Authority, continuity, and change in Islamic law / Wael B. Hallaq.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hallaq, Wael B., 1955- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Islamic law--Interpretation and construction.

Islamic law.

Authority--Religious aspects--Islam.

Authority.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 269 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Other Title:

Authority, Continuity & Change in Islamic Law

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2001.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

Wael B. Hallaq is regarded as one of the leading scholars in the field of Islamic law. In a path-breaking new book, the author shows how authority guaranteed both continuity and change in Islamic law. While the role of the law schools in augmenting these processes was of the essence, the author demonstrates that it was the construction of the absolutist authority of the school founder, an image which he suggests was actually developed later in history, that maintained the foundations of school methodology and hermeneutics. The defence of that methodology gave rise to an infinite variety of individual legal opinions, ultimately accommodating changes in the law. Thus the author concludes that the mechanisms of change were embedded in the very structure of Islamic law, despite its essentially conservative nature. This book will be welcomed by specialists and scholars in Islamic law for its rigour and innovation.

Contents:

Juristic typologies: a framework for enquiry

Early ijtihād and the later construction of authority

The rise and augmentation of school authority

Taqlīd: authority, hermeneutics, and function

Operative terminology and the dynamics of legal doctrine

The jurisconsult, the author-jurist, and legal change

Summary and conclusions.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9780511495557

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.