Ẓāhirī
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Ẓāhirī (Arabic: ظاهري), sometimes spelled Dhahiri, is a school of thought in Islamic jurisprudence. The school is named after one of its early prominent jurists, Dawud ibn Khalaf al-Zahiri (died 883),[1] and is known for its insistence on sticking to the manifest (zahir) or apparent meaning of expressions in the Qur'an and the Sunnah; the followers of this school are called Zahiriyah.
Their numbers having dwindled since the Middle Ages, the Zahirite school is adhered to by minority communities in Morocco and Pakistan. In the past, adherents to the school comprised a majority of the Muslims living in Mesopotamia, Southern Iran, the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands and North Africa. Many among the modern-day Ahl al-Hadith movement, though not all, tend to follow the Zahiri school of thought.
History
While those outside the school of thought often point to Dawud al-Zahiri as the "founder" of the school, followers of the school themselves tend to look to earlier figures such as Sufyan al-Thawri and Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh as the forerunners of Zahiri principles. Umm al-Qura University professor Abdul Aziz al-Harbi has claimed that the first generation of Muslims followed the school's methods and therefore can be called The School of the First Generation.[2]
City-states and Imperial period
Initially termed the "Dawudi" school after al-Zahiri himself, the school initially held reign over the judiciary of what is modern-day Iraq. As it spread from this central region, Zahiri judges were appointed by the administrations of Baghdad, Shiraz, Isfahan, Firuzabad, Ramla, Damascus, Sindh and Fustat.[3][4] In the east under Abbasid rule, the Zahiri school still had to compete with the other Sunni schools; the Zahiri leaders' weak political and personal relations with Abbasid vizier Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah and Jarrah's strong relations with the Shafi'ites caused the Zahiris to fall out of favor with the government.[5] At that time, the four schools of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence were reckoned as the Hanafites, Malikites, Shafi'ites and Zahirites; the Hanbalites were not yet considered an independent school.[6]
Eventually, the Zahiris wound up losing the judiciary of Baghdad after some time while retaining its stronghold of Shiraz.[7] University of Oxford Islamic scholar Christopher Melchert holds the view that a combination of poor relations with the government, the somewhat elitist nature of Zahiri literary circles and the failure of Zahiri jurists to produce central texts summarizing all the school's positions all contributed to the school's downfall in Baghdad.[5] Whatever the reason, the Zahiri school lost its dominance over all of Mesopotamia and Iran due to official promotion of the Hanafi school. The Zahiris held on to Syria until 788 and held strong influence in Egypt for even longer, though eventually they lost most support in the east as a whole.[6]
Universal period and Golden Age
Parallel to the school's inception, Zahiri ideas were introduced to North Africa by theologians of the Maliki school who were engaged in fierce debates with the Hanafi school, and to the Iberian Peninsula by one of Dawud al-Zahiri's direct students.[8] Unlike Abbasid lands where the competition was plentiful, the Zahiri school only had to contend with its Maliki counterpart in the Muslim west. Actual Zahiris themselves appeared shortly after their ideas, settling in various parts of what is now Spain and Portugal in the late 9th century.[9] Under the rule of the Umayyads, Almoravids and warring Taifa states, the Zahiri school remained on the periphery, existing only with learned men without enjoying the wide acceptance known to the Maliki school.
It was not until the rise of the Almohads that the Zahiri school enjoyed official state sponsorship. While not all of the Almohad political leaders were Zahiris, a large plurality of them were not only adherents but were well-versed theologians in their own right.[10] Additionally, all Almohad leaders - both the religiously learned and the laymen - were extremely hostile toward the Malikis, giving the Zahiris and in a few cases the Shafi'is free rein to author works and run the judiciary. In the late 12th century, any religious material written by non-Zahiris was at first banned and later burned in the empire under the Almohad reforms.[11][12]
Decentralization and fragmentation period
With the Reconquista and the loss of Iberia to Christian rule, most works of Zahiri law and legal theory were lost as well, with the school only being carried on by individual scholars, once again on the periphery. In the 14th century, the Zahiri Revolt marked both a brief rekindling of interest in the school's ideas as well as affirmation of its status as a non-mainstream ideology. Al-Muhalla, a Medieval manual on Zahiri jurisprudence, served in part as inspiration for the revolt and as a primary source of the school's positions.[13] While Zahirite ideas remained, the school's followers became so rare that many historians began to declare it extinct.
Modern history
In the modern era, the Zahiri school has often been described as semi-operational, though still very influential.[14] While the school does not comprise a majority of any part of the Muslim world, there are communities of Zahiris in existence, usually due to the presence of Zahiri scholars of Islamic law. Notably, adherents of the modern-day Ahl al-Hadith movement have been comparied to Zahirites, and many have accepted and even self-identified as such.[15][16] Additionally, professors of Islamic law adhering to the Zahiri school are present, though small in number. Modernist revival of the general critique by Ibn Hazm - the school's most prominent representative - of Islamic legal theory among Muslim academics has seen several key moments in recent Arab intellectual history, including Ahmad Shakir's republishing of Al-Muhalla, Muhammad Abu Zahra's biography of Ibn Hazm, and the republishing of archived epistles on Zahiri legal theory by Sa'id al-Afghani in 1960 and Ihsan Abbas between 1980 and 1983.[17] The continued existence and legitimacy of the Zahiri school was upheld by the Amman Message in 2004,[18] and was even counted as one of the recognized schools of thought in Islam by Sudan's Islamist former Prime Minister, Sadiq al-Mahdi.[19] Regardless of such recognition, Zahiris in major institutions such as Al-Azhar University and Darul Uloom Deoband are extremely rare and this school is sometimes called small but very influential.
Principles
Of the utmost importance to the school is an underlying principle attributed to the founder Dawud that the validity of religious issues is only upheld by certainty, and that speculation cannot lead to the truth.[20] Most Zahirite principles return to this overarching maxim. Japanese Islamic scholar Kojiro Nakamura defines the Zahiri schools as resting on two presumptions. The first is that if it were possible to draw more general conclusions from the strict reading of the sources of Islamic law, then God certainly would have expressed these conclusions already; thus, all that is necessary lies in the text. The second is that for man to seek the motive behind the commandments of God is not only a fruitless endeavor but a presumptuous one.[21] Thus in the Zahiri view, Islam as an entire religious system is tied to the literal letter of the law, no more and no less.
The Zahiri school of thought recognizes three sources of the Islamic law within the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. The first is the Qur'an, considered by Muslims to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: الله Allah); the second consists of the prophetic as given in historically verifiable reports, which consist of the sayings and actions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad; the last is absolute consensus of the Muslim community.
The school differs from the more prolific schools of Islamic thought in that it restricts valid consensus in jurisprudence to the consensus of the first generation of Muslims who lived alongside Muhammad only.[22][23] While Abu Hanifa and Ahmad bin Hanbal agreed with them in this, the followers of the Hanafi and Hanbali schools generally do not, nor do the other two Sunni schools. Additionally, the Zahiri school does not accept analogical reasoning as a source of Islamic law,[24] nor do they accept the practice of juristic discretion, pointing to a verse in the Qur'an which declares that nothing has been neglected in the Muslim scriptures.[25] While Al-Shafi'i and followers of his school agree with the Zahiris (but some the great followers of this school accept the alternative to Grading system called the Inference system) in rejecting the latter, all other Sunni schools accept the former, though at varying levels.
Distinct rulings
- Followers of the Zahirite school differs with the majority in that they consider the Virgin Mary to have been a female prophet.[26]
- The Zahirite school uses the Inference method and it is the alternative to the Grading method used by Shafi'i school.[citation needed]
- The founder of this school had more respect then even of the habali school with respect to the original positions of the great imams Abu hanfia and Shafi
- Riba, or interest, on hand-to-hand exchanges of gold, silver, dates, salt, wheat and barley are prohibited per the prophet Muhammad's injunction, but analogical reasoning is not used to extend that injunction to other agricultural produce as is the case with other schools, (although some of the followers do accept the Inference method).[citation needed] The Zahirites are joined in this by early scholars pre-dating the legal schools such as Tawus ibn Kaysan and Qatadah.[27]
- Admission in an Islamic court of law is seen as indivisible by Zahirites, meaning that a party cannot accept some aspects of the opposing party's testimony and not other parts. The Zahirites are opposed by the Hanafi and Maliki schools, though a majority of Hanbalites share the Zahirite position.[28]
Reception
Like its founder Dawud, the Zahiri school has been controversial since its inception.[29] Due to their rejection of intellectual principles considered staples of other strains within Sunni Islam, adherents to the school have been described as displaying non-conformist attitudes.[30]
Views on Zahirism within Sunni Islam
The Zahiri school has often been criticized by other schools within Sunni Islam. While this is true of all schools, relations between the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Malikis have warmed to each other over the centuries; this has not always been the case with the Zahiris.
Not surpisingly given the conflict over al-Andalus, Maliki scholars have often expressed negative feelings regarding the Zahiri school. Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, whose father was a Zahiri, nevertheless considered Zahiri law to be absurd.[31] Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, himself a former Zahiri, excluded Dawud al-Zahiri along with Ahmad ibn Hanbal from his book on Sunni Islam's greatest jurists,[32] though Ignác Goldziher has suggested that Ibn Abdul-Barr remained Zahiri privately and outwardly manifested Maliki ideas due to prevailing pressures at the time. At least with al-Ballūṭī, one example of a Zahiri jurist applying Maliki law due to official enforcement is known. Zahiris such as Ibn Hazm were intensely insulted and verbally abused by Maliki jurists after their deaths,[31] displaying negative feelings which were almost personal in nature.
Followers of the Shafi'ite school within Sunni Islam have historically been involved in intellectual conflict with Zahirites.[33] Al-Juwayni and Al-Nawawi considered the Zahirite school entirely invalid; Al-Dhahabi and Ibn al-Salah merely disagreed with Zahirite teachings, but still defended their legitimacy from criticism such that of Juwayni and Ibn al-Arabi, pointing out that the Zahirites arrived to their conclusions via scholarly discourse just as the other legal schools had.[34]
Hanbali scholar Ibn al-Qayyim, while himself a critic of the Zahiri outlook, defended the school's legitimacy in Islam, stating rhetorically that their only sin was "following the book of their Lord and example of their Prophet."[35]
Zahirism and Sufism
The relationship between Zahirism and Sufism has been complicated. Throughout the school's history, its adherents have always included both harsh critics of Sufism as well as Sufis themselves. Many practitioners of Sufism, which often emphasizes detachment from the material world, have been attracted to Zahirism's combination of strict ritualism and lack of emphasis on dogmatics.[36][37]
Notable Zahiris
Discerning who exactly is an adherent to the Zahiri school of thought can be difficult. Harbi has claimed that most Muslim scholars who practiced independent reasoning and based their judgment only on the Qur'an and Sunnah, or Muslim prophetic tradition, were Zahiris.[2] Followers of other schools of thought may have adopted certain viewpoints of the Zahiris, holding "Zahirite leanings" without actually adopting the Zahiri school; often, these individuals were erroneously referred to as Zahiris despite contrary evidence.[38]
Additionally, historians would often refer to any individual who praised the Zahiris as being from them. Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi has most often been referred to as a Zahiri because of a commentary on one of Ibn Hazm's works, despite having stated twice that he isn't a follower of the Zahiri school or any other school of thought.[39] Similarly, Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari would include Zahiri opinions when comparing differing views of Sunni Muslims, yet he founded a distinct school of his own.[40] The case of Muslim figures who have mixed between different schools have proven to be more problematic. Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, for example, referred to himself as a Zahiri when pressed on the matter,[41] though he is generally acknowledge not to have adhered to any specific school. When Ibn Hazm listed the most important leaders of the school, he listed known Zahirites Abdullah bin Qasim, al-Balluti, Ibn al-Mughallis, al-Dibaji and Ruwaym, but then also mentioned Abu Bakr al-Khallal,[42] who despite his Zahirite leanings is almost universally recognized as a Hanbalite.
Followers of the Zahiri School
- Abd Allah al-Qaysi (died 885), responsible for spreading the school in Spain.
- Muhammad bin Dawud al-Zahiri (died 909), son of the school's namesake.
- Ibn Abi Asim (died 909), early scholar of hadith.
- Ruwaym (died 915), spiritual pioneer from the second generation of Sufism.
- Niftawayh (died 935), student of the school's namesake and teacher of his son.
- Ibn al-Mughallis (died 936), credited with popularizing the school across the Muslim world.
- Al-Masudi (died 956), early Muslim historian and geographer.
- Mundhir bin Sa'īd al-Ballūṭī (died 966), early judge in Spain for the Caliphate of Córdoba.
- Al-Qassab (died 970), Muslim warrior-scholar.
- Ibn Khafif (died 982), early mystic from the third generation of Sufism.
- Ibn Hazm (died 1064), Andalusian polymath, author of numerous works.
- Al-Humaydī (died 1095), hadith scholar, historian and biographer in Spain and then Iraq.
- Ibn al-Qaisarani (died 1113), responsible for canonizing the six hadith books of Sunni Islam.
- Ibn Tumart (died 1130), founder of the Almohad Empire
- Abd al-Mu'min (died 1163), first Almohad Caliph.
- Abu Yaqub Yusuf (died 1184), second Almohad Caliph, memorized Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
- Ibn Maḍāʾ (died 1196), Andalusian judge and linguist, and an early champion of language education reform.
- Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur (died 1199), third Almohad Caliph, authored his own collection of hadith.
- Muhammad al-Nasir (died 1213), fourth Almohad Caliph.
- Idris I al-Ma'mun (died 1232), renegade who issued a challenge for the Almohad throne.
- Ibn Dihya al-Kalby (died 1235), hadith scholar from Spain and then Egypt.
- Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati (died 1239), Andalusian botanist, pharmacist and theologian.
- Abu Bakr Ibn Sayyid al-Nās (died 1261), Andalusian-Tunisian scholar of hadith.
- Fatḥ al-Din Ibn Sayyid al-Nās (died 1334), Andalusian-Egyptian biographer of the prophet Muhammad.
- Abu Hayyan Al Gharnati (died 1344), Andalusian linguist and Qur'anic exegete.
- Al-Maqrizi (died 1442), Egyptian historian, especially of the Fatimid Caliphate.
Contemporary followers of the school
- Ahmad al-Ghumari (died 1961), Moroccan jurist and former leader of the Siddiqiyya Sufi order.
- Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali (died 1987), translated the Qur'an, former prayer leader at Islam's two holiest mosques and professor at multiple universities.
- Abdullah al-Ghumari (died 1993), jurist and theologian of the Ghumari family.
- Badi' ud-Din Shah al-Rashidi (died 1996), Pakistani bibliophile and theologian.
- Sa'id al-Afghani (died 1997), former Arabic language professor at Damascus University, correspondent member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo and proponent of language education reform.
- Abd al-Aziz al-Ghumari (died 1997), scholar of the Ghumari family with influential works in hadith.
- Muqbil bin Hadi al-Wadi'i (died 2001), Salafist scholar of hadith, founder of an infamous madrasa in Dammaj.
- Abu Turab al-Zahiri (died 2002), Indian-born Saudi Arabian linguist, jurist, theologian and journalist.
- Ihsan Abbas (died 2003), Palestinian scholar of Arabic and Islamic studies, widely considered to be at the forefront of both fields during the 20th century.
- Zubair Ali Zai (died November 10, 2013), Pakistani hadith scholar and former merchant marine.
- Abu Abd al-Rahman Ibn Aqil al-Zahiri (living), Saudi Arabian polymath and correspondent member of the Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo.
- Muhammad Abu Khubza (living), Moroccan polymath, authored the library catalog for the Bibliothèque Générale et Archives.
- Abdul Aziz al-Harbi (living), professor of Qur'anic exegesis at Umm al-Qura University.
- Hassan al-Kattani (living), Moroccan preacher, convicted and then pardoned of involvement with the 2003 Casablanca bombings.
See also
References
- ↑ Wael B. Hallaq, The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law, pg. 124. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Falih al-Dhibyani, Al-zahiriyya hiya al-madhhab al-awwal, wa al-mutakallimun 'anha yahrifun bima la ya'rifun. Interview with Okaz. 15 July 2006, Iss. #1824. Photography by Salih Ba Habri.
- ↑ Camilla Adang, This Day I have Perfected Your Religion For You: A Zahiri Conception of Religious Authority, pg. 16. Taken from Speaking for Islam: Religious Authorities in Muslim Societies. Ed. Gudrun Krämer and Sabine Schmidtke. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2006.
- ↑ Christopher Melchert, The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law: 9th-10th Centuries C.E., pg. 190. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Melchert, pgs. 185 and 189.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mohammad Sharif Khan and Mohammad Anwar Saleem, Muslim Philosophy And Philosophers, pg. 34. New Delhi: Ashish Publishing House, 1994.
- ↑ Hossein Nasr and Morteza Motahhari, "The Religious Sciences." Taken fromThe Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Pg. 476. Ed. Richard N. Frye. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
- ↑ Adang, The Beginnings of Zahirism in al-Andalus, pg. 117-125. Taken from The Islamic School of Law: Evolution, Devolution and Progress. Eds. Peri Bearman, Rudolph Peters and Frank E. Vogel. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2005.
- ↑ Adang, Zahiri Conception, pg. 18.
- ↑ Adang, "The Spread of Zahirism in al-Andalus in the Post-Caliphal Period: The evidence from the biographical dictionaries," pg. 297-346. Taken from Ideas, Images and Methods of Portrayal: Insights into Classical Arabic Literature and Islam. Ed. Sebastian Gunther, Leiden: 2005.
- ↑ Kees Versteegh, The Arabic Linguistic Tradition, pg. 142. Part of Landmarks in Linguistic Thought series, vol. 3. New York: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 9780415157575
- ↑ Shawqi Daif, Introduction to Ibn Mada's Refutation of the Grammarians, pg. 6. Cairo, 1947.
- ↑ Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabschen Litteratur. Zweite den Supplementbanden ange-passte Auflage. Vol. 1, pg. 400. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1937–1949.
- ↑ Halim Rane, Islam and Contemporary Civilisation: Evolving Ideas, Transforming Relations, pg. 84. Ed. Samina Yasmeen. Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing, 2010. ISBN 9780522856378
- ↑ Daniel W. Brown, Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought: Vol. 5 of Cambridge Middle East Studies, pgs. 28 and 32. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 9780521653947
- ↑ M. Mahmood, The Code of Muslim Family Laws, pg. 37. Pakistan Law Times Publications, 2006. 6th ed.
- ↑ Adam Sabra, "Ibn Hazm's Literalism: A Critique of Islamic Legal Theory." Taken from: Ibn Ḥazm of Cordoba: The Life and Works of a Controversial Thinker, pg. 98. Volume 103 of Handbook of Oriental Studies, Section 1: The Near and Middle East. Eds. Camilla Adang, Maribel Fierro, and Sabine Schmidtke. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2012. ISBN 9789004234246
- ↑ The Three Points of The Amman Message V.1
- ↑ Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim, "An Overview of al-Sadiq al-Madhi's Islamic Discourse." Taken from The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought, pg. 172. Ed. Ibrahim Abu-Rabi'. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008. ISBN 9781405178488
- ↑ Devin J. Stewart, "Muhammad b. Dawud al-Zahiri's Manual of Jurisprudence." Taken from Studies in Islamic Law and Society Volume 15: Studies in Islamic Legal Theory. Edited by Bernard G. Weiss. Pg. 111. Leiden: 2002. Brill Publishers.
- ↑ Kojiro Nakamura, "Ibn Mada's Criticism of Arab Grammarians." Orient, v. 10, pgs. 89-113. 1974
- ↑ Hassan, Abu. "Ijma in Brief". Retrieved 14 July 2012.
- ↑ Chiragh Ali, The Proposed Political, Legal and Social Reforms. Taken from Modernist Islam 1840-1940: A Sourcebook, pg. 281. Edited by Charles Kurzman. New York City: Oxford University Press, 2002.
- ↑ Adang, Zahiri Conception, pg. 15.
- ↑ Hassan, Abu. "Questions on Qiyas". Retrieved 14 July 2012.
- ↑ Beyond The Exotic: Women's Histories In Islamic Societies, pg. 402. Ed. Amira El-Azhary Sonbol. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005. ISBN 9780815630555
- ↑ Ahmad Murtala, The Marketing of Agricultural Produce in an Islamic Agricultural Economy, pg. 221. World Journal of Islamic History and Civilization, vol. 2, #4, 2012. © IDOSI Publications, 2012. DOI: 10.5829/idosi.wjihc.2012.2.4.2404
- ↑ Subhi Mahmasani, Falsafat al-tashri fi al-Islam, pg. 175. Trns. Farhat Jacob Ziadeh. Leiden: Brill Archive, 1961.
- ↑ Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq, The Riba-Interest Equivalence, June 2006
- ↑ Yasir Suleiman, The Arabic Grammatical Tradition: a Study in taʻlīl, pg. 150. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999. ISBN 9780748606979
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 Adang, Zahiri Conceptions, pg. 44.
- ↑ Adang, Zahiri Conceptions, pg. 20.
- ↑ Louis Massignon, The Passion of al-Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam. Trans. Herbert W. Mason. Pg. 16. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.
- ↑ Al-Dhahabi, Siyar a`lam al-nubala'., v.13, Entry 55, pg.97-108
- ↑ Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya, Ighadah al-Lahfan fi Masayid al-Shaytan, v.1, pg.570
- ↑ Carl W. Ernst, Words of Ecstasy in Sufism, pg. 163. Albany: SUNY Press, 1983.
- ↑ Ignác Goldziher, The Zahiris, pg. 165. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1971.
- ↑ Zaharism by Omar A. Farrukh, Ph.D, Member of the Arab Academy, Damascus (Syria)
- ↑ Mohammed Rustom, Review of Michel Chodkiewicz's An Ocean without Shore
- ↑ Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, History of the Prophets and Kings. Vol. 1, pg. 66. Trans. Franz Rosenthal. New York: SUNY Press, 1989.
- ↑ Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, "Shareet al-Khobar," tape #4, 1989: Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
- ↑ Samir Kaddouri, "Refutations of Ibn Hazm by Maliki Authors from al-Andalus and North Africa." Taken from Ibn Hazm of Cordoba: The Life and Works of a Controversial Thinker, pg. 541. Eds. Camilla Adang, Maribel Fierro and Sabine Schmidtke. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2013. ISBN 9789004243101
External links
- Dr. Sherman Jackson, Literalism, Empiricism, and Induction: Apprehending and Concretizing Islamic Law's Maqasid al-Shari'ah in the Modern World.