In this Book
- The Epistle on Legal Theory
- Book
- 2013
- Published by: NYU Press
A modern translation of a foundational document of Islamic jurisprudence
The Epistle on Legal Theory is the oldest surviving Arabic work on Islamic legal theory and the foundational document of Islamic jurisprudence. Its author, Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (d. 204/820), was the eponym of the Shafi'i school of legal thought, one of the four rites in Sunni Islam. This fascinating work offers the first systematic treatment in Arabic of key issues in Islamic legal thought. These include a survey of the importance of Arabic as the language of revelation, principles of textual interpretation to be applied to the Qur'an and prophetic Traditions, techniques for harmonizing apparently contradictory precedents, legal epistemology, rules
of inference, and discussions of when legal interpretation is required. The author illustrates his theoretical claims with numerous examples drawn from nearly all areas of Islamic law, including ritual law, commercial law, tort law, and criminal law. The text thus provides an important window into both Islamic law and legal thought in particular and early Islamic intellectual history in general.
The Arabic text has been established on the basis of the two most important critical editions and includes variants in the notes, while the English text is a new translation by a leading scholar of Shafi'i and his thought. The Epistle on Legal Theory represents one of the earliest complete works on Islamic law, one that is centrally important for the formation of Islamic legal thought and the Islamic legal tradition.
A bilingual Arabic-English edition.
Table of Contents
- Half Title, About the Series
- pp. i-ii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xii-xiv
- Introduction
- pp. xv-xx
- A Note on the Text
- pp. xxi-xxxvii
- Notes to the Introduction
- pp. xxxviii-2
- EPISTLE ON LEGAL THEORY
- pp. 3-14
- The Beginning of Abrogation
- pp. 81-88
- Obligations Expressed in General Terms
- pp. 129-137
- Concerning Alms
- pp. 137-142
- Concerning the Pilgrimage
- pp. 143-145
- Concerning Waiting Periods
- pp. 145-146
- Concerning Women Unlawful to Marry
- pp. 147-149
- Concerning Unlawful Kinds of Food
- pp. 149-152
- Chapter on Problems Affecting Hadith-Reports
- pp. 155-179
- Another Instance of Abrogation
- pp. 179-182
- Another Instance
- pp. 183-187
- Another Instance
- pp. 187-198
- Another Instance of Legal Disagreement
- pp. 199-204
- Another Instance of Legal Disagreement
- pp. 219-223
- Another Chapter
- pp. 243-246
- Chapter on Knowledge
- pp. 259-268
- Chapter on the Uncorroborated Report
- pp. 269-287
- Chapter on Consensus
- pp. 335-339
- Chapter on Legal Interpretation
- pp. 349-361
- Chapter on Subjective Reasoning
- pp. 361-405
- Chapter on Legal Disagreement
- pp. 405-422
- Chapter on Inheritance Shares
- pp. 423-426
- Opinions of the Companions
- pp. 431-433
- The Status of Consensus and Analogy
- pp. 433-436
- Glossary of Names and Terms
- pp. 461-478
- Bibliography
- pp. 479-484
- Further Reading
- pp. 485-486
- Index of Qur'an Passages
- pp. 487-488
- About the Typefaces
- p. 503