Reasoning with God

Question 1

Today, the formative debat in Islam is not about the basic theological framework or the most fundamental ritualistic practices of the islamic faith.

What is the debat then about?

Answer 1

the import, impact, and effect of Islamic norms in relation to new historical contexts and emerging conceptions and meanings.

Note: Although God is immutable, at the same time, creation (or nature) selfhood, and epistemology are not set in time and space. Muslims are forced to constantly restate, rearticulate, and rephrase their religious tradition

Question 2

‘Every theology, ideology, or system of thought has its ‘staticists’. Who are meant by this?

Answer 2

those who reject the very idea of change, growth, or reconstruction.

Question 3

The product of staticism is not necessarily stagnation because history is irrepressible and change takes place anyway. So what is the result of staticism then?

Answer 3

Instead of conscientious, principled, socially rationalized, and consensus-based development,staticism will often cause:

reactive defiance, alienation, and uprootedness, all of which result in forces of change that are anarchical and chaotic.

Question 4

The challenge is not for Muslims to return back and reclaim some idealized moment in history, but it is for Muslims to what?

Answer 4

to engage the ethical tradition of their faith, especially the Shari’ah, in a dynamic process or moral progress.

Question 5

Moral progress is untenable unless accomplished in the context if a dynamic interaction with those who are not Muslim. Give three reasons why:

Answer 5

1. Non-Muslims, simply by affirming or supporting particular moral values and not others, engage Muslims in a creative negotiative dynamic that in many indirect and, at times, direct ways helps shape the moral values of humanity, including those of Muslims.
2. In this era it is impossible not to interact with the ‘Other’
3. The moral objective of godliness, as opposed to godlessness, is impossible to achieve on this earth without a partnership of equals working toward a collective enterprise of goodness among all communities of faith - Muslim and non-Muslim

Question 6

Why should one hold out hope for humanity to overcome the ugliness?

Answer 6

If nothing else, because of the sacrifices made by so many heroes, we owe them the promise of hope (i.e. possibilities of what could be).

Question 7

The broad meaning of Shari’ah is:

Answer 7

the way or path to well-being or goodness, and the natural and innate ways and order created by God.

Question 8

In the legal context, Shari’ah is:

Answer 8

God’s eternal and immutable law

Question 9

What is the difference between Shari’ah and Islamic law, or what is called al-ahkam al-Shar’iyya?

Answer 9

Shari’ah is in essence the ideal law in an objective and non-contingent sense,

while islamic law refers to

the cumulative body of legal determinations and system of jurisprudential thought of numerous interpretive communities and schools of thought, all of which search the divine will and its relation to the public good.

Question 10

The difference between Islamic law and Muslim law:

Answer 10

Not all legal systems or rules followed by Muslims are part of the Islamic legal tradition.

The processes of inclusion and exclusion in Islamic legal practice and history could endow a certain rule or system with Islamic legitimacy and integrate it normatively into the Islamic legal tradition.

Question 11

Distinguish between the formal sources of law in the islamic legal tradition and the practical sources of law:

Answer 11

• Formal sources of law are an ideological construct- they are the ultimate foundations invoked by jurists and judges as the basis of legal legitimacy and authority.
• The practical sources, however, are the actual premises and processes utilized in legal practice in the process of producing positive rules and commandments.

Question 12

In contrast to manstream Sunni Islam, shi’i jurisprudence as well as a minority of Sunni jurists in the particular classical orientations recognize _ (instead of qiyas) as a foundational source of law.

Answer 12

reason

Question 13

These four (Qur’an, Sunna, Qiyas, Ijma) are legitimating sources, but the practical sources of law include an array of conceptual tools such as (7)

Answer 13

1. istishab
2. taqlid
3. ijtihad
4. ‘urf and ‘ada
5. istislah
6. haja, darura
7. masalih mursala

Question 14

Practical sources of law: What does istishab stand for?

Answer 14

presumptions of continuity (istishab)

Question 15

Practical sources of law: What does taqlid stand for?

Answer 15

imperative of following precedents (taqlid)

Question 16

Practical sources of law: What does ijtihad stand for?

Answer 16

legal rationalizations for breaking with precedent and de novo determinations (ijtihad)

Question 17

Practical sources of law: What does ‘urf and ‘ada stand for?

Answer 17

application of customary practices (‘urf and ‘ada)

Question 18

Practical sources of law: What does istislah stand for?

Answer 18

public interest

Question 19

Practical sources of law: What does haja, darura stand for?

Answer 19

necessity (haja, darura)

Question 20

Practical sources of law: What does masalih mursala stand for?

Answer 20

persuit or protection of public interests (masalih mursala)

Question 21

Muslim jurists distinguished between the _ and _ of traditions (ahadith).

Answer 21

• reliability
• normativity

Question 22

Why were instrumentalities of jurisprudence such as analogy or reason and consensus typically listed among the four formal sources of law?

Answer 22

Because the utilization of ‘qiyas (or ‘Aql) and ijma, not just as instrumentalities of law but as legitimating and foundational origins of law, was a necessary legal fiction.

Question 23

the utilization of ‘qiyas (or ‘Aql) and ijma, not just as instrumentalities of law but as legitimating and foundational origins of law, was a necessary legal fiction. Why?

Answer 23

To steer a middle course between infettered and unrestrained borrowing of local customary laws and practices into Islamic law and, on the other extreme, the tendency toward literalism and overreliance on textualism as the basis of legitimacy in the process of legal development.

Question 24

the sunni concept of qiyas and Shi’i aql utilize deductive reasoning to extend a ruling to a new case. Confronted by a novel case, often for which there is no law on point, the jurist would …

Answer 24

extend the ruling in a previous case (asl) to the new case (far’), but only if both cases shared the same operative cause (‘illa).

Question 25

Rather than struggle with the larger abstract conceptual questions, the shari’ah-fiqh balance was negotiated through …

Answer 25

the microdynamics of legal practice

Question 26

The masters of fiqh understood that they were not making binding law but issuing what?

Answer 26

opinions of persuasive authority.

Question 27

The distinction between fiqh and positive law was akin to the distinction between what?

Answer 27

Fatwa and hukm

Question 28

A hukm is a

Answer 28

binding and eforcable legal determination

Question 29

a fatwa is a

Answer 29

(a responsa:) a legal opinion on a particular dispute

Question 30

in early islam jurists recognized that indicators of God’s will were found in God’s physical and metaphysical creation. Among the sites of their manifestation that are not textual were mentioned: (3)

Answer 30

(1) reason and rationality (‘aql and ra’y)
(2) intuitions (fitra)
(3) human custom and practice (‘urf and ‘ada).

Question 31

especially with the increasing consolidation of the legal system after the tenth century, both Sunni and Shi’i jurists argued that most indicators of God’s way are divided into (2):

Answer 31

rational proofs (dalil ‘aqli) and textual proofs (dalil nassi).

Question 32

As to rational proofs, jurisprudential theory further differentiated between these two kinds of reason:

Answer 32

pure reason and practical or applied reason

Question 33

give examples of foundational legal principles and legal presumptions that are derived from pure reason

Answer 33

the presumption of permissibility (al-bara’a al-asliyya) and the presumption of continuity (istishab al-hal).

Question 34

give examples of interpretive tools that are derived from practical reason:

Answer 34

qiyas, istihsan, and hermeneutic categories are all instances of practical reason.

Question 35

how are the diversity and complexity of the divine indicatirs considered in islamic jurisprudence?

Answer 35

the fact that the indicators are not typically precise, deterministic, or unidimensional make them part of the functionality and suitability of islamic law for all times and places.

Question 36

according to Juwayni, early jurists never claimed certainty in legal matters, what was the most a mujtahid claimed?

Answer 36

a preponderance of belief (ghalabat al-zann) and the balancing of the evidence.

Question 37

muslim jurists developed a rigorous field of analytical jurisprudence known as tarjih, which dealt with:

Answer 37

the methodological principles according to which jurists would investigate, assign relative weight, and balance conflicting evidence in order to reach a preponderance of belief about potentially correct determinations.