{"id":118,"date":"2008-11-17T15:56:49","date_gmt":"2008-11-17T15:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/oxford-islamic-studies-online.html"},"modified":"2008-11-17T15:56:49","modified_gmt":"2008-11-17T15:56:49","slug":"oxford-islamic-studies-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2008\/11\/oxford-islamic-studies-online.html","title":{"rendered":"Oxford Islamic Studies Online: What is Shari’a?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the singular best references about Islam, in all its complexity and diversity and nuance, is an online and free collection of essays and reference articles: Oxford Islamic Studies Online<\/a>. It builds on the classical Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam, as well as several other major reference works, and will be continually updated online. As such it’s a fantastic source (far superior to Wikipedia) for anyone writing, learning, or even critiquing about Islam. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the bulk of the content is not free, but there are “Focus” articles which serve as gateways on specific topics that are immensely useful in their own right. For example, “What Is Shari?ah?” by Tamara Sonn<\/a>. A large excerpt follows:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

The body of Islamic law does undoubtedly contain
\nelements that are startling in the light of contemporary Western norms.
\nAnd today, there is lively debate among Muslim scholars over many of
\nthe laws that most concern non-Muslim observers, particularly those
\ndealing with democracy, pluralism, the rights of women and of
\nminorities, and the status of the traditional ?ud?d punishments.<\/p>\n

Many
\ncontemporary Islamic thinkers fully endorse pluralism, including full
\nequality for all citizens. Egypt’s Fahmi? Huwaydi?, for example, argues
\nfor equal rights for non-Muslim minorities based on the overall goal of
\nIslamic law, which is to establish justice. In order to achieve justice
\nin today’s world, he says, democracy is essential. Democracy has been
\nshown to be successful in the West, and it is the most effective way to
\nimplement the Qur’?n’s command to govern through consultation (sh?r?).
\nWhile sh?r? has been exercised in various ways throughout history, in
\norder to result in justice today it must be anchored in a government
\nthat recognizes the right of people to choose their ruler, and this
\nright must be shared equally by all citizens. Egyptian legal scholar
\nSalim al-Awa (Sali?m al-?Aww?) also argues in favor of democracy,
\nsaying that Islam places authority with the people, and all citizens
\nhave equal rights to choose, women and non-Muslims included.<\/p>\n

Exiled
\nTunisian thinker Rachid Ghannouchi (R?shid Ghann?shi?) argues for
\nMuslim participation in secular democracies, again based on the
\nQur’?nic principle of participatory governance, sh?r?, which he defines
\nas the authority of the community. Muslims must work with whoever is
\nwilling to help achieve essential Islamic goals such as “independence,
\ndevelopment, social solidarity, civil liberties, human rights,
\npolitical pluralism, independence of the judiciary, freedom of the
\npress, or liberty for mosques and Islamic activities.”<\/p>\n

Leading
\nEuropean Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan concludes that any government
\nconforming to Islamic principles must allow for communal consultation,
\nincluding both men and women, and that the most efficient means of
\ndoing that today is through a consultative council made up of elected
\nmembers. He also insists that any representatives be chosen on the
\nbasis of competence in various areas pertinent to daily life, rather
\nthan heredity or some other unearned criterion. This competence allows
\nthem to exercise ijtih?d, that is, to deliberate and formulate ways to
\nachieve Islamic principles in today’s circumstances, instead of relying
\non models appropriate to circumstances that no longer exist.
\nConsequently, Ramadan concludes, Islam is completely opposed to
\ntheocracy. Not only must Islamic government be conducted through
\nconsultation, it also requires freedom of conscience. This is based on
\nRamadan’s reading of the Qur’?n’s prohibition of compulsion in matters
\nof religion (2:256). Thus, he says, people must have the right to
\nchoose their leaders, express their opinions, and live–male and female,
\nMuslims and non-Muslim–under equal protection of the law, as was the
\ncase in the Prophet’s time under the Constitution of Medina. He argues
\nthat, although there is no unique model of Islamic government, basic
\nprinciples have been provided which Ramadan calls “a framework to run
\npluralism.”<\/p>\n

In a similar vein, Ramadan recommends a moratorium on
\nthe implementation of ?ud?d punishments. Other scholars agree, focusing
\nspecifically on the prohibition of apostasy (renouncing one’s
\nreligion). For example, the former chief justice of Pakistan, Dr. S. A.
\nRahman, argues that the prohibition of apostasy under threat of capital
\npunishment violates the Qur’?n’s fundamental insistence on freedom of
\nconscience. Egypt’s highest religious authority, Grand Mufti? Ali Gomaa
\n(?Al? Jum?ah), also rejects the death sentence for apostasy, arguing
\nthat if punishment is due, it will come in the afterlife. There is even
\ndebate about whether or not some of the ?ud?d punishments have been
\nproperly understood and interpreted in the first place. Tunisian
\nhistorian Mohamed Talbi explains that the law requiring capital
\npunishment for apostasy resulted from a confusion of apostasy with
\ntreason. Leading American Muslim scholar Professor Ali A. Mazrui takes
\na slightly different approach. He argues for rethinking the ?ud?d
\npunishments, saying that the punishments laid down fourteen centuries
\nago “had to be truly severe enough to be a deterrent” in their day, but
\n“since then God has taught us more about crime, its causes,the methods
\nof its investigation, the limits of guilt, and the much wider range of
\npossible punishments.”<\/p>\n

There is wide ranging opinion regarding
\nprecisely which laws should be subjected to ijtih?d. It is common for
\nconservative scholars to identify the laws they believe should be
\npreserved as shari?ah and therefore not subject to ijtih?d. Reformist
\nthinkers tend to place greater emphasis on the distinction between
\nshari?ah and fiqh. This discussion has been a feature of Islamic
\ndiscourse throughout history.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The full article is well worth reading<\/a> in its entirety.<\/p>\n

(via Svend<\/a>, who has been developing his own reference work on Islam<\/a> that’s worth bookmarking as well). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}