Program in Islamic Law Celebrates Its New English Translation of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ

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Earlier this fall, the Program in Islamic Law published the eighth volume in its Harvard Series on Islamic Law, an English translation of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, the Royal Moroccan Edition, The Recension of Yaḥyā Ibn Yaḥyā al-Laythī. On December 9th, PIL celebrated the book’s launch by bringing together scholars from the accompanying online roundtable in a roundtable symposium and a public … Continue reading Program in Islamic Law Celebrates Its New English Translation of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ

Folk Interpretation and the “Dark Matter” of Pre-Modern Islamic Law

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In his recent book The Making of the Medieval Middle East (Princeton University Press, 2018), Jack Tannous draws attention to the overwhelming majority of “simple” Christians and Muslims with minimal exposure to (or interest in) the rarefied doctrinal issues that dominate the received history of Late Antique Christianity and early Islam. He argues that, like … Continue reading Folk Interpretation and the “Dark Matter” of Pre-Modern Islamic Law

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Journey of the Muwaṭṭaʾ in different periods of the history of South Asia: Shāh Walīyullāh’s Pursuit of Mālik

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By Ebrahim Moosa (University of Notre Dame)  It is one of those twists of history that in a region famed for hosting the largest number of followers of the Ḥanafī school, and large numbers of the Shāfiʿī, Ahl al-Ḥadīth (salafī), Jaʿfarī, and Ismāʿīlī schools, South Asia can also boast a healthy interest in the Muwaṭṭaʾ … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Journey of the Muwaṭṭaʾ in different periods of the history of South Asia: Shāh Walīyullāh’s Pursuit of Mālik

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Mālik, the Muwaṭṭa’, and Sunni Identity

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By Jonathan Brown (Georgetown University)  I once found myself trapped on a phone call with an exercised adherent of the Ḥanafī school of Islamic law who made it clear that the conversation was not going to end until I acknowledged that Abū Ḥanīfa (d. 767), the school’s founder, was the greatest Hadith scholar in Islamic … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Mālik, the Muwaṭṭa’, and Sunni Identity

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

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Ashraf Booley argues that Tunisia should be seen as the vanguard of women-friendly legislation in the Arab world in "Progressive Realisation of Muslim Family Law: The Case of Tunisia," Islamic Law & Law of the Muslim World eJournal, (originally published in Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, Vol. 22, 2019). In the chapter "Islamist Turn in Turkey, … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Introduction

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Mohammad Fadel (Professor of Law, University of Toronto) and Connell Monette (Vice President of Academic Affairs, American Academy Casablanca) organized a PIL Forum Roundtable on the recent publication of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ – Recension of Yahya b. Yahya al-Laythī (d. 234/848) by Mālik b. Anas, distributed through Harvard University Press. This translation is based on the recently … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Introduction

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: The Handmaiden’s Tale

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By Kecia Ali (Boston University) As someone who researches and teaches about early Islamic law, I have longed for a translation of the Muwaṭṭaʾ which renders legal terminology with consistency and precision, suitable for skimming, quoting, recommending to interested lay readers, and assigning to students. There have been two “nonacademic” English translations, primarily aimed at “pious … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: The Handmaiden’s Tale

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Which is Superior: Medina or Mecca? The Muwaṭṭaʾ on the Unique Status of Medina and Its Scholarly Community

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By Mariam Sheibani (Harvard Law School) Muslim jurists unanimously agreed that Mecca and Medina were the most sanctified places on earth. They nonetheless debated which of the two was greater. On this question, the lines were drawn between the Mālikīs, who upheld the preeminence of Medina, and the other three schools who by and large … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Which is Superior: Medina or Mecca? The Muwaṭṭaʾ on the Unique Status of Medina and Its Scholarly Community

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: The Virtues of Translation

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By Jocelyn Hendricks (The University of Alberta) As scholars of Islamic legal history, one of the most enjoyable questions we ask ourselves from time to time is, “Should I acquire that shiny new edition?” In our book-intensive discipline, “new” texts that were previously available only in manuscript routinely appear on the shelves of our favorite Arabic … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: The Virtues of Translation

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Medina, the Mashriq, and the Maghrib in the recension of Mālik’s Muwaṭṭaʼ by the Cordoban Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā al-Laythī*

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By Maribel Fierro (National High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain) Mālik’s Muwaṭṭaʼ in the recension by the Cordoban Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā al-Laythī includes many references to Medina.[1] This is hardly surprising given that Mālik b. Anas (d. 179/795) was a scholar from Medina and that the town of the Prophet plays an important role in … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Medina, the Mashriq, and the Maghrib in the recension of Mālik’s Muwaṭṭaʼ by the Cordoban Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā al-Laythī*