SHARIAsource

 Volume 2

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 1

In this excerpt, al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā (d. 436/1044) cites a number of opinions regarding whether judges are permitted to rule according to their personal knowledge of a case. He focuses specifically on the question of how many additional witnesses are needed alongside a judge’s use of his own knowledge to render a valid verdict. In his chapter on circumstantial evidence in Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, Hossein Modarressi cites this source to illustrate some Shīʿī jurists’ endorsement of the validity of judicial knowledge.

This source is part of the Online Companion to the book Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, ed. Intisar A. Rabb and Abigail Krasner Balbale (ILSP/HUP 2017)—a collection of primary sources and other material used in and related to the book.

In this excerpt, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Dawānī (d. 908/1502–3), philosopher and chief judge of the southern Iranian province of Fars in the late fifteenth century CE, reports that the maẓālim courts were able to resolve many cases because of their ability to consider diverse forms of evidence. In contrast, he says that the traditional Islamic courts’ admission of only oral testimony could hamper Muslim judges’ ability to administer justice. In his chapter on circumstantial evidence in Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, Hossein Modarressi draws on Dawānī’s treatise and its illustration of how justice was obstructed in the traditional courts of his day through bureaucratic maneuvers orchestrated by the ʿudūl, or court clerks. The ʿudūl nitpicked at the specific wording of the petitions and various types of testimony, and they oversaw a lengthy process of determining the credibility of witnesses by bringing in further witnesses to testify for or against the main witnesses. Modarressi quotes Dawānī’s lament that as a consequence, “a small petition [lingered] around in the court for such a long time that the parties [got] fed up with the process. When the case is a criminal case, the purpose is completely lost” (115). Modarressi argues that these difficulties in traditional courts were exacerbated by the fact that Islamic legal procedure restricted judges to using testimony or oaths, and that these procedural rules were not open to modification.

This source is part of the Online Companion to the book Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, ed. Intisar A. Rabb and Abigail Krasner Balbale (ILSP/HUP 2017)—a collection of primary sources and other material used in and related to the book.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah made the decision, dated 22 June 2020, to impose strict limitations on this year’s Hajj (1441H/2020AD) in light of the continued risks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than cancelling the event altogether, these limitations will only allow Saudi pilgrims and those from other countries already inside the Kingdom to partake in this year’s Hajj.

First published in 1888, this commentary is one of the earliest Arabic commentaries on the Ottoman Code of 1869, better known as the Mecelle, which is understood as the first precolonial experiment in codifying Islamic law. Rustam Bāz was a prior member of the Shūrat al-Dawla al-ʿUthmāniyya. His commentary was published multiple times, relied upon, and was popular among law officials in Ottoman Arab world, as a practical commentary (sharḥ ʿamallī). 

This is a reference to some of the various terms used in early sources to refer to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and his followers, the Jaʿfarīs (e.g., aṣḥāb Jaʿfar), during and after Jaʿfar's lifetime.

This source is part of the Online Companion to Hossein Modarressi, Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law (Harvard University Press, 2022).

This is a reference to an early definition of Shīʿism by the Kūfan scholar Abān b. Taghlib (d. 141): "The Shīʿa are those who follow the opinion of ʿAlī when reports from the Prophet are contradictory, and the opinion of Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad [al-Ṣādiq] when reports from ʿAlī are contradictory."

This source is part of the Online Companion to Hossein Modarressi, Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law (Harvard University Press, 2022).

This is a reference to how Mālik b. Anas (the eponym of the Mālikī school of law) remembered Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq: exceptional in his manners and religious devotion.

This source is part of the Online Companion to Hossein Modarressi, Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law (Harvard University Press, 2022).

This is a reference to the year 83 AH as the date of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq's birth. Hossein Modarressi notes that this is the preferred date of al-Ṣādiq's birth in most Shīʿī sources.

This source is part of the Online Companion to Hossein Modarressi, Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law (Harvard University Press, 2022).

This is a reference to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq's advice to a questioner to burn his astrological books. Hossein Modarressi cites this reference in his discussion of some of the features of al-Ṣādiq's personal life.

This source is part of the Online Companion to Hossein Modarressi, Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law (Harvard University Press, 2022).

This is a reference to the concentration of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq's large number of followers in Iraq in general and Kūfa in particular during his lifetime. Hossein Modarressi cites this reference in his discussion of some of the features of al-Ṣādiq's political stance.

This source is part of the Online Companion to Hossein Modarressi, Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law (Harvard University Press, 2022).

This is a reference to Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq attending the Friday prayer with other Muslims, in contrast to some Muslims who did not pray with anyone who did not share their doctrinal tendencies. Hossein Modarressi cites this reference in his discussion of some of the features of al-Ṣādiq's rejection of sectarianism.

This source is part of the Online Companion to Hossein Modarressi, Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law (Harvard University Press, 2022).

This is a reference to ʿAlī's description of the Sunna of the Prophet. Hossein Modarressi argues that in the legal legacy of the Family of the Prophet, the Prophet's Sunna was next to the Qurʾān in importance.

This source is part of the Online Companion to Hossein Modarressi, Text and Interpretation: Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and His Legacy in Islamic Law (Harvard University Press, 2022).