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Resolution 90/7/9 (“Resolution”) cites primarily to a compendium of “research papers forwarded to the [IIFA] on the subject of AIDS” and to the Qur’an.  The Resolution addresses six different issues relevant to the treatment of individuals diagnosed with AIDS: (1) it is not necessary to isolate patients; (2) deliberate transmission of AIDS to a healthy individual is haram—Shari’a proscribed—and is “considered among the major evil sins and transgressions”; (3) abortion of a fetus by a mother infected with AIDS is impermissible; (4) it is permissible for a mother infected by AIDS to retain custody of her child and to breastfeed her child; (5) it is permissible for a wife to seek separation from a husband infected with AIDS; and (6) AIDS is considered terminal according to Shari’a when “all of its symptoms are present and the victim is no longer capable of carrying out ordinary living, and death is imminent.”

Resolution 16 (4-3) (“Resolution”) cites primarily to a compendium of “studies on the subject of [a]rtificial insemination” and the testimonies of “experts and physicians.” The Resolution enumerates seven known methods of artificial insemination. The first five of those seven methods are “absolutely prohibited… due to ensuing consequences manifested in confusion about parenthood and loss of motherhood and other Shari’a prohibited matters.”  The sixth and seventh methods of artificial insemination are permissible in cases of necessity. 

Suyūṭī’s (d. 911/1505) al-Ashbāh wa-l-Naẓāʾir is a treatise collecting Shāfiʿī legal canons. It examines the similarities and differences between legal and interpretive outcomes in Islamic law in ways that show how and why one judgment or outcome is distinguished from another, and in the process highlights the substantive and interpretive legal canons that guide those legal outcomes. 

For more, view the full print edition and see The Legal Thought of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti: Authority and Legacy (Oxford, 2017) by Rebecca Hernandez.

This excerpt is from Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-ʿAlāʾī's (d. 761/1359) al-Majmūʿ al-Mudhhab fī Qawāʿid al-Madhhab, which is a two-volume collection of substantive legal canons and interpretive legal canons, and the third-oldest known Shāfiʿī canons collection from the Mamlūk era. Substantive legal canons (qawāʿid fiqhiyya) are short formulas expressing fundamental principles and doctrines of Islamic law, while interpretive legal canons (qawāʿid uṣūliyya) are principles for interpreting textual sources. This excerpt provides the first few pages excerpted from the author's Introduction. 

For more, view the full print edition and read the commentary by Mariam Sheibani on the Islamic Law Blog.