Save

Customary Practices as Exigencies in Islamic Law

Between a Source of Law and a Legal Maxim

In: Oriens
Author:
Ahmed Fekry Ibrahim McGill University

Search for other papers by Ahmed Fekry Ibrahim in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Download Citation Get Permissions

Access options

Get access to the full article by using one of the access options below.

Institutional Login

Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials

Login via Institution

Purchase

Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

$40.00

Abstract

I offer a corrective to Libson’s view that customs made their way into Islamic law in the formative period only through the ḥadīth and ijmāʿ genres. I argue that custom was incorporated into the law through the legal methodologies of Abū Ḥanīfa and Mālik. Due to the success of al-Shāfiʿī’s thesis, later jurists justified custom on grounds of necessity and exigency of the times rather than elevating it to the level of the four-source theory of Islamic law. Essential to this process of valorization of custom was a legal maxim developed by al-Juwaynī in the classical period.

Content Metrics

All Time Past 365 days Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 1141 440 23
Full Text Views 279 2 0
PDF Views & Downloads 189 5 1