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English edition
392 pp.
Hardbound
13.50 x 22.50 cm
$69.95
LE 400.00
ISBN
978 094 662 115 6
For sale only in the Middle East
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al-Shafi‘i’s Risala
Treatise on the Foundation of Islamic Jurisprudence
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Translated with an introduction, notes, and appendices by
Majid Khadduri
The Risala of al-Imam al-Shafi‘i was written in the second century of Islam but its influence continues to the present day since it was with this text by the founder of one of the four Sunni schools of law that Islamic jurisprudence found its most complete and lasting systematization.
During the early years of the spread of Islam the exponents of Islamic legal doctrine were faced with the problems raised by ruling and administering a diverse and rapidly growing empire. In Medina and Kufa as well as other cities of early Muslim rule, schools of law had developed but it took the genius of Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi‘i, born in the year 150H / 767CE, to establish the principles by which the various legal doctrines could be synthesized into a coherent system. In the Risala, which laid down the basis for such a synthesis, al-Shafi‘i established the overriding authority, next only to the Qur’an, of the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad as transmitted in the traditions.
Professor Majid Khadduri’s translation uses not only the original manuscripts of Ibn Jama‘a and al-Rabi‘, but also two authoritative editions published earlier this century. Detailed, annotated summaries of the composition, structure, substance, and argument of the text are given, as well as the historical background and a biography of the author, a list of transmitters of traditions, a glossary of the most important Islamic legal terms, and a select bibliography.
Majid Khadduri is professor of Middle Eastern studies at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and is the author of many works including War and Peace in the Law of Islam and The Islamic Conception of Justice.
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