Custom in Islamic Law and Legal Theory The Development of the Concepts of `Urf and `Adah in the Islamic Legal Tradition

by Shabana, Ayman

• ISBN13: 9780230105928
• ISBN10: 0230105920
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book explores the relationship between custom and Islamic law and seeks to uncover the role of custom in the construction of legal rulings. On a deeper level, however, it deals with the perennial problem of change and continuity in the Islamic legal tradition (or any tradition for that matter). It is argued that custom (urfandadah) was one of the important tools that the jurists used to accommodate change and to adjust the rulings of shari'ah to the ever changing conditions in particular social and historical contexts. The book presents a diachronic study of the development of the concept of custom (and the different terms that have been associated with it) in the Islamic legal tradition.

Author Biography

Ayman Shabana teaches Islamic and religious studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He received his Ph.D. in Islamic studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also received an MA in Islamic studies from the University of Leiden and a BA in Islamic studies from al-Azhar University.

Table of Contents

PART I * Custom and Islamic Law in Modern Scholarship * Normative Foundations of the Concept of Custom in the Islamic legal Tradition * From ‘Ådah to ‘Urf, Theological Foundations of the Concept of Custom As reflected in the Debate over Causality * Custom between the Theoretical School and the Applied School * PART II * The Expansion of Legal Theory * Custom and Legal Maxims al-Qawå‘id al-Fiqhiyyah * Custom and the Objectives of Sharí‘ah, Maqåßid al-Sharí‘ah * Custom, Legal Application, and the Construction of Reality