ISLAMIC INSIGHT

Shāfiʿī school of jurisprudence: Circulation and mobility across the Indian ocean region

Anas Edoli Anas Edoli — 2024-06-05

In the history, it is evident that Islamic jurisprudence has been introduced and propagated in different corners of the world by the renowned scholars and rulers. This paper attempts to analyze the spread of Shāfiʿī School of jurisprudence across the Indian Ocean regions during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Even today, one can see the strong influence of Shāfiʿī School of jurisprudence across these littorals. Ḥaḍramī Sayyid and trade Diasporas are decisive in the spread and dominance of Shāfiʿī School of jurisprudence in the Indian Ocean regions. Predominance of Shāfiʿī School of jurisprudence in these regions led to the circulation of religious texts such as Fatḥ al-Muʿīn and other sacred manuscript sallied with Shāfiʿī School. The proposed paper endeavors to examine the influence of Shāfiʿī School of jurisprudence on Malabar Muslims, further the study scrutinize the predominant religious texts which are circulated in these regions. In addition, this paper also tries to unfold the role of Ḥaḍramī Sayyids in making social changes and cultural reformation in the life of Mappilas

Islam, Law, and the Modern State: (re)imagining Liberal Theory in Muslim Contexts. By Arif A. Jamal. London: Routledge

Sania Ismailee — 2024-06-06

As a part of the International Consortium for Law and Religious Studies (ICLARS) series on law and religion, Arif A. Jamal’s Islam, Law and the Modern State, which emerged out of his doctoral thesis, is a renewed contribution which comments on the relationship between Islam and the modern state through the prism of legislation as far as policy formulation is concerned. The main problem addressed by this book is the Muslim societies’ attempts to relate their inherited pre-modern legal and political heritage to the modern political order. This involves the role of religion in constitutional structures. Jamal proposes justice as discourse as a renewed framework that could be applied in the Muslim contexts without compromising Muslim heritage and liberal values and principles. Jamal focuses on contemporary Muslim societies due to the challenge of Islamism arising in countries like Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria. However, its analysis is not confined to any particular country rendering its content to philosophy rather than ethnography. Criticizing the marginalization of the role of religious deliberation, the book aims to break out of the dichotomy between a theocracy and anti-religious secular which are oft-suggested solutions for the public role of religious reason.

Revitalizing the integrated knowledge: Said Nursi’s educational model

Muddasir Ahmad Dass — 2024-06-06

Today the Muslim world is facing the intellectual crises; the crises in knowledge and education which has put the Muslims on the lowest rung of the ladder of nations. Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries witnessed many Muslim educational reformers who worked very hard to reform the education system prevailing among Muslim nations and in spite of such hard-works, they couldn’t succeed in working out of an effective educational system which could overcome the intellectual crises of Muslims. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, a social and religious reformer in the contemporary times gave an educational model for solving the educational and intellectual crises in the Muslim world. He gave the concept of integration of knowledge in which he suggested that modern sciences should be taught in the Madrasas and religious subjects should be taught in the secular or modern schools. The paper aims at studying the ‘integration of knowledge’ concept given by Said Nursi and aims at finding the possibilities and opportunities of applying the Nursian model of education based on the integration of modern knowledge and religious knowledge in contemporary times. The paper concludes that the contemporary Muslim world needs such an educational system which combines both types of knowledge (modern-western and Islamic), which will help in regaining the Muslim intellectualism.

Debating the difference: Khuṭbah practice among the Mappila Muslims of Kerala, India

Thadathil Hashim — 2018-07-03

This paper focuses on the Islamic practice of khuṭbah and the historical trajectory of its articulations in Malabar, revealing a multiplicity of interpretations of Islamic theology and its practices. The paper, apart from giving a glimpse of the history of khuṭbah, demonstrates the varied representations of it and brings the various contesting views on its practice to the light. In addition, it also attempts to show the ‘true’ representation of Islamic ideals according to each Islamic school of thoughts as well as the reasons why they claim themselves to be the ‘true’ Muslims. While the plurality of opinions among the Mappila Muslims in Malabar may be attributed to the nature of Qur’an and Hadiths, it is the active efforts of each of these groups to interpret these texts differently that requires special consideration/mention. To bring out diverse dimensions to the topic, I have taken recourse to documentary sources as well as oral representations obtained during the study.

Al-Imām al-Shāfiʿī’s methodology in dealing with the contradictory Hadiths

Mohammed Suhail EM al-Hudawi — 2024-06-06

The contradictions between two words or between a word and an action of a person signify his inconsistency and untrustworthiness. If this occurs in a source that is counted among the foundations of a religion, it will be supportive to consider that religion untrue. Hadith, which is defined as the words, actions and agreements of the Prophet (PBUH), is the second foundation source of Islam; being the Noble Qur’an the first. It has been argued from the early centuries of Islam that there are many Hadiths which contradict either with other Hadiths, or the Noble Qur’an, or the consensus of the Muslim community (ijmāʿ). This argument has acted as a means to reject many Hadiths. Accordingly, the counter arguments also started, i.e., to rebut the allegation of contradiction and to affirm that there was no such contradictions between them. This paper attempts to make an analysis on the methodology of al-Shāfiʿī in dealing with the allegedly Contradictory Hadiths based on his Ikhtilāf al- Ḥadīth, a pioneer work in the field. Throughout Ikhtilāf al- Ḥadīth, al-Shāfiʿī employs three major methods to solve the apparent contradiction between those Hadiths, namely, Method of Reconciliation, Method of Abrogation and Method of giving Preponderance which are followed by minor methods coming under the three. The book mainly focuses on Jurisprudential issues and, thus, can be considered an important text in the Shāfiʿite Jurisprudence as well.

Reading the aging narratives: Towards enabling Taṣawwuf in the operative framework

Muhammed Aslam Kunnathil — 2024-06-05

There is a growing recognition in the field of old age studies that a universal spiritual-shift takes place in the elderly people during their old age and that the shift brings a whole lot of changes how s/he views the self, others and cosmos. Subsequently, arguments have been made that old people’s communications, therefore, cannot be taken out of that specific world-view. However, the literary analytical systems are yet to accommodate spiritual analytic frameworks into its broad structure, though individual attempts in terms of reading the texts are made. This paper tries to engage with the gap in literary critical theory, so as to bring, broadly, a spiritual gerontological framework into the forefront of critical studies. It’s argued, in the paper, that the Islamic spiritual science, Taṣawwuf, can certainly go a long way in contributing to build an alternative critical narrative framework. If enabled, this operative framework can potentially threaten the way the world, text, genres, and thoughts are currently understood, perceived and talked about, and bring out alternative meanings.