Commentary :: Raziya bt. Abdallah v. Hafiza bt. Receb: A Former Concubine Wins her Manumission in Court

Case: Translation of the Court Record The woman called Radiya bt. Abd Allah, of Georgian origin and medium stature, appeared in the courthouse. She is known as the former slave of her recently deceased master, Küçük Hasan Beşe. She initiated a claim against [fakhr aqranihi – pride of equals] al-Hajj Sinan Beşe ibn Hasan, the … Continue reading Commentary :: Raziya bt. Abdallah v. Hafiza bt. Receb: A Former Concubine Wins her Manumission in Court

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

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

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

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: The Handmaiden’s Tale

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

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

By Jocelyn Hendrickson (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*

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*

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Debates on free will and predestination in the 12th century Islamic West: Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (468/1076- 542/1147 or 543/1148) Kitāb al-Qabas fī Sharḥ Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik Ibn Anas

By Delfina Serrano-Ruano (National High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain) Reading the Muwaṭṭa’ on the eve of the Almohad invasion of the Far Maghrib and Al-Andalus: The interplay of law and theology in the Muwaṭṭaʾ’s literary tradition. Introduction At the moment, I am particularly interested in observing the relationship between law and theology in … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Debates on free will and predestination in the 12th century Islamic West: Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (468/1076- 542/1147 or 543/1148) Kitāb al-Qabas fī Sharḥ Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik Ibn Anas

:: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Zakāt, Wealth Tax and Extreme Inequality

By Mahmoud El-Gamal (Rice University) In Book 16 of the Muwaṭṭaʾ, nestled between Chapter 9 regarding alms taxes on merchandise and money and Chapter 11 regarding alms taxes on livestock (the two main forms of wealth in Arabia), we read in Chapter 10, Report 699 a text that condemns hoarding. The report’s representation of hoarded … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Zakāt, Wealth Tax and Extreme Inequality

Muslim marriage and divorce practices in contemporary Britain :: Part 7 :: Conclusions and further observations

By Shaheen Ali and Justin Jones A number of recent academic studies dealing with the marriage and divorce practices of British Muslims have picked up on a number of themes that are hinted at by the speakers quoted throughout this blog: unregistered marriages, Islamic divorces, and shari‘ah councils, to name a few. However, despite their rigour, … Continue reading Muslim marriage and divorce practices in contemporary Britain :: Part 7 :: Conclusions and further observations