Early Islamic Legal Theory: The Risala of Muhammad Ibn Idris Al-shafi-i (Studies in Islamic Law and Society)

The Risa¿¿la of al-Sha¿¿fi¿¿i¿¿ (d. 204/820), the earliest preserved work of Islamic legal theory, has been understood in previous scholarship as either the elaboration of a hierarchy of sources of law (Qur¿¿a¿¿n, Sunna, consensus, and analogical reasoning) or an extended defense of the Sunna. Through a careful rereading of this celebrated text, this book offers a comprehensive reinterpretation of the Risa¿¿la, in which Sha¿¿fi¿¿i¿¿ formulated an all-encompassing hermeneutic that portrays the law as a tightly interlocking structure organized around defined interactions of the Qur¿¿a¿¿n and the Sunna. Topics covered include Sha¿¿fi¿¿i¿¿'s creative account of the law's architectonics, hermeneutical techniques, legal epistemology, relationship to kala¿¿m, and the role of consensus (ijma¿¿¿¿) Contents ......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Abbreviations......Page 16 Introduction......Page 18 Shafi'i and Early Islamic Law......Page 19 Shafi'i's Life......Page 23 Works Attributed to Shafi'i......Page 24 Previous Studies of Shafi'i's Legal Thought and the Risala......Page 25 Method......Page 33 This Study......Page 36 Conventions......Page 38 II. The Idea at the Heart of the Risala: Shafi'i's Concept of the Bayan......Page 40 A. Shafi'i's Definition of the Bayan......Page 42 B. The First Mode of the Bayan: Stand-alone Qur'anic Texts......Page 43 C. The Second Mode of the Bayan: Qur'an and Redundant Sunna......Page 44 D. The Third Mode of the Bayan: Qur'an and Explanatory Sunna......Page 47 E. The Fourth Mode of the Bayan: Stand-alone Sunnaic Texts......Page 48 F. The Fifth Mode of the Bayan: Ijtihad and Qiyas......Page 49 G. Implications of Shafi'i's Concept of the Bayan......Page 50 H. Mention of the Bayan Schema Elsewhere in the Risala......Page 51 III. The Bayan and the Structure of the Risala......Page 58 IV. Previous Scholarly Accounts of Shafi'i's Notion of the Bayan......Page 63 A. Jahiz......Page 68 B. The Case of Jassas......Page 72 C. Shafi'i's Bayan in Other Usul Works: A Very Brief Tour......Page 73 VI. Conclusion......Page 75 I. Introduction......Page 78 II. General Hermeneutical Terms and Principles......Page 80 A. 'Amm and Khass......Page 86 1. Structure of the Risala's Discussion of 'Amm and Khass......Page 89 2. Inheritance......Page 96 3. Ablutions......Page 97 5. Unlawful Sexual Intercourse......Page 100 6. Division of the Spoils of War......Page 101 7. Other Appeals to and Uses of 'Amm and Khass......Page 102 B. Abrogation (Naskh)......Page 104 1. Shafi'i's Theory of Naskh......Page 106 2. The Penalty for Unlawful Sexual Intercourse......Page 110 C. The Jumla:Nass Rubric......Page 121 1. Independent Qur'anic Injunctions: Ramadan......Page 125 2. Quasi-Self Sufficient Qur'anic Texts: Spousal Accusations of Adultery......Page 126 3. Why Have Redundant Hadiths? The Case of Ablutions......Page 128 5. Divorce and Remarriage......Page 130 6. Inheritance......Page 131 7. Jumla and 'Amm......Page 133 8. Sunna as Nass......Page 134 IV. Hermeneutical Rubrics Specific to the Hadith......Page 135 A. Shafi'i's Outline of Hermeneutical Difficulties Affecting the Sunna......Page 136 B. The Distinction between Contradiction and Source Interaction Reiterated......Page 140 C. Specific Techniques for Resolving Contradictions within the Hadith Corpus......Page 142 1. Ikhtilaf al-Hadith......Page 143 a. Prayer during Battle Conditions......Page 145 b. Humanitarian Law and the Law of War......Page 148 2. Prohibitions in the Hadith (Nahy)......Page 151 V. Ijtihad and Qiyas......Page 159 A. The Function of Ijtihad and Qiyas and the Authority for Using Them......Page 161 B. Examples of Applied Ijtihad as Metaphors for Legal Epistemology......Page 163 C. Types of Qiyas......Page 166 D. When Qiyas May not be Used......Page 172 E. Examples of Applied Qiyas......Page 173 1. Shabah-Based Qiyas......Page 174 2. Ma'na-Based Qiyas and Reasoning A Fortiori......Page 175 VI. Conclusion......Page 180 I. Introduction......Page 182 A. The Term Sunna Prior to Shafi'i......Page 184 A. Shafi'i's General Arguments for the Authority of the Sunna......Page 187 B. Shafi'i's Claim that Hikma in the Qur'an Means "Sunna"......Page 193 1. Shafi'i's Qur'anic Proof Texts......Page 194 2. Extra-Exegetical Currents......Page 201 III. The Khabar al-Wahid and its Wider Implications......Page 204 A. Authority for Using the Khabar al-Wahid......Page 206 B. Hermeneutical Aspects of the Khabar al-Wahid......Page 208 1. Personal Qualities of Transmitters......Page 210 2. The Analogy with Testimony......Page 211 3. Formal Characteristics of Isnads......Page 214 1. Recurrence vs. Non-Recurrence......Page 217 2. Defective Isnads in Prophetic Hadith......Page 218 3. Non-Prophetic Reports (Athar) and the Limits of Revelation......Page 220 IV. Conclusion......Page 222 I. Introduction......Page 224 II. Shafi'i's Discussion of the Qur'an......Page 227 A. The Relative Authority of the Qur'an and the Sunna......Page 228 B. Shafi'i's Description of the Qur'an as a Source of Law......Page 230 C. Shafi'i's Claim that the Qur'an Contains only Arabic......Page 232 III. Shafi'i's Use of the Qur'an......Page 235 A. The Law Governing Prayer and its History......Page 236 B. The Prayer of Fear......Page 240 1. Structure of the Authorities for the Prayer of Fear......Page 245 2. Early Jurists' Discussions of the Prayer of Fear......Page 247 3. The Prayer of Fear in Early Exegesis......Page 252 IV. Conclusion......Page 254 I. Introduction......Page 256 II. Shafi'i's Concept of Knowledge ('Ilm)......Page 259 III. Objectively Correct Answers......Page 262 A. Epistemically Ideal Conditions and their Absence......Page 266 B. Speci? c Impediments to Attaining the Objectively Correct Result......Page 267 C. Language......Page 268 D. Problems in Transmission......Page 271 E. Modest Subjectivity in Legal Interpretation......Page 274 F. Accidental vs. Structural Ijtihad......Page 280 IV. Shafi'i's Epistemological Dualism......Page 285 V. Conclusion......Page 290 I. Introduction......Page 292 A. The Ahl al-'Ilm and Related Groups......Page 294 B. The Relationship between the Various Groups of Scholars......Page 298 C. Specialists......Page 300 D. Transmitters and Analyzers......Page 301 E. Legal Experts: f-q-h and f-t-y......Page 302 F. Persons Associated with the Hadith......Page 304 G. The Ahl al-'Uqul......Page 306 H. Shafi'i's Attitude toward Non-Arabs......Page 311 III. The Risala as Theological Polemic......Page 315 A. God's Attributes......Page 317 B. God's Foreknowledge and Foreordainment of Events......Page 318 C. The Idea of Justice ('Adl)......Page 328 D. The Role of Reason ('Aql)......Page 330 IV. Conclusion......Page 334 I. Introduction......Page 336 II. Previous Conceptions of Ijma'......Page 338 III. The Authority of Ijma' and its Relationship to the Sunna......Page 339 IV. Ijma' as a Tool of Legal Reasoning......Page 344 V. Example Problems in which Shafi'i Appeals to Ijma'......Page 348 A. Schacht: Ijma' of the Specialists vs. Ijma' of the Community at Large......Page 367 B. Calder: Universal Ijma' on the Most Basic Matters......Page 371 VII. Conclusion......Page 374 Conclusion The Risala and its Relationship to Mature Usul al-Fiqh......Page 376 Positive Law (Furu')......Page 378 Capacity for Abstraction......Page 379 Speculative Theology......Page 380 Language......Page 381 Function......Page 383 Introduction......Page 386 Does the Text Require Rearrangement?......Page 389 Khadduri's Rearrangement of the Text......Page 391 Shafi'i's Tables of Contents and Caesurae......Page 392 Interpolations......Page 400 The Four, or Five, Modes of the Bayan......Page 403 Bibliography......Page 404 Indices......Page 418 Indices Index of Qur'an Citations......Page 420 Index of Risala Citations......Page 423 Index of Arabic Terms from the Risala......Page 432 Index of Legal Issues......Page 451 Index of Proper Names......Page 454

The Risāla of al-Shāfiʿī (d. 204/820), the earliest preserved work of Islamic legal theory, has been understood in previous scholarship as either the elaboration of a hierarchy of sources of law (Qur'ān, Sunna, consensus, and analogical reasoning) or an extended defense of the Sunna. Through a careful rereading of this celebrated text, this book offers a comprehensive reinterpretation of the Risāla, in which Shāfiʿī formulated an all-encompassing hermeneutic that portrays the law as a tightly interlocking structure organized around defined interactions of the Qur'ān and the Sunna. Topics covered include Shāfiʿī’s creative account of the law’s architectonics, hermeneutical techniques, legal epistemology, relationship to kalām, and the role of consensus (ijmāʿ).

The Risāla of al-Shāfiʿī (d. 204/820), the earliest preserved work of Islamic legal theory, has been understood in previous scholarship as either the elaboration of a hierarchy of sources of law (Qurʾān, Sunna, consensus, and analogical reasoning) or an extended defense of the Sunna. Through a careful rereading of this celebrated text, this book offers a comprehensive reinterpretation of the Risāla, in which Shāfiʿī formulated an all-encompassing hermeneutic that portrays the law as a tightly interlocking structure organized around defined interactions of the Qurʾān and the Sunna. Topics covered include Shāfiʿī's creative account of the law's architectonics, hermeneutical techniques, legal epistemology, relationship to kalām, and the role of consensus (ijmāʿ). The "Ris?la" of al-Sh?fi (d. 204/820), the earliest preserved work of Islamic legal theory, has been understood in previous scholarship as either the elaboration of a hierarchy of sources of law (Qur n, Sunna, consensus, and analogical reasoning) or an extended defense of the Sunna. Through a careful rereading of this celebrated text, this book offers a comprehensive reinterpretation of the "Ris?la," in which Sh?fi formulated an all-encompassing hermeneutic that portrays the law as a tightly interlocking structure organized around defined interactions of the Qur n and the Sunna. Topics covered include Sh?fi 's creative account of the law's architectonics, hermeneutical techniques, legal epistemology, relationship to "kal?m," and the role of consensus ("ijm "). Shāfiʻī's concept of the Bayān Two hermeneutical techniques Prophetic sunna and hadith in the Risāla The Qurān in Shāfiʻī's Risāla Shāfiʻī's epistemology Internal evidence for the Risāla's polemical context Ijmā in the Risāla The Risāla and its relationship to mature Uml al-Fiqh. This book offers a comprehensive reinterpretation of Shfi's Risla and shows how Shfi sought to formulate an all-embracing hermeneutic that portrays the law as a tightly interlocking structure organized around defined interactions of the Qurn and the Sunna.