How do we live as Muslims

1
Hadith, Transmission and The Idiom of Islamic
Law
2
The Great Question of Islamic Law

• How do we live as Muslims?

3
What is Islamic Law/Shariah?

• Crime theft, murder, slander
• Transactions buying, selling, interest
• Family Law marriage, divorce, inheritance
• Warfare treaties, civilians
• Ritual how should I pray, do pilgrimage?
• Pleasing God what acts please or dont please
  God?
• Boundaries of Community what makes you Muslim or
  not?

4
Aims of the Shariah????? ??????? ?? ??????? ?????

• The 5 rights that the Shariah seeks to protect
• Life
• Property
• Honor
• Reason
• Religion

5
Judging Actions

• 2. Required (wajib) ex. five daily prayers
• 1. Recommended (mandub) ex.extra charity
• 0. Permitted (mubah) ex. wearing a blue dress
  instead of a green one
• Disliked (makruh) not returning the greeting of
  another Muslim
• Prohibited (haram) drinking alcohol, fornication

6
Types of Punishment

• Most issues of Islamic law would never be in
  court! They are personal and optional. The
  rulings exist to provide Muslims with answers to
  any question.
• Hadd Punishments corporal and capital
  punishments for murder, fornication, drunkeness,
  slander, and theft. To be avoided!
• Tazeer Punishments non-severe corporal
  punishments (below 10 lashes), fines etc.
  Subject to discretion.

7
Sources of Authority

• God, His Prophet and the Authority that Muhammad
  bequeathed (depends on how you believe it should
  be inherited) imams or ijma(consensus)
• Tools for Manipulating and Applying Authority
• Analogy includes a fortiori, reductio ad
  absurdam reasoning
• Considering best interests aims of the Shariah

8
How do we apply Quran and Sunna? The First two
Centuries
Interpretation
Companions
Sunna
Principles applied in reasoning
Texts to be followed literally
Quran

• Partisans of Hadith
• Quran
• Reliable Hadith
• Ruling of Companions
• Weak hadith
• analogy

• Partisans of Reason
• Quran
• Reliable hadith
• Rulings of Companions
• Best judgment

9
Al-Shafis Compromise

• Sources of the Law
• Quran
• Hadith sunna as texts to be applied literally
• Ijma consensus
• Analogy applying Quran and hadith to similar
  situations
• ? Rulings based on these can become consensus
  (ijma) ? 100 compelling

10
Sunni Schools of Law

• Hanafi based on Abu Hanifa (d. 767) and his
  followers in Kufa, the official school of the
  Ottoman Empire, widespread in India
• Maliki based on the teachings of Malik b. Anas
  (d. 796) in Medina, the school of North African
  and Andalusia
• Shafii based on the teachings of al-Shafii (d.
  820), found in Egypt, Southeast Asia, Yemen
• Hanbali based on the teachings of Ibn Hanbal (d.
  855), found in great numbers only in Arabia (and
  Syria)

11
Diversity Disagreement

• Law is probabilistic (zanni) due to
• 1. Questions about the reliability of sources
• 2. Tremendous potential for interpretive
  difference
• ? I believe I am right, with the possibility
  that I am wrong I believe that my opponent is
  wrong with the possibility that they are right.
• There always more than one answer! (bother
  between the madhhabs and within one madhhab)

12
Case Study The Hand of a Thief

• Quranic Verse The thief, male or female, cut
  off their hand in retribution for what they have
  done, an exemplary punishment from God, for God
  is mighty and wise (Quran 538).
• Hadith Do not cut off the hand of the thief for
  less than ¼ dinar 25
• Companion Ruling Umar suspended the punishment
  during famine (aims of the Shariah)

13
Case Study The Hand of a Thief two

• Madhhab Difference Hanafis say no amputation for
  the theft of any food or substance that was licit
  to begin with, such as animals or vegetables
• Mitigation some argue that punishment for theft
  cannot be established without two confessions
  its reported that Umar and Abu Darda would
  encourage the accused to deny the charge, then
  handle the problem privately.

14
Applying Islamic Law Law and the State

• Muslim rulers (caliphs or sultans/amirs) do not
  determine Shariah (but they could enact secular
  laws qanun, and they provide law enforcement)
• Shariah was determined by the ulama
• Faqih (a jurist) develops law and legal theory
  (sometimes in an ivory tower)
• Mufti a jurisconsult, asked about rulings by
  people or courts
• Qadi (judge) works for the state applying a
  school of law, rulings enforced by the police

15
Hadith How do we know whats true vs. forged?

1. Demand an isnad
2. Who is in the isnad ?
3. Is there corroboration?

Us
H
G
A
F
Hadith Canon 6 collections of relied-upon
hadiths, the most famous are Sahih al-Bukhari
(d. 870) Sahih Muslim (d. 875)
B
D
C
Prophet Be nice to your mother
16
Does this Method Work?

• Where does the burden of proof lie?
• Muslim hadith critics had different priorities
  than we do they cared about law and doctrine,
  not exegesis and history.
• Maybe the Prophet really prophesized?