Authority, continuity, and change in Islamic law by Hallaq, Wael B., 1955- instant download

Authority, continuity, and change in Islamic law by Hallaq, Wael B., 1955- instant download

xiv, 269 pages ; 24 cm, Publisher Description (unedited publisher data) Wael B. Hallaq is regarded as one of the leading scholars in the field of Islamic law. In a path breaking new book, the author shows how authority guaranteed both continuity and change in Islamic law. While the role of the law schools in augmenting these processes was of the essence, the author demonstrates that it was the construction of the absolutist authority of the school founder, an image which he suggests was actually developed later in history, that maintained the foundations of school methodology and hermeneutics. The defence of that methodology gave rise to an infinite variety of individual legal opinions, ultimately accommodating changes in the law. Thus the author concludes that the mechanisms of change were embedded in the very structure of Islamic law, despite its essentially conservative nature. This book will be welcomed by specialists and scholars in Islamic law for its rigor and innovation. Library of Congress subject headings for this publication: Islamic law, Authority Religious aspects Islam, Includes bibliographical references (pages 242-260) and index, Juristic typologies: a framework for enquiry -- Early ijtihād and the later construction of authority -- The rise and augmentation of school authority -- Taqlīd: authority, hermeneutics, and function -- Operative terminology and the dynamics of legal doctrine -- The jurisconsult, the author-jurist, and legal change -- Summary and conclusions