FROM TEXT TO LAW: ISLAMIC LEGAL THEORY AND THE PRACTICAL HERMENEUTICS OF ABU JAFAR AHMAD AL-TAHAWI (D. 321/933)

318 Pages·2016·1.97 MB·English

by  Carolyn Anne Brunelle

University of Pennsylvania
ScholarlyCommons
Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations
1-1-2016
From Text to Law: Islamic Legal Theory and the
ʿ ḥ
Practical Hermeneutics of Abū Ja far A mad Al-
Ṭ ḥ
a āwī (d. 321/933)
Carolyn Anne Brunelle
University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at:http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations
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Recommended Citation
Brunelle, Carolyn Anne, "From Text to Law: Islamic Legal Theory and the Practical Hermeneutics of Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad Al-Ṭaḥāwī (d.
321/933)" (2016).Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1626.
http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1626
This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons.http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1626
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From Text to Law: Islamic Legal Theory and the Practical Hermeneutics of
ʿ ḥ Ṭ ḥ
Abū Ja far A mad Al- a āwī (d. 321/933)
Abstract
Scholars of Islamic law point to the absence of any extant work of legal theory between the Risāla of al-Shāfiʿī
and the Fuṣūl of al-Jaṣṣāṣ as a major barrier to reconstructing the history of Islamic legal thought. However,
careful analysis of three major works of the Ḥanafī jurist al-Ṭaḥāwī, Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, Sharḥ maʿānī al-āthār
and Sharḥ mushkil al-āthār, reveals the existence of myriad brief passages elaborating questions of legal theory
scattered throughout their many volumes. This study reconstructs the legal thought of al-Ṭaḥāwī as a window
onto legal theory in the late 3rd/9th and early 4th/10th centuries, a crucial period of transformation between
late formative and post-formative Islamic law. It argues that al-Ṭaḥāwī’s works are not direct precursors to the
genre of uṣūl al-fiqh, but instead represent a different, previously unrecognized, type of intellectual and
literary activity. This activity, here termed practical hermeneutics, is concerned with demonstrating in detail
how individually coherent rules of law may be derived from the often messy texts of revelation. The integrated
reading of al-Ṭaḥāwī’s entire hermeneutical corpus uncovers several areas in which his legal thought departs
quite notably from that of other jurists, suggesting that al-Ṭaḥāwī was neither as dependent on al-Shāfiʿī nor
as closely related to mature uṣūl al-fiqh as has been suggested in previous studies. Most crucially, al-Ṭaḥāwī’s
works unsettle accepted accounts of Islamic legal theory which assign varying levels of authority to a series of
clearly distinguished legal sources—Qurʾān, Sunna, consensus, etc. This study demonstrates that, in contrast
to both al-Shāfiʿī and later uṣūlīs, al-Ṭaḥāwī’s legal thought blurs boundaries between these categories and
instead rests upon an underlying binary concept of legal authority which draws a crucial distinction between
knowledge that might permissibly be reached by inference, and knowledge that can only have come from
revelation. The authority that al-Ṭaḥāwī grants any given source is therefore not a function of its formal
characteristics, but rather the result of his own judgment about content and origins.
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate Group
Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations
First Advisor
Joseph E. Lowry
Keywords
Companions, Hermeneutics, Islamic law, Legal theory, Tahawi, Usul al-fiqh
This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons:http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1626
Subject Categories
Islamic Studies | Islamic World and Near East History | Law
This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons:http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1626
FROM TEXT TO LAW: ISLAMIC LEGAL THEORY AND THE PRACTICAL
HERMENEUTICS OF ABŪ JAʿFAR AḤMAD AL-ṬAḤĀWĪ (D. 321/933)
Carolyn Anne Brunelle

A DISSERTATION
in
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania
in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
2016

Supervisor of Dissertation
________________________________________
Joseph E. Lowry, Associate Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

Graduate Group Chairperson
________________________________________
Grant Frame, Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

Dissertation Committee
Paul M. Cobb Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Jamal Elias Professor, Religious Studies and South Asia Studies
ii

Dedication

For my parents, Aimée and Roger Brunelle
iii

Acknowledgements

This dissertation represents a culmination of many years’ study of Arabic and
Islamic Studies under many inspiring teachers. Special thanks are due to Rachid Aadnani
at Wellesley College, who first sparked my interest in the field, and to Roger Allen, who
helped me delve into Arabic literature at the MA level. I owe a great debt of gratitude to
my advisor Joseph Lowry for deeply engaging with my work and for the encouragement
and guidance that helped me keep going, even when the path to completion seemed
unclear. I wish also to thank my committee members, Paul M. Cobb and Jamal Elias, for
their investment in my work, Linda Greene, for easing many paths, and my colleagues
Raha Rafii, Amanda Hannoosh Steinberg, Elias G. Saba and Alon Tam, for their essential
role in my graduate education, and for being good friends. Finally, I give tremendous
thanks to my family, Roger, Aimée, Kim and Gertrude Brunelle, for the unwavering
support and love which have made this dissertation, and what comes afterward, possible.
iv

ABSTRACT

FROM TEXT TO LAW: ISLAMIC LEGAL THEORY AND THE PRACTICAL
HERMENEUTICS OF ABŪ JAʿFAR AḤMAD AL-ṬAḤĀWĪ (D. 321/933)
Carolyn Anne Brunelle
Joseph E. Lowry

Scholars of Islamic law point to the absence of any extant work of legal theory between
the Risāla of al-Shāfiʿī and the Fuṣūl of al-Jaṣṣāṣ as a major barrier to reconstructing the
history of Islamic legal thought. However, careful analysis of three major works of the
Ḥanafī jurist al-Ṭaḥāwī, ā al-Qurʾān, Shar aʿānī al-āthār and Shar mushkil al-
āthār, reveals the existence of myriad brief passages elaborating questions of legal theory
scattered throughout their many volumes. This study reconstructs the legal thought of al-
Ṭaḥāwī as a window onto legal theory in the late 3rd/9th and early 4th/10th centuries, a
crucial period of transformation between late formative and post-formative Islamic law. It
argues that al-Ṭaḥāwī’s works are not direct precursors to the genre of uṣūl al-fiqh, but
instead represent a different, previously unrecognized, type of intellectual and literary
activity. This activity, here termed practical hermeneutics, is concerned with
demonstrating in detail how individually coherent rules of law may be derived from the
often messy texts of revelation. The integrated reading of al-Ṭaḥāwī’s entire
hermeneutical corpus uncovers several areas in which his legal thought departs quite
notably from that of other jurists, suggesting that al-Ṭaḥāwī was neither as dependent on
al-Shāfiʿī nor as closely related to mature uṣūl al-fiqh as has been suggested in previous
v

studies. Most crucially, al-Ṭaḥāwī’s works unsettle accepted accounts of Islamic legal
theory which assign varying levels of authority to a series of clearly distinguished legal
sources—Qurʾān, Sunna, consensus, etc. This study demonstrates that, in contrast to both
al-Shāfiʿī and later uṣūlīs, al-Ṭaḥāwī’s legal thought blurs boundaries between these
categories and instead rests upon an underlying binary concept of legal authority which
draws a crucial distinction between knowledge that might permissibly be reached by
inference, and knowledge that can only have come from revelation. The authority that al-
Ṭaḥāwī grants any given source is therefore not a function of its formal characteristics,
but rather the result of his own judgment about content and origins.
vi

Table of Contents
Dedication .......................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iii
Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iv
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1
Background and Objectives ........................................................................................... 1
Practical Hermeneutics................................................................................................... 7
Approach and Structure................................................................................................ 22
Life ............................................................................................................................... 25
An Overview of al-Ṭaḥāwī’s Works ............................................................................ 37
Theology .................................................................................................................. 38
Biography/History ................................................................................................... 39
Exegesis ................................................................................................................... 39
Ḥadīth ...................................................................................................................... 40
Law .......................................................................................................................... 42
Lost Works of Undetermined Subject ..................................................................... 45
Authorship and Composition ....................................................................................... 45
Chapter One: Qurʾān and Sunna .................................................................................. 52
Qurʾān .......................................................................................................................... 53
Sunna ............................................................................................................................ 55
Historical Development ........................................................................................... 55
The Authority of the Sunna ..................................................................................... 61
The Relationship between the Qurʾān and Sunna ........................................................ 67
Bayān ....................................................................................................................... 67
Abrogation between the Qurʾān and Sunna ............................................................ 72
Abrogation of the Qurʾān ........................................................................................ 77
The Permeability of the Boundary between Qurʾān and Sunna .............................. 79
The Epistemological Status of Qurʾān and Sunna .................................................. 81
The Hierarchy of Qurʾān and Sunna ....................................................................... 83
vii

Ḥadīth Epistemology .................................................................................................... 85
Ḥadīth Terminology ..................................................................................................... 89
The Status of Muḥammad’s Words and Actions ......................................................... 93
Chapter Two: Companion and Successor Ḥadīths .................................................... 102
Historical Background ............................................................................................... 104
Post-Prophetic Ḥadīths in al-Ṭaḥāwī’s Works ........................................................... 107
The Relative Status of the Companions and the Successors ................................. 111
The Prophetic Authority of Post-Prophetic Ḥadīths .................................................. 116
Claims of Prophetic Status for Post-Prophetic Ḥadīths ........................................ 116
Abrogation Known through Post-Prophetic Ḥadīths ............................................ 130
Explanations for Companion and Successor Authority ........................................ 132
The Relative Authority of Post-Prophetic Ḥadīths and Later Jurists’ Qiyās ............. 139
The Companions and Successors in al-Ṭaḥāwī’s Lists of Legal Sources ............. 143
Competing Conceptions of Religious Authority ........................................................ 149
Chapter Three: Consensus and the Practice of the Community .............................. 153
Theory ........................................................................................................................ 156
The Authority of Consensus .................................................................................. 157
The Participants in Forming Consensus ................................................................ 162
The Boundaries of Consensus ............................................................................... 165
Function ..................................................................................................................... 176
Consensus as a Tool for Resolving Disagreement ................................................ 176
Consensus Indicating Abrogation ......................................................................... 181
The Practice (ʿAmal/Istiʿmāl) of the Scholars and the Muslims................................ 187
Abrogation of Prophetic Ḥadīth by Companion Consensus ...................................... 197
Muḥkam and Mutashābih (Unequivocal and Equivocal Texts) ................................. 210
Muḥkam and Mutashābih in al-Ṭaḥāwī’s Hermeneutical Arguments .................. 219
Ẓāhir and Bāṭin (Apparent and Non-Apparent Meaning) .......................................... 220
Ẓāhir and Bāṭin in al-Ṭaḥāwī’s Hermeneutical Arguments .................................. 226
ʿĀmm and Khāṣṣ (Unrestricted and Restricted Meaning) ......................................... 229
ʿĀmm and Khāṣṣ in al-Ṭaḥāwī’s Hermeneutical Arguments ............................... 233
Hints of a Formalist Understanding of ʿĀmm and Khāṣṣ ..................................... 238