Islamic Law and Society Foundations and Development

1. Islamic Law and Society Foundations and Development

2. Roots of Islamic Piety and Law • The Book of God (al-Quran) • The Sunna of His Messenger (Muhammad) • The early Muslim community

3. 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

4. Other Theories? • Archaic Material, Later Compilation: the Quran addresses Near Eastern audience, so is it from the post-conquest 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

5. 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)

6. The SunIn the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate • By the sun and his morning brightnessand by the moon when she follows him,and by the day when it displays himand by the night when it enshrouds him!By the heaven and That which built itand by the earth and That which extended it!By the soul, and That which shaped itand inspired it to lewdness and godfearing!Prosperous is he who purifies it,and failed has he who seduces it.Thamud cried lies in their insolencewhen 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.

7. The CoursersIN 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 ungratefuland 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?

8. 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

9. 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?

10. 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.

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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.“…

16. …. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. Hadith: How do we know what’s true vs. forged? • Demand an isnad : • Who is in the isnad ? • Is there corroboration? Us H G A Hadith Canon: 6 collections of relied-upon hadiths, the most famous are… Sahih al-Bukhari (d. 870) Sahih Muslim (d. 875) Jami al-Tirmidhi (d. 892) Sunan al-Nasa’i (d. 915) Sunan Ibn Majah (d. 887) F B D C Prophet: Be nice to your mother

21. 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?