran: assonated and rhymed
prose (saj’)
– Similar to utterances of pre-Islamic
soothsayers (kahin)
– Highly developed style…
– Ex. Surat al-Shams (91) & al-’Adiya (100)
The Sun
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
•
By the sun and his morning brightness
and by the moon when she follows him,
and by the day when it displays him
and by the night when it enshrouds him!
By the heaven and That which built it
and by the earth and That which extended it!
By the soul, and That which shaped it
and inspired it to lewdness and godfearing!
Prosperous is he who purifies it,
and failed has he who seduces it.
Thamud cried lies in their insolence
when the most wretched of them uprose,
then the Messenger of God said to them, ’The She-camel of God; let her drink!’
But they cried him lies, and hamstrung her, so their Lord crushed them for their sin,
and leveled them:
and He fears not the issue thereof.
The Coursers
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF
GRACE
•
O, the chargers that run panting,
sparks of fire striking,
rushing to assault at morn,
thereby raising clouds of dust,
thereby storming [blindly] into any host!
VERILY, towards his Sustainer man is most ungrateful
and to this, behold, he [himself] bears witness indeed:
for, verily, to the love of wealth is he most ardently devoted.
But does he not know that [on the Last Day,] when all that is in the graves is
raised and brought out,
and all that is [hidden] in men’s hearts is bared
•
that on that Day their Sustainer [will show that He] has always been fully
aware of them?
Quran Reciters (qari’)
• Different styles: 3 standard modes of
reciting
– hadr = rapid mode like normal talking speed
– tadwir: medium
– tartil = slow and musical
• Suggestion 1, suggestion 2
• South Asian Reciter
• Recitation in prayer
Quran as a Book
• Types of material:
– Hortatory/didactic: believe, do good deeds, fear God,
beware the Day of Judgment, obey God and his Prophet
– Narrative: tales of Moses, Abraham, Noah, Salih
– Predictive/Eschatological: fate of believers and
unbelievers, creation and end of the world
– Polemical: claims of Muhammad’s opponents, the
failings of the ‘People of the Book’
– Doctrinal: the nature of God
– Legal: less than 500 verses deal with law and ritual
• Structure of Quran:
–
–
–
–
Not a continuous narrative
Contextual ‘asbab al-nuzul = occasions of revelation’
Ellipticalism: assumes audience knowledge
Person: God as beyond language… ‘He’, ‘I’ ‘We’ and ‘God’
• Good for all time?
Themes
• Tawhid: worship of God alone
Vs. Shirk: assigning partners
to God ex.
• Knowledge (‘ilm) vs.
Speculation ex.
• History and Nature testify to
the Message ex.
Quran as Sacred Object
• ‘The Book/Kitab’: the “Preserved
Tablet” with God, the Quran as earthly
manifestation
• Ijaz of the Quran: inimitability c. 850
• Sacred Art: calligraphic tradition
• Recitation and Reading: the Holy word
brought to life
• Talisman
Quran and the Shariah
The Quran is the “first source (al-asl al-awwal)” of
Islamic law and dogma.
The Quranic Mandate for Shariah:
• “If you dispute with one another on an issue, bring it
before God and the Messenger if you believe in God
and the Last Day” (Quran 4:59)
• “On whatever you may differ, the verdict thereon
rests with God” (Quran 42:10)
• “Whoever does not rule by what God has revealed,
he is one of the unbelievers (Quran 5:44-47)
A Genre of Quranic Exegesis: Tafseer
Sunna and Hadith
What is a hadith?
• Saying
• Action
• Acceptance
Hadith vs. Sunna?
Sunna Mandate for Shariah: Mu’adh’s
orders..
1) the Quran, 2) the Prophet’s precedent,
and 3) his own best judgment based on his
sound understanding of Islam.
Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith
On the authority of Omar bin Al-Khattab, who said : I
heard the messenger of Allah salla Allah u alihi wa
sallam say :
"Actions are but by intention and every man shall have
but that which he intended. Thus he whose migration
was for Allah and His messenger, his migration was for
Allah and His messenger, and he whose migration was to
achieve some worldly benefit or to take some woman in
marriage, his migration was for that for which he
migrated." related by Bukhari and Muslim
Also on the authority of Omar, who said : One day
while we were sitting with the messenger of Allah
there appeared before us a man whose clothes were
exceedingly white and whose hair was exceedingly
black; no signs of journeying were to be seen on him
and none of us knew him. He walked up and sat
down by the prophet. Resting his knees against his
and placing the palms of his hands on his thighs, he
said:"O Muhammed, tell me about Islam". The
messenger of Allah said: "Islam is to testify that
there is no god but Allah and Muhammed is the
messenger of Allah, to perform the prayers, to pay
the zakat, to fast in Ramadhan, and to make the
pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do so." He
said:"You have spoken rightly", and we were amazed
at him asking him and saying that he had spoken
rightly. He said: "Then tell me about iman ."He
said:"It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books,
His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in
divine destiny, both the good and the evil thereof.“…
…. He said:"You have spoken rightly". He said: " Then tell
me about ihsan ." He said: "It is to worship Allah as
though you are seeing Him, and while you see Him not
yet truly He sees you". He said: "Then tell me about the
Hour". He said: "The one questioned about it knows no
better than the questioner." He said: "Then tell me about
its signs." He said: "That the slave-girl will give birth to
her mistress and that you will see the barefooted, naked,
destitute herdsman competing in constructing lofty
buildings." Then he took himself off and I stayed for a
time. Then he said: "O Omar, do you know who the
questioner was?" I said: "Allah and His messenger know
best". He said: "He was Jibril (Gabriel), who came to you
to teach you your religion." narrated by Muslim
• HADITH 4 On the authority of Abdullah bin Masud, who
said : the messenger of Allah, and he is the truthful, the
believed narrated to us :
"Verily the creation of each one of you is brought together in
his mother's belly for forty days in the form of seed, then he is
a clot of blood for a like period, then a morsel of flesh for a like
period, then there is sent to him the angel who blows the
breath of life into him and who is commanded about four
matters: to write down his means of livelihood, his life span,
his actions, and whether happy or unhappy. By Allah, other
than Whom there is no god, verily one of you behaves like the
people of Paradise until there is but an arm's length between
him and it, and that which has been written over takes him
and so he behaves like the people of Hell-fire and thus he
enters it; and one of you behaves like the people of Hell-fire
until there is but an arm's length between him and it, and that
which has been written over takes him and so he behaves like
the people of Paradise and thus he enters it." related by
Bukhari and Muslim
HADITH 9 On the authority of Abu
Hurairah, who said : I heard the
messenger of Allah say :
"What I have forbidden to you, avoid;
what I have ordered you [to do], do as
much of it as you can. It was only their
excessive questioning and their
disagreeing with their prophets that
destroyed those who were before you."
related by Bukhari and Muslim
HADITH 11 On the authority of Al-Hasan bin Ali,
the grandson of the messenger of Allah, who said
: I memorized from the messenger of Allah his
saying : "Leave that which makes you doubt for
that which does not make you doubt."
narrated by Tirmidhi and Nasa’i, and Tirmidhi
said it is true and fine hadith.
HADITH 12 On the authority of Abu Hurayra, who
said : The messenger of Allah said :
"Part of someone's being a good Muslim is his
leaving alone that which does not concern him."
a good hadith narrated by Tirmidhi and others
Hadith: How do we know
what’s true vs. forged?
1. Demand an isnad :
2. Who is in the isnad ?
3. Is there corroboration?
Hadith Canon: 6
collections of reliedupon hadiths, the most
famous are…
Sahih al-Bukhari (d. 870)
G
A
B
D
C
Jami al-Tirmidhi (d. 892)
Sunan Ibn Majah (d. 887)
H
F
Sahih Muslim (d. 875)
Sunan al-Nasa’i (d. 915)
Us
Prophet: Be
nice to your
mother
Does this Method Work?
• Where does the burden of proof lie?
• Muslim hadith critics had different
priorities than we do: they cared about
law and doctrine, not exegesis and
history.
• Maybe the Prophet really…
prophesized?