The Codification Episteme in Islamic Juristic Discourse between Inertia and Change
Many historians view Islamic law as an organic and methodologically coherent system in which there is a systematic link between legal methodology (uṣūl) and substantive law (furūʿ). In this essay, I will argue against the conventional view, drawing support from the evolutionary trajectories of four...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2015
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| In: |
Islamic law and society
Year: 2015, Volume: 22, Issue: 3, Pages: 157-220 |
| Further subjects: | B
pragmatic eclecticism
B school boundary-crossing |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Many historians view Islamic law as an organic and methodologically coherent system in which there is a systematic link between legal methodology (uṣūl) and substantive law (furūʿ). In this essay, I will argue against the conventional view, drawing support from the evolutionary trajectories of four genres of juridical writing: abridged legal compendia (mukhtaṣars); juristic disagreement (ikhtilāf); the commentary/supercommentary (sharḥ/ḥāshiya); and legal responsa (fatāwā) genres. The post-thirteenth century evolution of these genres reveals a pronounced tendency to marginalize the relationship between legal methodology and substantive law, privileging a codification ethos. Judges and low-ranking jurisconsults were expected to “apply” legal rules and frequently abandoned legal methodology as an avenue for legal change in favor of pragmatic school boundary-crossing. In doing so, they were less concerned with intra-school methodological coherence than with pursuing juristic flexibility by focusing on the content of the law rather than its process. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5195 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Islamic law and society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685195-00223p01 |
