The Book: Towards New Foundations for Islamic Jurisprudence

69 pages

• Inheritance verses are general laws
• The verse of Al-Ahzab is instructional, not legislative
• The theft verse does not prescribe amputation
• The Light verse sets a minimum standard of dress
• Occasions of revelation constrain the Qur’anic text
• Occasions of revelation are alien historical sciences
• The origin of accusing woman of sin
• Dressing political conflict in religious garb
• General verses do not address specific cases
• The exemplar is a reformist model to be followed
• The nearer excludes the farther
• The Umayyads used obedience to those in authority
• Inheritance is a fallback law in the absence of a bequest
• Inheritance achieves general justice
• Historical Islam is a conditioned understanding
• The house remains the wife’s right
• Prohibition is God’s alone
• Prohibition requires a messengerly authority
• Polygamy is conditional
• Polygamy is tied to widows and orphans
• Distinguishing between the forbidden and the prohibited
• The jilbab is a staged instruction
• The bosoms are the places of hidden adornment
• The first sin was not sexual
• The khimar is a covering drawn over the bosoms
• The modern state prohibits; it does not declare forbidden
• Democracy is a technique for practicing consultation
• The dispensation is almost confined to food
• The Muhammadan message ended the age of male dominance
• The Messenger practiced civil legislation
• Marriage is a solemn covenant
• The nakedness is not the vulva
• Process is the movement of time
• Becoming is the final outcome
• Divorce is a mutual right
• The world needs becoming
• The Abbasids relied on kinship and inheritance
• Justice in inheritance is collective
• The prescribed shares and limits in inheritance
• Inherited jurisprudence is a historical understanding
• The village symbolizes monism
• Qat‘ is a term of broad meaning
• Qiwama includes both man and woman
• Contemporary restrictions violate equality
• Kalala has two different forms
• Being is existing existence
• Dress is more precise than hijab
• Arab society lacks becoming
• Equality between woman and man
• Abrogation diminishes the universality of the message
• The Qur’anic text is fixed, and understanding is variable
• The bequest achieves particular justice
• The bequest takes precedence over inheritance
• Some differences in القراءات are later scribal distortions
• Interpreting the text outside its context is more dangerous than fabrication
• The triad of being, process, and becoming
• The minimum limit of women’s dress
• Spouses’ and siblings’ shares are subject to change
• The shares of ascendants and descendants are defined
• Heritage conflates dress and religion
• The authority of the text supersedes the grammatical rule
• “Do not approach” indicates direct proximity
• There is no place for arbitrariness or addition in the Revelation
• The space of dress lies between the two limits
• The concepts of honor and nakedness are historical
• The station of messengerhood is the station of legislation and organization
• The station of prophethood is the station of the unseen and tidings
• Right-hand possession is a contractual relationship
• The function of dress is to ward off harm