“Classical” Islamic Legal Theory as Ideology Nasr Abu Zayd’s Study of al-Shafiʿi’s al-Risala

• Published in: Islamic Studies in the Twenty-First Century pp. 183 - 204
• Main Author: Masud, Muhammad Khalid
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Amsterdam University Press 15.01.2017
• Subjects: Abbasid Caliphate; Anthropology; Applied sociology; Arts; Asian history; Asian studies; Behavioral sciences; Communications; Communities; Discourse analysis; Ethnic groups; Ethnography; Ethnology; Ethnoreligious groups; Human societies; Islam; Islamic law; Jurisprudence; Law; Literary criticism; Literary studies; Literature; Muslims; Political communication; Political discourse; Political science; Political sociology; Practical theology; Religion; Religious laws; Sacred texts; Semiotics; Social groups; Social sciences; Sociology; Sociology of religion; Spiritual belief systems; Theology; Western Asian history
• ISBN: 9789089649263; 9089649263
• DOI: 10.1515/9789048528189-010

Joseph Schacht opened his classical work on Islamic law in 1950 with the following statement: The classical theory of Muhammadan law, as developed by the Muhammadan jurisprudents, traces the whole of the legal system to four principles or sources: the Koran, thesunnaof the Prophet, that is, his model behaviour, the consensus of the orthodox community, and the method of analogy. The essentials of this theory were created by Shāfi‘ī … [H]e carried it to a degree of competence and mastery which had not been achieved before and was hardly equalled and never surpassed after him. (Schacht 1959, 1)