Reconstructs the formative debates concerning ritual purity in Islamic law and practice.
Ritual purity is one of the least understood aspects of Islamic law and practice, yet it enjoys a prominent place in traditional legal texts and permeates the daily life of ordinary believers. Body of Text examines the emergence and crystallization of the law of ritual purity, using early sources to reconstruct the formative debates among Muslim scholars. The lively interaction among legal theorizing, caliphal politics, and popular practice illustrates the formation of the law, because as scholars strove for synthesis, they advanced competing understandings of the underlying structure and meaning of ritual purity. Katz demonstrates that no single theory can adequately interpret the diversity of opinion within the tradition.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"...recommend[ed] ... for those who are looking for a path into the sources of and the debates about formative Islam and law." - Journal of the American Oriental Society
"For too long Islamic law has been seen by academics as a body of esoteric lore discernible only to the initiated. Katz masterfully positions a detailed and technical subject-early Islamic ritual law-within the broader context of comparative religions. This book will be the starting point for any future work on the subject." - Paul M. Cobb, University of Notre Dame, author of White Banners: Contention in >Abbasid Syria, 750-880
"Katz breaks new ground in the field of Islamic law. This is the first book to thoroughly examine the classical Islamic-law works as well as the works of Western anthropologists on matters of ritual purity." - Farhat J. Ziadeh, author of Property Law in the Arab World
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Produkt-Hinweis
Maße
Höhe: 229 mm
Breite: 154 mm
Dicke: 15 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-7914-5382-7 (9780791453827)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Marion Holmes Katz is Assistant Professor of Religion at Mount Holyoke College.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Comprehensiveness of the Law
The Historical Background
Methodological Developments
The Case of Islamic Law
Approach to the Sources
1. Qur'anic Rules of Purity and the Covenantal Community
The Biblical Example
The Qur'anic Material: Surat al-Ma'ida
Patterns within the Qur'an
Conclusions
2. Interpreting the Qur'anic Text
The Problem
"When You Rise to Pray"
"Wipe Your Heads and Your Feet... "
"If You Have Touched Women... "
Conclusion: Revealed Text and Personal Example in the Law of Purity
3. "Cancelers of Wudu" and the Boundaries of the Body
Wudu from Cooked Food
Wudu from Touching the Genitals
Blood and Other Bodily Issues
Conclusions
4. Substantive Impurity and the Boundaries of Society
The Fluidity of the Law
Women, Nonbelievers, and the Dead
Children of Adam
Purity and Gender
Conclusions
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
