Category Archives: Traditions (hadith literature)

Varisco on the Baghdadi Ratl

Conferences and Talks, Iraq, Islamic Economics, Islamic Law, Islamic Texts, Muhammad, Scholars, Traditions (hadith literature), Yemen

On Thursday, July 8 , 2021 (4 pm Berlin time, 10 am New York time) I will be giving an online presentation on my search for the metric weight of the Baghdadi ratl, the most widespread measure for international trade in the Red Sea/Indian Ocean network during the Abbasid and Mamluk/Rasulid eras. Although several Western scholars since the mid-19th century have suggested the metric measure of the dirham, a basic unit of the ratl, there is disagreement. Most of the research has focused on the numismatic use of weights with much less on use in the market. Western scholars have ignored the Islamic legal interpretation of two measures used by the Prophet Muhammad (the sa‘ and mudd), which were later interpreted by Muslim religious scholars according to the Baghdadi ratl for zakat and alms. My talk is more of a prolegomena to future study of Islamic metrology than a definitive rendering. I would be pleased to send a copy for comments to anyone interested.

Muslim Women Hadith Scholars

Books You Should Read, Gender and Sexuality, Islamic Texts, Muhammad, Traditions (hadith literature)

The image of an Islamic scholar engaged in memorization, collection or engagement with the many traditions (hadith, singular) of the Prophet Muhammad is invariably that of a male. After all, one of the most important collections is that of the Persian Muhammad b. Ismail al-Bukhari (d. 870 CE). But over the centuries there have been thousands of Muslim women who studied these traditions. For example, one of these scholars, Zaynab bint al-Kamal, is reported to have taught some 400 hadith works in 13th century Damascus. Many of these women are known, but most have not been recognized outside biographical sources.

Earlier this year Dr. Mohammed Akram Nadwi from the Cambridge Islamic College published a 43-volume work, al-Wafa’ bi-asma’ al-nisa’ (Biographical Dictionary of Women Narrators of Hadith) on over 10,000 female hadith transmitters and scholars. The text is currently in Arabic, but there is an English translation of the first volume available on Amazon.

For a talk in Arabic on Youtube about his book, click here.

Free Articles at Brill

Anthropology/Sociology, Gender and Sexuality, Islam: Introduction, Islamic History, Islamic Law, Islamic Sects, Literature, Qur'an, Sufism, Traditions (hadith literature), Uncategorized

These articles are freely available until 31 January 2015 on the Brill Website.

Islamic Law in the Modern World
Author: Aharon Layish
Islamic Law and Society, (Volume 21, No. 3, pp. 276-307)

An Epistemic Shift in Islamic Law
Author: Aria Nakissa
Islamic Law and Society, (Volume 21, No. 3, pp. 209-251)

Reconstructing Archival Practices in Abbasid Baghdad
Author: Maaike van Berkel
Journal of Abbasid Studies, (Volume 1, No. 1, pp. 7-22)

The Early Ḥanafiyya and Kufa
Author: Christopher Melchert
Journal of Abbasid Studies, (Volume 1, No. 1, pp. 23-45)

Continue reading Free Articles at Brill →

Fatwa on Beheading

Ethics, Islamic Law, Muhammad, Qur'an, Syria, Terrorism Issue, Traditions (hadith literature)

Throughout history in almost every culture there has been the sordid practice of beheading. John the Baptist lost his head to King Herod. Louis XVI lost his under a French guillotine. But few would argue that beheading is just today, no matter what the rationale. The recent choreographed beheadings of ISIS have brought the issue once again to a head. Unfortunately, such video propaganda only feeds Islamophobia, even though there is no legitimate justification for such a practice in Islamic law or the sunna of the Prophet. Not one of the companions of the prophet is recorded as having decapitated an enemy; certainly the Prophet himself never committed such an act. Indeed, the blood-soaked ISIS spectacles are pornographic.

I recently came across a lengthy fatwa on the Islamic Sham Organization in response to the question if beheading is sanctioned in Islam. I attached it below as it is well worth reading.

السؤال:
ما حكم ذبح أسرى الأعداء بالسكين؟ وهل هو فعلاً سنة نبوية يمكن اتباعها؟

الجواب:
الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله، وبعد:
فقد أرسل الله سبحانه وتعالى رسولَه بالهدى والعدل والرحمة، فكان مما شرعه الإحسان في استيفاء العقوبات والحدود والقصاص، بأن تكون بأيسر طريقة وأسرعها، ومنعَ من كل ما فيه تعذيب وتمثيل، كتقطيع الأعضاء والذبح بالسكين، فإنها من الطرق الشنيعة والمنكرة في القتل، وبيان ذلك فيما يلي:
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Al-Aqsa Arabic Manuscripts Going Online

Islamic Sciences, Islamic Texts, Israel, Palestine, Qur'an, Traditions (hadith literature)


Top of page from 1347 CE copy of Miftah al-‘ulum of al-Sakaki in the al-Aqsa Mosque Library

The British Museum is sponsoring a project to digitalize Arabic manuscripts in the al-Aqsa Mosque library of Jerusalem. Details below and at their website:

EAP521: Digitisation of manuscripts at the Al-aqsa Mosque Library, East Jerusalem

The main goal of this project is to preserve the historical manuscript collection housed at the Al-aqsa Mosque Library in Jerusalem. The Al-aqsa Library located at the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem serves as a primary research center for Islamic studies and as a reference library for scholars and students from Jerusalem and other Palestinian cities. The library’s rare and most valuable collection consists of approximately 2000 manuscripts. The manuscripts were acquired by the Al-aqsa Library from prominent scholars, private collections, and from libraries in Palestine that have ceased to exist. The materials selected for this project represent 119 manuscript titles in the most immediate need of preservation.

EAP521/1: Al-Aqsa Mosque Library Collection of Historical Manuscripts [12th century-19th century]

“This manuscript collection contains 119 Arabic language titles that span over several Islamic periods from the 9th century CE to the end of the Ottoman rule in Palestine at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the manuscripts relate to aspects of the Islamic religion, but also cover Arabic literature, the Arabic language, logic, math and Sufism and provide a unique insight into centuries of Arabic culture in Palestine. The numbers of pages of original material represent double pages, often librarians of islamic manuscripts use one number for every two pages. ”

Digitisation is planned primarily as a means of preservation in order to create high-quality archival digital copies of the original source materials that are at risk of deterioration. Environmental factors, wear and tear of manuscripts due to poor storage conditions, the lack of security at the library, and the unstable political situation in Jerusalem contribute to the sense of urgency and make digitisation of these unique manuscript materials a top priority. Continue reading Al-Aqsa Arabic Manuscripts Going Online →

Eclipse of the Greater Jihad

Islamic History, Islamic Law, Qur'an, Terrorism Issue, Traditions (hadith literature)

Eclipse of the Greater Jihad
by Syed Manzar Abbas Zaidi, Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace, Volume 3. Issue 1, Fall 2009

[The following is a brief excerpt from an interesting article on the debate over the “greater jihad” in light of Quranic and hadith references. I recommend reading the entire article, which can be done by clicking here.]

The word jihad derives from the Arabic root jhd, signifying intense struggle or effort. It has the connotations of a moral struggle within one’s own self, besides denoting an armed struggle. It thus carries the hermeneutical meaning of a moral endeavour directed toward one’s own improvement or self-elevation on a moral plane, which Muslim jurists of eminence have been quoted as calling jihad-e-akbar, or greater jihad. On the other hand, preparations and participation for defense against an armed conflict that is the consequence of foreign aggression has been known as qitaal, or jihad-e-asghar, lesser jihad… Continue reading Eclipse of the Greater Jihad →

Bringing al-Zabîdî to Light and to Life

Books You Should Read, Egypt, Languages, Literature, Scholars, Sufism, Sunni, Tihama, Traditions (hadith literature), Yemen


19th century Cairo mosque illustration from Henry Van-Lennep’s Bible Customs.

Those of us who spend hours using Arabic lexicons would be at a loss without the massive Tâj al-‘Arûs min jawâhir al-qâmûs of Muhammad Murtadâ al-Zabîdî. Completed by this consummate Muslim scholar in 1188/1774 after fourteen years of diligent research, the recent Kuwait edition comprises 40 volumes. Ironically, what took al-Zabîdî fourteen years to write and dictate seems a rapid turn-around, given that the Kuwait edition began in 1960 and was not completed until 2002 [There is a copy available for only £2,463 from Abe Books…, but I suggest you go to Lebanon, where the 40 volume set is only $325 from Fadak Books I am not aware of any online version of Tâj, although Lisân al-‘Arab is available online in searchable format.] Those of us who could never afford to house the 40 volume edition have managed to get by with reprints of the 19th century Cairo edition, funky font presence that it sheds. I remember buying my copy of the thick black-cover volumes in 1981, filling a suitcase with the hefty weight, paying the porter a handsome bakshish for his back-breaking effort at Cairo airport, and then having the suitcase implode from the weight as I crossed the threshhold of my home back in New York. I like to think that my own account would have made its way into al-Zabîdî’s inquisitive notes. Continue reading Bringing al-Zabîdî to Light and to Life →