The Epistle on Legal Theory : A Translation of Al-Shafi'i's Risalah / Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

al-Shafi'i, Muhammad ibn Idris, Author.

Contributor:

Ali, Kecia

Lowry, Joseph E.

Series:

Library of Arabic literature.

Library of Arabic Literature ; 42

Standardized Title:

Risālah fī uṣūl al-fiqh. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shafiites--Early works to 1800.

Shafiites.

Islamic law--Interpretation and construction--Early works to 1800.

Islamic law.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (385 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : New York University Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Epistle on Legal Theory is the oldest surviving Arabic work on Islamic legal theory and the foundational document of Islamic jurisprudence. Its author, Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (d. 204 H/820 AD), was the eponym of the Shafi'i school of legal thought, one of the four rites in Sunni Islam. This fascinating work offers the first systematic treatment in Arabic of key issues in Islamic legal thought. These include a survey of the importance of Arabic as the language of revelation, principles of textual interpretation to be applied to the Qur'an and prophetic Traditions, techniques for harmonizing apparently contradictory precedents, legal epistemology, rules of inference, and discussions of when legal interpretation is required. The author illustrates his theoretical claims with numerous examples drawn from nearly all areas of Islamic law, including ritual law, commercial law, tort law, and criminal law. The text thus provides an important window into both Islamic law and legal thought in particular and early Islamic intellectual history in general .This new translation by a leading scholar of Shafi'i and his thought makes available in lucid, modern English one of the earliest complete works on Islamic law—one that is centrally important for the formation of Islamic legal thought and the Islamic legal tradition.

Contents:

The Epistle on Legal Theory

Frontmatter

Letter from the General Editor

About this Paperback

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

A Note on the Text

Notes to the Introduction

The Epistle on Legal Theory

Chapter on the Modalities of Legislative Statements

Chapter on the First Kind of Legislative Statement

Chapter on the Second Kind of Legislative Statement

Chapter on the Third Kind of Legislative Statement

Chapter on the Fourth Kind of Legislative Statement

Chapter on the Fifth Kind of Legislative Statement

Chapter Explaining What Is Revealed in the Book as Unrestricted, and Intended as Unrestricted, but Also Partly Restricted

Chapter Explaining What Is Revealed in the Book, the Apparent Meaning of Which Is Unrestricted but Which Combines the Unrestricted and the Restricted

Chapter Explaining What Is Revealed in the Book, the Apparent Meaning of Which Is Unrestricted but Which Is Intended in Its Entirety as Restricted

Chapter on the Category of Statements in Which Context Indicates the Meaning

The Category in Which the Wording Indicates the True Meaning Rather Than the Apparent Meaning

Chapter on What Is Revealed as Unrestricted and Which Prophetic Practice in Particular Indicated Is Intended as Restricted

Explanation of God’s Imposition in His Book of the Obligation to Follow the Practice of His Prophet

The Obligation from God to Obey the Prophet, Paired with Obedience to God and Mentioned Separately

Chapter on God’s Command to Obey God’s Emissary

Chapter on God’s Statement to His Creation Concerning Having Obliged His Emissary to Follow What Was Revealed to Him; The Evidence He Gave Concerning His Emissary’s Following What He Was Commanded to Do, His Emissary’s Being Guided, and His Emissary’s Guidance of Those Who Follow Him

The Beginning of Abrogation

Abrogation Indicated Partly by the Book and Partly by Prophetic Practice

Chapter on the Obligation to Pray That the Book and Then Prophetic Practice Indicate to Be Obviated by Reason of an Excuse; and Concerning Him Whose Prayer Is Not Counted as Disobedience

Abrogation Indicated by Prophetic Practice and Consensus

Chapter on Obligations That God Revealed in the Form of Explicit Texts

Obligations Established by Explicit Texts and in Regard to Which God’s Emissary Provided a Parallel Practice

Obligations Established by Explicit Texts in Regard to Which Prophetic Practice Indicates That He Intended Something Restrictive

Obligations Expressed in General Terms

Concerning Alms

Concerning the Pilgrimage

Concerning Waiting Periods

Concerning Women Unlawful to Marry

Concerning Unlawful Kinds of Food

Concerning That from Which Widows Must Abstain during the Waiting Period

Chapter on Problems Affecting Hadith-Reports

Another Instance of Abrogation

Another Instance

Another Instance of Legal Disagreement

Inconsistency in Narration in a Way That Differs from What Preceded

Another Instance Considered Contradictory, but Not by Us

Another Instance Considered a Case of Legal Disagreement

Concerning the Major Washing for Friday Prayer

Prohibition for a Reason Indicated by a Reason Given in Another Hadith-Report

Prohibition for a Reason That Is Clearer Than That in the Preceding Discussion

Prohibition for a Reason Resembling the Preceding Discussion in One Way, and Differing from It in Another

Another Chapter

An Instance That Resembles the Preceding Point

Description of God’s and His Emissary’s Prohibitions

Chapter on Knowledge

Chapter on the Uncorroborated Report

Authority Confirming the Uncorroborated Report

Chapter on Consensus

Chapter on the Confirmation of Analogical Reasoning and Legal Interpretation; When Analogizing Is Necessary and When Not; Who May Perform Analogies

Chapter on Legal Interpretation

Chapter on Subjective Reasoning

Chapter on Legal Disagreement

Chapter on Inheritance Shares

Chapter on the Disagreement over the Grandfather

Opinions of the Companions

The Status of Consensus and Analogy

Notes

Glossary of Names and Terms

Bibliography

Further Reading

Index of Qurʾan Passages

Index

About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

About the Translator

The Library of Arabic Literature

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

1-4798-3536-6

OCLC:

966819271