Ethics and Analogy (Qiyās) in 5th/11th-Century Islamic Legal Theory

Series: 

Author:
Felicitas Opwis
In Ethics and Analogy (Qiyās) in 5th/11th-Century Islamic Legal Theory Felicitas Opwis presents how ʿAbd al-Jabbār, Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī, al-Dabbūsī, al-Shīrāzī, and al-Juwaynī relate the ethical status of acts to their legal norm, and whether they apply the ethical content of divine rulings in the procedure of analogy when extending laws to new circumstances. The study draws attention to theological worldview as an explanatory factor of norm construction and a jurist’s approach to identifying the ratio legis of divine rulings. The book traces the shift, fully articulated later by al-Ghazālī, toward understanding the purpose of the divine law as attaining people’s maṣlaḥa in this life, which enables extending the law outside of Scripture and supports Ashʿarī legal universalism.
Copyright Year:
2025
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-72078-7
Publication:
27 Jan 2025
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-72077-0
Publication:
30 Jan 2025
Cover Ethics and Analogy (<i>Qiyās</i>) in 5th/11th-Century Islamic Legal Theory

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Felicitas Opwis, Ph.D. (2001), Yale University, is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. She has published on the development of Islamic legal theory, in particular on the concept of maṣlaḥa and purpose of the law.
Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Theological Commitments
 1 Muʿtazilī and Ashʿarī Approaches to Epistemology, Ethics, and Speech
 2 Al-Māturīdī’s Theological Commitments

2 ʿAbd al-Jabbār and the Goodness of the Law
 1 The Ethical Assessment of Acts
 2 The Legal Assessment of Acts
 3 Legal Analogy and the Function of the Ratio Legis
 4 Conclusions

3 Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī and the Maṣlaḥa of the Law
 1 The Ethical and Legal Value of Acts
 2 Legal Analogy and the Ratio Legis
 3 Conclusions

4 Abū Zayd al-Dabbūsī and the Wisdom of the Law
 1 Divine Wisdom, Human Rationality, and Normativity
 2 Legal Analogy and God’s Wisdom
 3 Conclusions

5 Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī and the Meaning of the Law
 1 Linguistic Assessment of Legal Normativity
 2 The Function of Legal Analogy and the Ratio Legis
 3 Conclusions

6 Imām al-Ḥaramayn al-Juwaynī and the Purpose of the Law
 1 Religious Accountability (Taklīf) and Legal Norms
 2 The Function of Legal Analogy
 3 Conclusions

Concluding Remarks
 1 Theological Worldview and the Logic of Ethical and Legal Reasoning
 2 Law, the Path to Salvation, and the Order of Society
Bibliography
Index
Scholars interested in Islamic ethical and legal thought of the pre-modern period.
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