Law and Politics under the Abbasids. An Intellectual Portrait of al-Juwayni

321 Pages·2019·2.25 MB·English

by  Sohaira Z. M. Siddiqui

Law and Politics under the Abbasids
An Intellectual Portrait of al-Juwayni
SOHAIRA Z. M. SIDDIQUI
GeorgetownUniversityQatar
Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization
EditorialBoard
ChaseF.Robinson,TheGraduateCenter,TheCityUniversityofNewYork
(generaleditor)
MichaelCook,PrincetonUniversity
MaribelFierro,SpanishNationalResearchCouncil
AlanMikhail,YaleUniversity
DavidO.Morgan,ProfessorEmeritus,UniversityofWisconsin-Madison
IntisarRabb,HarvardUniversity
MuhammadQasimZaman,PrincetonUniversity
Othertitlesintheseriesarelistedatthebackofthebook.
Law and Politics under the Abbasids
Abu Ma’ali al-Juwayni (d. 478/1085) lived in a politically tumultuous
period.TheriseofpowerfuldynasticfamiliesforcedtheAbbasidCaliph
intoapositionoftitularpowerandcreatedinstability.Healsowitnessed
intellectual upheavals living amid great theological and legal diversity.
Collectively,theseexperiencesledhimtoconsiderquestionsofreligious
certaintyandsocialandpoliticalcontinuity.Hequestionedthatifpolit-
ical elites are constantly changing, paralleled with shifting intellectual
allegiances, what ensures the continuity of religion? He concluded that
continuity of society is contingent on knowledge and practice of the
Shari’a. Here, Sohaira Z. M. Siddiqui explores how scholars grappled
withquestionsofhumanreasonandknowledge,andhowtheiranswers
tothesequestionsoftenledthemtochallengedominantideasofwhatthe
Shari’ais.Bydoingthis,shehighlightstheinterconnectionsbetweenal-
Juwayni’sdiscussionsontheology,law,andpoliticsandthesociopoliti-
calintellectuallandscapesthatforgedthem.
SohairaZ.M.SiddiquiisanassistantprofessoratGeorgetownUniver-
sityQatar.Shehaspublishedarticles intheJournalofIslamicStudies,
IslamicLawandSociety,theJournaloftheAmericanOrientalSociety,
and Middle East Law and Governance. She is also the editor of a
forthcoming volume entitled Locating the Shari’a: Legal Fluidity in
Theory,HistoryandPractice.ShehasheldfellowshipsattheUniversity
of Cambridge and Harvard Law School and is a series editor for
SapientiaIslamica.
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DOI:10.1017/9781108654784
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Names:Siddiqui,SohairaZahid,author.
Title:LawandpoliticsundertheAbbasids:anintellectualportraitofal-Juwayni/
SohairaZ.M.Siddiqui.
Description:Cambridge,UnitedKingdom;NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversity
Press,2019.|Series:CambridgestudiesinIslamiccivilization|Includesbibliographical
referencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2018061699|ISBN9781108496780(hardback:alk.paper)
Subjects:LCSH:Imāmal-Ḥaramaynal-Juwaynī,ʻAbdal-MalikibnʻAbdAllāh,
1028-1085.|Islamiclaw–History–To1500.|Islamiclaw–Methodology.|
Muslimscholars–Biography.|Abbasids
Classification:LCCKBP330.I43S552019|DDC340.5/9–dc23
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To
All those who are certain of their doubt,
And doubtful of their certainty.
Contents
Acknowledgments pagexi
Introduction 1
ABrief Glimpse into Nishapur 5
Al-Juwaynī:Between Certainty and Continuity 9
Al-JuwaynīandThemes inIslamic Studies 11
Beyond Themes 24
The Scopeof the Book 26
part i historical background 33
1 Politics, Patronage, and Scholarship in Nishapur 35
Al-Juwaynī’s Time and His Scholarship 36
Nishapur:ACityDivided 39
The Fitna in Nishapur:Who Was to Blame? 48
Conclusion 51
2 Al-Juwaynī:Life ofa Scholar 53
Al-Juwaynī:Early Life andEducation 53
Leaving Nishapurand Life in the Hejaz 57
Al-Juwaynī’s Return to Nishapur 60
Teachingat the Nizāmiyya 65
_
Death 75
Conclusion 76
vii
viii Contents
part ii epistemology 77
3 Intellectual Fissures: The Ashʿarīs and the
Muʿtazila 79
The MuʿtazilīSchoolin Nishapur 80
Muʿtazilī Epistemologyand Its Legal Consequences 84
Ashʿarī Epistemologyand Its Legal Consequences 96
Conclusion 107
4 The Epistemology of al-Juwaynī 109
Al-Juwaynī’s Epistemology inthe Irshād and the
Shāmil 110
Al-Juwaynī’s Epistemology inthe Burhān 118
Implications of al-Juwaynī’sEpistemology for Law 128
Epistemology beyond the Self 130
Conclusion 131
part iii legal theory 133
5 Certainty inLegalSources: Ḥadīth 135
Legal Thought atthe Time of al-Juwaynī 137
Al-Juwaynīand Reports (Akhbār) 145
Responding to His PredecessorsandEstablishing
His Own Criteria 147
The Reception of al-Juwaynī’sArguments on Reports 156
Al-Juwaynīon Unitary Reports (AkhbārĀhād) 159
_
Conclusion 162
6 Certainty inLegalSources: Ijmāʿ 163
The Roots of Ijmāʿ 164
Early Defenses of Ijmāʿ 166
ANote on Custom 170
Al-Juwaynīon Ijmāʿ 171
The Reception of al-Juwaynī’sNotion of Ijmāʿ 179
Two Casesof Custom: Mutawātir Ḥadīthand Ijmāʿ 181
Conclusion 183
7 The Riseof Legal Uncertainty: Qiyās al-Maʿnā 185
Qiyāsand theʿIlla: PreliminaryInvestigations 186
Qiyās: Definition andDefense 188
Types of Qiyāsand ExtractingtheʿIlla and Maʿnā 195
Conclusion 207
Contents ix
8 CopingwithLegalUncertainty:Qiyāsal-Shabah 209
Qiyās al-Shabah: ADebated Source 209
Qiyās al-Shabah Accordingto al-Juwaynī 213
Maslaha in Qiyās 216
_ _
The Hierarchy withinQiyās 223
Regulating Variance: The Roleof the Mujtahid 227
Conclusion 231
part iv political thought 233
9 The Search for Continuity: Al-Juwaynī’s Political
Thought 235
Islamic Political Thought: AnOverview 236
The Necessity of the Imamate: Its Justification and
Purpose 243
The Selection oftheImam 244
The Qualifications of the Imam 247
The Purposeof the Imamate 250
Envisioning theAbsence of the Imam 252
Conclusion 254
10 Continuity, Custom, and Applied Epistemology
inal-Juwaynī’s Political Thought 256
Living without Rulers: The Rise of theʿUlamāʾ 257
The Lossof AllʿUlamāʾ 262
The Continuity of LegalGuidance 264
The Lossof the Sharīʿa 270
The Sharīʿa and Custom as Governance 273
Conclusion 282
Conclusion 284
Expanding Methodological Approacheswithinthe
Academic Study of Islam 286
ConcludingRemarks 288
Bibliography 291
Index 307
Acknowledgments
Therequisitesofknowledge:aquickmind,zeal,poverty,foreignland,a
teacher’sinspiration,andoflifealongspan.
–al-Juwaynī(quotedinGeorgeMakdisi,TheRiseofColleges,1981)
After many iterations of these pages I realized that striving for perfectly
complete acknowledgments is akin to chasing a receding horizon.
A project that has been in gestation for the past ten years is inevitably
inspired, informed, and assisted by more individuals than can be
adequatelyacknowledgedinafewpages.Whatfollowsisamereattempt
at recognizing the confluence of forces, individuals, and prayers that
facilitated the completion ofthisproject.
ImustbeginbythankingGod,whocreatedhumanbeingswithreason.
Curiosity, ingenuity, invention, and knowledge are but outworkings of
thisbasicfacultyofreason. Thoughscholarshavelongdebateditslimits
and form, none has contested its existence.
Thisprojectstartedoffasasimplequestiononhumanreasonandlegal
knowledge that I posed to my PhD supervisor and mentor, Ahmad Atif
Ahmad.Insteadofgivingmeadirectanswer,heaskedmewhetherIhad
read al-Juwaynī’s discussion on the matter. My answer in the negative
brought on his suggestion to do so. Dr. Ahmad’s refusal to provide me
with immediate satisfaction resulted in this project, and his unparalleled
dedicationandmentorshiphasleftanindeliblemarkonthisworkandon
myentireapproachtothedisciplineofIslamiclaw.Hegraciouslysatwith
me for countless hours reading classical treatises in usūl al-fiqh, guiding
_
metowardnuancedargumentsnotimmediatelyintelligibletoanappren-
tice’s eye. His intellectual curiosity, uncanny ability to recall texts with
xi
xii Acknowledgments
great accuracy, and emphasis on the interconnectivity of seemingly dis-
tinct inquiries and disciplines has continued to inspire me. This project
would have been simply impossible without him. I thank him most for
teachingmethevalueofnotgivingsimpleanswerstocomplexquestions.
IwasalsofortunatetohavethedirectacademicguidanceofJuanCampo,
whopushedmetoinvestigatetheimplicationsofal-Juwaynī’sscholarship
bothduringhistimeandbeyondtoours.RachaElOmarialsoservedasan
invaluable advisor and inspiration with her keen insight into the develop-
mentofearlyIslamicthought.Herattentiontodetailencouragedmetotrace
theintellectualdebatesinusūlal-fiqhtotheirearliestarticulations,whichare
_
often found in books of kalām. Going back further, I am indebted to
JonathanBrownandClarkLombardiforintroducingmetotheintellectual
playground of usūl al-fiqh and the implications of classical Islamic legal
_
thoughtinthemodernworld.ThefirstprimarytextIreadinIslamiclegal
theorywaswithJonathan,anditwasal-Juwaynī’sWaraqātfīusūlal-fiqh.
_
Neither he nor I had any premonition at the time that al-Juwaynī would
becomesuchalong-standingintellectualcompanion.
IntheformulationofthisprojectIbenefitedgreatlyfromtheinstitutional
support of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Faculty at Cambridge
University, the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School, the
UniversityofTübingen,and,mostofall,Georgetown UniversityinQatar.
The support I found in Qatar for the past few years has been especially
important. In particular I would like to thank Rory and Michelle Miller,
Mahveen Azam, Mateen Quraishi, Sophie Khan, and Billal Riaz – their
unending words of encouragement, friendship, and ceaselessly open table
spreads saw this project through to its completion. Conversations with
mentors, colleagues, and friends who took the time to engage with this
projecthavealsobeeninvaluable,andforthisIwouldliketothankAsma
Afsaruddin, Asifa Quraishi-Landes, Ovamir Anjum, Anver Emon, Lejla
Demiri,DaleCorrea,SamyAyoub,SohailHanif,HebaSewliman,Rosabel
Martin-Ross,Muntheral-Sabbagh,SamanehOladi,NathanFrench,Ahmet
Temel, Elliott Bazzano, Rico Monge, Martin Becker, and Dusty Hoesly.
Specialgratitude isdueto myclosestconfidantswho,beyondencouraging
myacademicdevelopment,werepillarsofemotionalandspiritualsupport.
They taught me that few things cannot be resolved through long walks,
thoughtful conversation, and true companionship – to Amina Nawaz,
ArsalanGhani,NabilaWinter,andLaylaEl-Wafi,Iamtrulyindebted.
Itisstandardinacademiatorecognizeone’sstudents,astheyareusually
themostconsistentinterlocutorsforone’sideasandwritings.Thoughthis
is certainly the case with my students, their role goes beyond that: they