Tesi sul tema "Classical Islam"

The purpose of this thesis is to examine a major segment of Islamic international relations theory as expounded by Sunni jurists of the classical period of the Islamic Fiqh (661-1258 AD). It consists of that portion which is concerned with peaceful relations as distinct from that other major segment which is about Jihad or Islamic warfare. The thought of Muslim scholars on this topic provides a major part of an ideal model for political life under Islam, and its appeal has continued to exert a strong influence on the lives and thoughts of all Muslims throughout the centuries. Within this segment of Islamic international relations theory attention is focused on the key concepts of treaties, including alliance, and neutral status. One part of this is, however, omitted. It is what in Western political philosophy would be called private (not public) relations, and which in an Islamic classical Fiqh context - where the private/public distinction, it will be argued, is absent - can be termed social relations. The argument put forward will be that Islamic international relations are the totality of relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, and never relations between Muslims. Islamic law, it will be argued, governs this relationship, ensuring Islamic international relations theory is essentially normative. The thesis will further suggest that Muslim relations with non-Muslims are fundamentally pacific, not hostile, if the legitimate purposes of Jihad are properly assessed. The thesis will also be concerned to assess the extent to which peaceable Muslim relations with non-Muslims can be organised through the different forms of treaty which are recognised in classical Sunni Fiqh. It will be argued that the anti-Iraq coalition alliance of 1990-91 fulfilled the conditions of a genuine Islamic alliance treaty, contrary to the view of numerous contemporary Muslim scholars and publicists. Finally, it will be argued that neutrality, as well as neutralisation, were possible during the period of classical Sunni Fiqh.

This thesis is motivated by the shortage of research on the historical phenomenon ofḥadīth dictation sessions (al-amālī). It is the first to investigate the subject of ḥadīth dictation sessions, anextraordinary and highly-valued intellectual phenomenon in Islamic cultural history. It focusses on the writings ofal-Khaṭīb and al-Samcānī and compares them to other manuscripts on amālīheld in libraries in various parts of the Muslim world. The study has tried to bring together a large number of manuscripts to explore aspects of this area, imlā’ al-ḥadīth. The main objective of this research is to shed light on this important genre and to uncover itsmajor characteristics, structures and value, and ultimately to address the relative neglect this area of research has suffered. The major finding of this study is that amālī was the most highly-regarded and most trusted method in transmitting, preserving and analysing ḥadīthwithin scholarly cirlces. Alsothe study has demonstrated that al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī and al- Samcānī’s approachesare descriptive and lack the precision in regards to the main principles of imlā’, a method that was a particularlyrobustway of documenting only valid ḥadīth. The study also revealthat the claimsof several scholars to reviving this method are not accurate. Particularly, the study showsthat al-Suyūṭī did not lead a movement to revive the ḥadīth dictation sessions after Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ. This is the first dedicated study on imlā’ in either English or Arabic and should be of paticular interest to students of ḥadīth and scholars interested in pedagogical methods in the Medieval East and West.

The central and pivotal doctrine of the Imamate in the Twelver Shii creed maintains that the Imams are endowed with the exclusive prerogative to assume the authority and functions of the Prophet in both the temporal and religious domains. This is so by virtue of explicit designation (nass) received by each Imam from his predecessor to act as custodian, protector and expositor of divine teachings. Unfavourable political circumstances during the 'Umayyad and 'Abbasid dynasties forced the Imams to adopt a quietist attitude and to opt for accommodation with the illegitimate authorites. The inaccessibility of the Imams and their inability to guide their followers in distant places resulted in delegation of certain functions of the the Imams to the 'ulama' to guide the community. The prolonged occultation of the twelfth Shii Imam led the jurists to arrogate to themselves the right to act as his indirect deputies (na'ib al-Imam). Establishment of Imami Shiism as the state religion by the Safavids in the early sixteenth century, the victory of the Usuli school over the Akhbaris and the formulation of the institutions of marja'iya and a'lamiya paved the way for Ayatullah Khumayni to lay the grounds for the jurist's assumption of all-comprehensive authority (al-wilaya al-mutlaqa) by extrapolating arguments from tradition reports. The combination of the marja'iya and leadership (rahbar) of the Islamic State in the person of Ayatullah Khumayni had the potential of marshalling the Shii 'ulama' and masses to support for a political cause. However, bifurcation of these two roles in the 1989 revised Constitution of Iran forebodes the separation of the secular and the religious spheres.

Science and Islam. Interest in this subject by mainly Muslim contemporary writers, is evident from the amount of literature seeking to link scientific phenomena to Islam. While the trend to relate scientific facts to Quran, Hadith and related Islamic texts is confirmed by the amount of literature cited, whether or not there has been such an approach by scientists in the history of Muslim civilisation is the question this thesis seeks to answer. Historical contribution to science by scientists within the domain of Muslim civilisation is well recognised. Although the vital role played by Muslim civilisation in the transmission of ancient science, especially that of the Greek, to mediaeval Europe is generally acknowledged, the exact role of Islam as a religion in this scientific development is not clear. This thesis explores an aspect of the history of Muslim civilisation which may contribute to elucidate the role of Islam in Muslim science.

This thesis is an attempt to study terrorism from a Qur’anic perspective with special reference to selected classical and modern exegeses and how they are understood by modern scholars. The study is divided into an introduction, five main chapters and a conclusion. In the introduction, a brief background about the tafsar (exegesis) genres is provided with special focus on thematic exegesis as a type of exegesis that makes a central contribution to this study. The introduction also includes brief biographical sketches of the selected exegetes, an outline of the thesis methodology, a literature review, and a note on the research questions and the objectives of the thesis. Chapter One is devoted to presenting and evaluating various organizational definitions of terrorism from both Islamic and Western perspectives. Chapter Two discusses the difference between terrorism and arming for deterrence in the light of Qur’an 8: 60. Chapter Three investigates whether or not there is a relationship between jihad and terrorism. It focuses, by way of a case study, on how the actions of the perpetrators of the September 11th 2001 attacks should be judged according to the Qur’an. Chapter Four looks at how terrorist suicide attacks are different from martyrdom. It features another case study, on "martyrdom" or "suicide" operations in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Chapter Five attempts to identify a punishment for terrorism on the basis of the Qur’anic text. This study finds that terrorism is totally different from jih«d and martyrdom as they are treated in the Qur‘ān. It also finds that there is a huge difference between the peaceful, tolerant and inclusive teachings of the Qur’an and the violent, intolerant and exclusive practices of those Muslims whose approach to the Qur’an and its exegesis is marked by selectivity and lacks the essential tools of Islamic scholarship. These and other findings are highlighted in the thesis conclusion, along with other suggestions for future research in the field.

This thesis sets out to research the concept and institution of punishment in three cultures and systems of classical Athens, Islam and International Criminal Justice. The second overall objective of this thesis is to establish how the insights from these three traditions can enrich our understanding of the concept of punishment and also designing humane, just and effective methods of punishment. I will argue that our response to wrongdoing can be divided into three distinct categories: punitive measures, impunity, and forgiveness. This thesis will contend that western-oriented concept and methods of punishment have paid inadequate attention to the third category, forgiveness. This imbalance between the three categories of responses to wrongdoing has led to the crises of self-definition and effectiveness of the leading theories and methods of punishment. I propose that in order to address some of the conceptual and institutional deficiencies of modern institutions of punishment, we must contemplate communitarian, restorative and cross-cultural approaches, in particular in the context of post-conflict justice and international criminal justice. I identify the Islamic concept and institution of punishment as a suitable model that can make valuable contributions to such an endeavour. In examining the concept and institution of punishment, I will also argue that the institution of punishment of a given society/tradition is a gateway that sheds light on other aspects and institutions of the society. As such a closer examination of the institution of punishment in the cultures under investigation would question the popular views and prejudices about democratic Athens, Islamic world, and liberal democracy.

Magister Artium - MA
Imāmah, (imamate) literary means leading, and khilāfah (succession) means representative. but, in the terms of "Islamic concept", the medieval theologian and jurists has termed it «Religious–Political leadership».1 the major dispute concerning the imamate surrounding the question of investiture to exercise the prophet’s comprehensive authority (Wilāyah‘āmah), as the temporal and spiritual leader of the ummah (community). From demising of the prophet, the matter of imamate, between Ash‛arī and Shī‘ah (twelve) there are two main opinions. Ash‛arī’s views are prevalent among the early Muslims headed by Abûbakar and his associates regarded the imamate to be right of the ummah (nation), and they chose Abûbakar. The Shī‘ah implicitly rejected the previous opinion, and maintained that the leadership was passed on through a special designation. This regarded the imamate divinely invested in ‘Ali ibn Abī Ţālib, the prophet cousin and son-in-law. Therefore, controversy between Ash‛arī and Shī‘ah on the question of leadership arise after the prophet returns and coherences to the two fundamentals central points: First: The nature of the relationship of the prophethood to the political leadership. The Shī‘ah regarded political leadership as an extension of the prophetic mission after the demise of the prophet: «Meaning that political leadership is not simply political rule but it is the corollary of the interpretation of religion, and takes imamate in depth interpretation»2. Other hands, Ash‛arī consider and include it in the matter of masāliħ Al ‛āmah (public interest). The Islamic jurists definite the masāliħ al ‛āmah (public interest), any issue whether it is religion or matter of world that could not fixed with fact proof from holy Qur'ān and prophet’s tradition. Therefore, the matter of caliphate emerges it in the masāliħ al-‛āmah (public interest) which, relies on human agency. Second: The contract of political leadership and authority between the problematic of mutual consultation and divine appointment. This point focus on ‘aqd (contract) of khilāfah (repress- entative of God) between leader and ummah (nation) and evolves around the problem of consultation, mainly in the Ash‛arī’s view, which is based on "selection system". So, in the historical experience, it can be noted that the consultation as mechanism in the choosing the ruler was not achieved as an "organized system" neither in the period of the rightly guided caliphs, nor in the periods of dynastic rulers. The imamate as a «supreme leadership» had a major problem issue in the contemporary scholars, both the Islamic and secular, since it was announced in the modern context Dawlah (government), which based on nationality and separated from religious hegemony. Its dialectic, in the present article, is to deal with theological and judicial theory. Therefore, in 1979, the Islamic council of Europe published a «concept of Islamic state». Most of the figures shaded are based on the Khomeini's thought (the founder of Islamic republic revolution of Iran), and Karāchī’s Muslim council scholar (they constituted Ash‛arī view). In the Islamic state, the Khomeini thought based on «the Islamic state is constitutional; Government is based on law and the Paramount legislative authority resides on God himself». On the other hand,«the Islamic state» shaped as «the principals of an Islamic state which centers on the supremacy of God, citizens rights and proper government» 3 Therefore, caliphate it is difficult to separate or detach from prophethood in the perspective of the commentary and interpretation of equally the Qur'anic and Sunna texts. So, difference between Ash‛arī and Shī‘ah around immāmah (leadership in Islam) are based on the theological principles which rise from the problem of cosmology, divine justice and human destiny. Therefore, the difference can be based on the idea (thought) about these theological principles.

Cette thèse étudie la querelle qui opposa deux factions théologico-politiques musulmanes,à savoir la Murǧiʾa et la Qadariyya, sur les questions du libre-arbitre et de la prédestination divine. Les qadarites soutenaient que l’homme est le seul responsable de ses actes ; pour eux,quiconque, y compris le calife, commet un péché capital perd automatiquement sa foi. Par conséquent, il doit soit repentir soit être exécuté. Les murǧi’ites, quant à eux, défendaient l’idéeque les actions des individus devaient être renvoyées au jugement de Dieu, seul capable de juger les secrets des hommes. Pour ce courant, la foi n’est aucunement liée au comportement, étant donné que les actes de l’homme sont dictés par Dieu de toute éternité, selon la thèse de la prédestination divine. Cette position a poussé certains savants de l’époque médiévale ainsi que certains chercheurs modernes à affirmer que les murǧiʾites soutenaient les califes umayyades. Selon ces chercheurs, l’argument des murǧiʾites était que la légitimité des califes umayyades, dont le pouvoir relevait du décret divin, ne devait pas être mise en doute et donc que l’obéissance absolue leur était due, sous peine pour les contestataires, d’aller à l’encontre de la prédestination divine.Ce travail tente de comprendre si les théologiens se sont mêlés de politique au nom d’un rapport intrinsèque avec le théologique, ou si les politiques ont eu recours au religieux pour légitimer leur pouvoir. Pour ce faire, nous avons réévalué les principes de la doctrine murǧiʾite enétudiant ses différentes branches, afin de déterminer le type de rapport que chacune d’ellesentretenait avec les califes Umayyades. En effet, les différentes révoltes menées par lesmurğiʾites contre la dynastie contredisent l’idée d’une alliance entre les deux parties. En outrel’implication dans cette querelle théologique des musulmans non-arabes, appelés mawālī, et soutenus par les murğiʾites, pour réclamer l’égalité politique et sociale mérite d’être analysée.C’est pour cette raison que nous tentons de comprendre pourquoi et comment les revendications sociales et politiques des mawālī se sont finement entremêlées aux débats et aux questions théologiques de l’époque. L’analyse du statut et de la notion de Ḫalīfat Allāh (calife de Dieu) est primordiale, carelle permet de comprendre si les Umayyades se référaient au terme Ḫalīfa mentionné dans le Coran parce qu’ils considéraient leur pouvoir comme sacré ou pas. Les Umayyades ont-ilsexploité des questions théologiques à des fins politiques pour légitimer leur pouvoir ? Commentla dimension religieuse a-t-elle justifié leurs actions politiques, et inversement comment leurs choix politiques ont-ils dicté leurs options religieuses ? En fin, le recours des souverains umayyades au religieux a-t-il entravé le développement d’une réflexion politique rationnelle ?Pour répondre à ces questions, nous avons utilisé des sources très peu utilisées jusqu’àprésent par les chercheurs travaillant sur cette époque ancienne, à savoir la poésie arabe et les correspondances épistolaires entre les savants et les califes umayyades. Le recours à la poésie et à la prose arabe est nécessaire, car il permet de confirmer ou d’infirmer les informations données par les historiographes musulmans dont les ouvrages sont postérieurs à l’époque considérée
This PhD dissertation studies the quarrel between two Muslim theological-politicalfactions, namely the Murǧiʾa and the Qadariyya, over the issues of free will and divinepredestination. The Qadarites held that man is solely responsible for his actions; for them,anyone, including the caliph, who committed a cardinal sin automatically was loosing his faith.Consequently, he must either repent or be executed. The murǧiʾites, for their part, defended theidea that the actions of individuals should be referred to the judgment of God, who, the only Onecapable of judging the secrets of men. For this school of thought, faith is in no way linked tobehaviour, given that man's actions are dictated by God from all eternity, according to the thesisof divine predestination. This position prompted some medieval scholars, as well as somemodern researchers, to assert that the murǧiʾites supported the Ummayyad caliphs. According tothese scholars, the murǧiʾites' argument was that the legitimacy of the Umayyad caliphs, whosepower came under divine decree, should not be questioned and therefore absolute obedience wasdue to them, by going against divine predestination.This work attempts to understand whether theologians got involved in politics in the nameof an intrinsic relationship with the theological, or whether politicians have resorted to thereligious to legitimize their power. To do this, we have re-evaluated the principles of murǧiʾitedoctrine by studying its various branches, in order to determine the type of relationship each ofthem maintained with the Umayyad caliphs. In facts, the various revolts led by the murğiʾitesagainst the ruling dynasty contradict the idea of an alliance between the two parties. Furthermore,the involvement of non-Arab Muslims, known as mawālī, in this theological quarrel, with thesupported of the murğiʾites, requesting political and social equality deserves to be analyzed. Forthis reason, we attempt to understand why and how the social and political demands of themawālī were finely intertwined with the theological debates and issues of that time.Analysis of the status and notion of Ḫalīfat Allāh (caliph of God) is essential, as it helpsus understand whether the Umayyads referred to the term Ḫalīfa mentioned in the Qur'an becausethey considered their power sacred or not. Did the Umayyads exploit theological issues forpolitical ends to legitimize their power? How did the religious dimension justify political actions,6and how the political decisions oriented the religious dogma? Did the Umayyads’ recourse toreligion hinder the development of rational political thought?To answer these questions, we have used sources rarely used until now by researchersworking on this ancient period, namely Arabic poetry and epistolary correspondence betweenscholars and the Umayyad caliphs. The use of Arabic poetry and prose is necessary, as it enablesus to confirm or refute the information given by Muslim historiographers whose works post-datethe period under consideration

Ce travail se propose d’apporter une contribution à la reconstruction et à l’étude de la pensée arabe classiques développée dans le champ de l’adab. Remarquons que nous disons bien la pensée arabe classique développée dans le champ de l’adab, car nous pensons que si nous voulons connaître la manière dont la pensée arabe classique avait tenté de construire une vision éthique et esthétique, c’est dans l’espace de questionnement propre à l’adab qu’il faut la chercher. C’est dire que ce n’est ni dans la philosophie dite islamique, ni dans le système moral mis en place par l’Islam qu’il serait possible de trouver la vision éthique arabe ancienne telle qu’elle avait tenté de s’élaborer et de s’exprimer. En effet, si la pensée arabe classique avait et a encore quelque chose d’original à apporter à la pensée et à la culture universelles, ce ne serait ni à travers le système moral élaboré par la religion islamique, ni au moyen des réflexions menées par les philosophes, mais grâce aux idées développées dans le champ de l’adab. C’est en effet dans et à travers la pensée de l’adab que la culture arabe classique se présente comme étant véritablement elle-même, c’est-à-dire telle qu’elle nous parle à travers les éléments qui lui appartiennent proprement et intrinsèquement. Car si, comme il est souvent dit, la poésie constitue le Diwān des Arabes, c’est-à-dire l’archive de leurs traditions et de leurs sentiments, l’adab, lui, constitue à la fois leur sagesse, leur éthique et leur esthétique
This work aims to contribute to the reconstruction and the study of classical Arab thought developed in the field of adab. Note that we say good classical Arabic thought developed in the field of adab, because we believe that if we want to know how the classical Arabic thought had tried to build an ethical and aesthetic vision is in space specific to the adab questions must be sought. This means that it is not in the so-called Islamic philosophy, or in the set up by Islamic moral system it would be possible to find old Arabic ethical vision as had tried to develop and express themselves. Indeed, While classical Arabic thought had and still has something original to bring to the mind and universal cultural thing would not be developed through the Islamic religion moral system, or through discussions by philosophers, but thanks to the ideas developed in the field of adab. Indeed, it is in and through the thought of the classical Arabic adab culture as truly present itself, that is to say, as it speaks to us through the elements that belong to it properly and intrinsically. For if, as is often said, poetry is the Diwān of the Arabs, that is to say, the archive of their traditions and their feelings, adab, he is both their wisdom, ethics and aesthetics

Notre recherche interroge la genèse du récit dans la littérature arabe de deux points de vue : le rôle joué par la littérature religieuse dans cette genèse et le développement progressif de la culture de l’écrit durant les deux premiers siècles de l’Islam. Au contraire des thèses qui considèrent le récit comme un genre étranger à la littérature arabe classique, notre corpus, construit sur des textes narratifs bien connus des islamologues mais souvent négligés par les chercheurs littéraires, nous a conduit à affirmer qu’une narrativité arabe naquit dans une tradition orale archaïque et que les textes à caractère religieux des premiers siècles de l’Islam constituent un maillon essentiel dans la formation de la tradition narrative arabe.L’analyse est fondé sur l'étude comparative de deux versions d’un même récit religieux, l’une tirée du Coran(Mūsā avec le Serviteur de Dieu, XVIII : 60-82), datant du premier quart du VIIe siècle, l’autre du commentaire de Muqātil b. Sulaymān, au milieu VIIIe siècle. Il est en effet possible de définir une narrativité archaïque arabe ancrée dans l’oralité telle qu'illustrée dans la première version du récit, alors que la seconde version, de par son appartenance à un genre écrit, le commentaire, met en évidence un certain détachement par rapport aux structures de la communication orale. Dès lors, la période séparant ces deux repères chronologiques peut être envisagée comme une phase de mutation, culturelle et esthétique, laquelle ouvre à une étude du développement de l’usage de l’écriture dans un contexte oral ainsi que de l’impact de cette évolution culturelle sur la manière de concevoir le récit
Our research examines story’s genesis in the Arabic literature from two points of view: the role played by religious literature in this genesis and the progressive development of the written culture during the first two centuries of Islam. Unlike thesis which consider narrative as an extraneous genre to Arabic literature, our corpus, based on narrative texts well known by Islamic studies yet often neglected by literature’s researchers, led us to affirm that an Arabic narrativity was born in an archaic oral tradition and that earliest centuries’ texts with religious character represent an essential link in the configuration of the Arabic narrative tradition.The analysis is founded on a comparative study of two versions of the same religious text, one from The Qur’an (Mūsā and the Servant of God, XVIII : 60-82), dating back to the first quarter of the 7th century, and the other from the commentary of Muqātil b. Sulaymān in the middle of the 8th century. It is indeed possible to define an Arabic archaic narrativity rooted in the orality that we can in the first version of the story. Meanwhile the second version, giving the fact that it belongs to a written genre, the commentary, highlights a certain detachment from the oral communication’s structures. Therefore, the period between these two chronological references could be seen as a shifting stage, both cultural and aesthetic. This shifting stage opens the way for a study concerning the development of the writing’s practice in an oral context and as well the impact of this cultural evolution on the conception of story

Magister Artium - MA
This research investigates, within the framework of classical Sunni Islamic scholarship,what we might expect an Islamic opinion about evolution to be,bringing together an accurate and detailed understanding of evolutionary biology as the field stands today with a systematic consideration of the traditional Islamic sciences.The scope of the study encompasses the scholarly traditions recognized, at least by their respective adherents, to be part of Muslim orthodoxy – referred to in Islamic discourse as Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah or more colloquially as “Sunni”. It covers the works of the scholars of the Ashʿarī, Māturīdī, and Salafī theological schools as well as the sources which they all draw upon – the Qur’ān, the Sunnah, and the opinions of the Salaf.The reason for this choice is that these traditions represent for most Muslims the “mainstream” of Islamic thinking, and therefore have a greater relevance for determining what a general Islamic perspective on evolution could be.The study first identifies and defines the methodological approaches of classical Sunni scholarship that have relevance to the question of an Islamic position on biological evolution. It also identifies and defines the issues within the field of Evolutionary Biology that need to be brought under scrutiny. The methods of classical Islamic Theology are then applied to the claims of Evolutionary Biology, drawing on traditional Islamic sources. The result of the study is an extrapolation of what an orthodox Islamic position towards biological evolution could be. Is Islam neutral towards the idea of biological evolution? Does it support it or categorically reject it? Can it accept certain aspects of Evolutionary Biology while rejecting others?Finally, the extrapolated “classical” Islamic position on evolution is compared with the writings of some contemporary Muslim scholars whose views run contrary to that extrapolation. Possible reasons for the discrepancy are explored.Such an interdisciplinary work should provide a valuable frame of reference for a more accurate analysis of the creation-evolution debate unfolding in the Muslim world today.

The dissertation firstly looks at how the Arabic essay and short story developed in Egypt since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Then a discussion follows on the life and contribution of the Egyptian author, Mustafā Lutfī al-Manfalūtī, as representative of this literary evolution. The general influences on Egyptian literature are discussed, and the general development of Arabic prose from 1850 onwards is then detailed, including the efforts to save Arabic literature from stagnation and degeneration. Following this, the focus is on the origins of the essay and short story. This leads to dealing with the growth and advancement of the essay and short story, together with the revival of the Arabic heritage and how the Arabic novel came into being. Then Mustafā Lutfī al-Manfalūtīs biography, environmental circumstances and personalities that influenced his writings are focused on. Afterwards, the core discussion is Al-Manfalūtīs seven literary works, and his ideas and opinions as reflected in his writings. In conclusion, the relevance of his writings and an appraisal of his literary contributions are detailed.
Religious Studies & Arabic
M.A. (Arabic)