Law and Tradition in Classical Islamic Thought Studies in Honor of Professor Hossein Modarressi

by Cook, Michael; Sayeed, Asma; Rabb, Intisar; Haider, Najam

• ISBN13: 9780230113299
• ISBN10: 023011329X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-01-08
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Bringing together essays on topics related to Islamic law, this book is composed of articles by prominent legal scholars and historians of Islam. The authors cover a wide swath of issues, ranging from a detailed examination of Shi'i traditions governing legal interpretations about everyday affairs like prayer to the intellectual exchanges between Jewish and Muslim scholars of medieval Islamic tradition on works of logic. Taken together, these articles develop key inquiries concerning Islamic law in unique ways. They also exemplify a critical development in the field of Islamic Studies over the last few years: the proliferation of methodological approaches that employ a broad variety of sources to analyze social and political developments.

Author Biography

Michael Cook is Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.

Najam Haider is an assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Barnard College/Columbia University.

Intisar Rabb is an associate professor at New York University in the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and at the NYU School of Law.

Asma Sayeed is an assistant professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA.

Table of Contents

Part One:  Islamic Law and Its Sources * References to the Shi’a in the Qur’an: Notes on Imami Exegesis and the “Abu Basir Tradition”--Etan Kohlberg * The Stylometric Approach to the Composition and Chronology of the Qur’an--Behnam Sadeki * Why Incline to the Left in Prayer?  Sectarianism, Dialectic, and Archaeology in Imami Shi‘ism--Michael Cook * Shi’i Hadith Methodology in Shi’i Usuli Legal Argumentation--Tariq al-Jamil * Fatima and Abu Bakr: Inheritance Law in Sectarian Polemics--Denise Soufi * ‘Alid Women in Hadith Literature: The Legacies of Sukayna bt. Al-Husayn and Nafisa bt. Al-Hasan b. Zayd--Asma Sayeed * Part Two:  Discourses on Islamic Law * Ijtihad and Taqlid: Practice and Concept--Roy Mottahedeh * The Discourses on Husn and Qubh in Sunni and Shi’i Jurisprudence--Khaled Abou El Fadl * Mu’awiya in Medina: A Shafi’i-Zaydi Attack on the Integrity of Medinan ‘Amal--Najam Haider * When Jurists Disappear: The Social Logic of Legal Maxims--Intisar A. Rabb * Part Three: Intellectual Traditions * The Place of Logic in the Curriculum of the Khayrabadi School: From Imam-i Haqq to Muntakhab al-Haqq--Asad Ahmed * Two Commentaries on Najm al-Din al-Katibi’s al-Risala al-Shamsiyya--Sabine Schmitdke * Al-Hasan b. Musa al-Nawbakhti: Shi’i Theologian or Philosopher?--Wilferd Madelung * Conversion and Law: A Muslim-Christian Comparison--Richard Bulliet