The Foundation of Norms in Islamic Jurisprudence and Theology

Description

In this book, Omar Farahat presents a new way of understanding the work of classical Islamic theologians and legal theorists who maintained that divine revelation is necessary for the knowledge of the norms and values of human actions. Through a reconstruction of classical Ash'ari-Mu'tazili debates on the nature and implications of divine speech, Farahat argues that the Ash'ari attachment to revelation was not a purely traditionalist position. Rather, it was a rational philosophical commitment emerging from debates in epistemology and theology. He further argues that the particularity of this model makes its distinctive features helpful for contemporary scholars who defend a form of divine command theory. Farahat's volume thus constitutes a new reading of the issue of reason and revelation in Islam and breaks new ground in Islamic theology, law and ethics.

Omar Farahat is Assistant Professor of Law at McGill University, Montreal.

'The book undoubtedly makes important contributions to contemporary scholarship on theology, the history of Islamic sects and doctrines, and usul al-fiqh.' Necmettin Kizilkaya, Nazariyat 'Written in a scholarly, yet clear, fashion, the book is suitable for scholars and students of Islamic studies generally, and Islamic theology, Islamic law, Islamic history, and Islamic ethics more specifically... this work offers an important contribution for religious moral and legal theories in general.' Sami Al-Daghistani, Journal of Law and Religion '... an important contribution for religious moral and legal theories ...' Sami Al-Daghistani, Journal of Law and Religion