Islam - Hadith and Shari'a

can have same hadith with different isnads

sahih

• sound and acceptable hadith

without proper isnad matn is worthless

da’if

• weak hadith

shari’a

• divine law that is not man-made

• the revelation (Qu’ran) applied to society

• revealed by God to humans

qanun

• man made law

faqih

• jurist (expert in law), jurisprudence (what law is and what it ought to be)

• informal position of the legal scholar

• expert in fiqh

fiqh

• islamic law

qadi

• makes the ultimate decision

• islamic judge

• people run away from this job

• lifetime appointment

relationship between faqih and qadi

• faqih provides legal understanding and qadi enforces that law

ra’y

• informed opinion that has logic

  • doesn’t have to go back to a particular sunnah or even the Qu’ran

• reasoned opinion

  • not making baseless arguments but need to make decisions on things because not everything is in the Qur’an and sunnah

ijtihad

• need something other than ra’y and is achieved through consensus

• more formal and not just opinion

• theres a legal process to come to the decision

• scholars agree there are certain reasons that are correct

• more controlled reasoning

ijma

• consensus from jurists on a certain law

relationship between ijtihad and ijma

• ijtihad is the more structured legal reason and ijma is the consensus among scholars

• ijma gives the stability and secures the ijtihad

madhab

• school of thought

mujtahid

• someone who exercises ijtihad

orthopraxy

• focus more on practice and the correctness of that

5 principles of formal/classical schools

1. wajib/fard

2. sunna

3. ja’iz or mubah

   1. neither obligatory or forbidden

4. makruh

   1. blameworthy

5. haram

hanafi school

• focus on ra’y

• Abu Hanifa founded this

  • was a mawla

• flexible

where did the hanafi school spread from

• iraq out

maliki school

• focused on hadith but more on the way of the people

• founded by Malik ibn Abbas

• distrust ra’y

  • why should we rely on human opinion when we have divine rules (like hadith and sunnah)

    • saw it to be biased

what was one doctrine the maliki school followed

• ‘amal ahl al medina

  • example of the people of medina

  • better than ra’y

  • should follow in the way that the Prophet and his companions in Medina acted

where did the maliki school spread

• spread to egypt, north africa

shafi’i school

• founded by Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi’i

• usul-al fiqh

  • should use Qur’an and sunnah but also opinion too

  • focus on Qur’an and Sunnah first and then consensus (ijma not ra’y though)

• mixes hanafi and maliki

• make analogies (qiyas)

  • ex. if Qur’an says no wine then no beer too

maskh

• when a hadith or ruling abrogated because there is a new ruling defying it

what did ahmad ibn hanbal believe in

• that the Qur’an was eternal

  • countered al ma’mun

hanbali school

• founded by Ahmad ibn hanbal

• more based on hadith and following the Prophet

• understands Qur’an through the sunnah

imani (twelver) shi’i school

• more authority to jurists

• lots of ijtihad

islam is a way of life = orthopraxy

qadarites

• free will

• opposed Qadr

• we are the ones responsible for our actions and not God

jabarites

• believed in Qadr

Murji’ites

• if you claimed to be Muslim you go to Jannah

• if you sinned by accident its okay

• only God can judge not humans

• my faith is Allah’s busines

• punishment is waiting in the future on the day of judgment

• what islam is today

Mu’tazilites

• did mihna

• Qur’an is created

• strict

• focused on orthodoxy when orthopraxy was becoming more popular

• if you sin you are awaiting the punishment on the day of judgment

  • if you sin you are not a believer or a nonbeliever

Kharijites

• banished those who were found guilt of committing sins

  • like Ali

• the people who left after the arbitration

• their leaders just have to be pious don’t care about lineage

• repentance was seen as nothing to them

  • b/c if you already committed such a grave sin there is no way you could be sincere in your repentance

Ash’arites

• must accept things as God does them

• bi-la kayfa

  • don’t ask how and just accept it

• God can do anything and it would be just

qadariyya/qadarites

• human ability to be accountable for what they do

• God has no responsibility for the wrong you do that is all you

• separate evil from God

• have the qudra to choose their own actions

qudra

• have power to choose own actions

what did the mu’tazilites deny

• that there was a separation between God and his attributes

  • ex. God is knowing — but “knowledge” is not a separate attribute

kasb

• acquisition

• Asharities

• God creates an evil action like murder and we acquire it and put it into practice

• God creates things but doesn’t acquire them

  • ex. he made my eyes blue but Allah doesn’t turn blue

• God gives us the power to do things (gives ME the power to slap you)

what did the mu’tazilites think of kasb

• they saw that we had the capacity to choose whether or not to slap

what do both the asharites and mutazilies do

• they see the Qur’an figuratively

  • God’s hand = God’s power

early theological questions

• if the Qu’ran is created or not

• who is to blame for our actions (kasb)

• is the grave sinner a muslim

• predestination

kalam

• method to address theological questions

• use human reason (aql)

• use rational arguments to defend islamic beliefs

  • different than ijma and ra’y

    • because use rational arguments to defend islamic law

who is someone that does kalam

• mutakallimun

mutakallimun in ghazali thinking

• defenders of orthodoxy

philosphy behind createdness of the Qur’an

• God speaks and tha means he created his speech too so Qu’ran is created

what were the mu’tazilites known as

• ahl al tawhid wal-adl

what is the mu’tazilities position on anthropomorphism

• God can’t have a hand so when God says his hand in the Qur’an have to thinkk figuratively

• al manzila bayn al manziltayn

  • when you sin you are neither a believer or a nonbeliever

story of the three brothers

1. one goes to heaven

2. one goes to hell

3. one dies young and goes somewhere in between

   1. second guy is like why couldn’t i die early

what the story of the three brothers meant to al ashari

• that God’s wisdom is beyond our logic and we just have to accept things bi la kayfa

what do the asharites believe in regards to Allah’s attributes

• no separation between God and his attributes all a part of him

  • like mu’taziliites

what did the ashraities believe in regards to the Qur’an

• it was eternal

avicenna

• finds middle terms or links in the chain

• influenced by aristotle

• something has to bring you into existence

• even if things are impossible to exist concretely they still exist mentally

  • i’m thinking about it so it has to exist in my mind even if not in real life

contingent

• neither necessary nor impossible

what did avicenna believe about the contingent thing

• it doesn’t deserve to exist but also it doesn’t deserve not to exist

Avicenna’s argument that God exists

• God is a necessary being because without him nothing would exist

• contingent things need a cause so that is why God exists

• if there are contingent things then there needs to be someone who says it should exist and that person is God

Avicenna and wahm

• wahm = inner sense

• a sense that is used when things that are too abstract to be perceived by sensation

• allows us to percieve things inward

  • ex. hostility → not a sense but can feel it through wahm)

which region was Avicenna from

• Persia

Avicenna saw God as the necessary being and everything else was contingent

zakat

• Muhammad SAW said to give it secretly but others have moved to give it in the open so people know that you are doing it

• giving it in secret prevents pride

• also give it to collectors