By Rami Koujah This post is part of a series of posts on the latest publication in our Harvard Series in Islamic Law, Hossein Modarressi’s Text and Interpretation: Imam JaÊ¿far al-á¹¢Ädiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law. This series of posts take a deeper dive into the book, which examines the main characteristics of the … Continue reading 16 Reasons Why: Forgery and the Household of the Prophet
By Sohail Hanif Ritual prayer (á¹£alÄh) is a pillar of Islam. It functions as a pillar that upholds the daily routine and spiritual journey of a believer. However, the spiritual dimension of prayer is not a topic of investigation in works of Islamic law. There is, on the other hand, another overarching interest of Muslim … Continue reading A Prayer-Based Civilizational Order: The Social Dimension of the Rules of Ritual Prayer
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS The new leader of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama's new chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf, expressed his willingness to fight extremism by focusing on traditional Islamic legal doctrine, particularly on the issue of apostasy.  Recent surveys have suggested that roughly one out of five Muslims is in an interfaith marriage, … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Muslim cryptocurrency enthusiasts in Indonesia have found a way around the recent fatwÄ issued by the nation's Ulama Council, ruling that cryptocurrency is forbidden under to Islamic law. The Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (BHBFC) stated that it has started sharÄ«'a-based financing in the housing sector. The Taliban's implementation of … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "Wearing the Niqab: Muslim Women in the UK and the US" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021), Anna Piela (Northwestern University) argues that niqÄb, the Islamic face veil, has become the ubiquitous symbol of "everything that is perceived to be wrong about Islam," and further discusses how discussions surrounding its permissibility and … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister responsible for religious affairs stated that a group of Malaysian imÄms who are refusing to receive the coronavirus vaccine will undergo a counseling session that will explain the importance of vaccination. The Iraqi government announced that it will allow up to 40,000 foreigners to participate in the ShÄ«'Ä« pilgrimage to Karbala … Continue reading COVID-19 and Islamic Law Roundup
By Mariam Sheibani Source: Al-QarÄfÄ«, ShihÄb al-DÄ«n. KitÄb al-furÅ«q aw AnwÄr al-burÅ«q fÄ«Â anwÄʾ al-furÅ«q. 3rd ed. Edited by Muḥammad SarrÄj and Ê¿AlÄ« JumuÊ¿a. 2 vols. Cairo: DÄr al-SalÄm, 2010. General Description: This analysis discusses ShihÄb al-DÄ«n al-QarÄfī’s theory of the purpose of legal maxims and distinctions (qawÄÊ¿id and furÅ«q) as presented in his collection of … Continue reading Al-QarÄfÄ« on the Importance of Legal Maxims and Distinctions in Jurisprudence
By Mariam Sheibani Source: Al-QarÄfÄ«, ShihÄb al-DÄ«n. KitÄb al-furÅ«q aw AnwÄr al-burÅ«q fÄ« anwÄÊ¿ al-furÅ«q. 3rd ed. Edited by MuhÌ£ammad SarrÄj and Ê¿AlÄ« JumuÊ¿a. 2 vols. Cairo: DÄr al-SalÄm, 2010. General Description: This excerpt comprises the seventy eighth ‘legal distinction’ in QarÄfī’s collection of legal distinctions (furÅ«q). Legal distinctions are a subset of legal maxims, … Continue reading Al-QarÄfī’s collection of legal distinctions
By Mohammad Sagha This post examines how two á¹¢afavid-era jurists, Ḥussayn b. ʽAbd al-á¹¢amad al-ʽĀmilÄ« (d. 985/1577-8),[1] and Muḥammad BÄqir MajlisÄ« (d. 1111/1698) conceptualized the authority to collect and spend the portion of khums[2]allocated for the ImÄm’s discretion (sahm al-ImÄm)[3] during the period of occultation.[4] Shīʽī legal reasoning regarding the allocation of khums is important … Continue reading Authority and Khums in the Absence of the ImÄm: Reflections of Two Safavid-era Jurists
By Mohammad Sagha The main question this study addresses is: how can the delegation of authority within the Shīʽī* community after the Minor Occultation of the Twelfth ImÄm in 260/874 explain Shīʽī judicial views on religious tax theory?[1] The advent of the Minor Occultation produced an environment of doubt for the followers of the imÄms … Continue reading Judicial Authority and Roots of Twelver Shīʽī Tax Theory
