Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat History, Development, and Progress

How can Muslims strike a balance between religious commitments and their civic identity as citizens in Western liberal states? Hassan examines the development of a contemporary internal Muslim debate on the production of a new form of Islamic jurisprudence, Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat, or the jurisprudence of Muslim minorities. Three key trends are identified in this debate: the puritan literalist trend, the traditionalist trend and the renewal trend. The literalists argue that Muslim minorities should disassociate themselves from non-Muslims and confine their loyalty to their fellow Muslims. The traditionalists maintain that Muslim minorities can live in non-Muslim lands but via exceptional rules and conditional fatwas. The renewal trend asserts the need for a new category of jurisprudence with a new methodological framework that normalizes and empowers Muslim minority life in non-Muslim society. The study delineates these trends in detail and investigates their background, development and current conditions with special focus on the renewal trend and the discourse of Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat.

Said Hassan is Visiting Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, Georgetown College, Arabic and Islamic Studies Department, USA.

Introduction
1. Between Text and Context, the Impact of Textual Literalism and Puritan Ideology on the Life of Muslim Minorities
2. Voice of Tradition, Muslim Minorities and the Application of Islamic Law
3. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Ideologue for Muslim Minorities
4. Taha Jabir al-Alwani: Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat, a Model of Islamization of Knowledge
5. Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat: A Debate on World Division, Citizenship and Loyalty
Conclusion