Description
Book Synopsis‘Abd al-Rahman b. ‘Amr al-Awza‘i (c.707–774) was Umayyad Syria’s most influential jurist, part of a generation of scholars who began establishing the first formal structures for the preservation and dissemination of religious knowledge. Following the Abbasid revolution, they provided a point of stability in otherwise unstable times.
Despite his close ties to the old regime, al-Awza‘i continued to participate in legal and theological matters in the Abbasid era. Although his immediate impact would prove short-lived, his influence on aspects of Islamic law, particularly the laws of war, endures to this day.
Trade Review‘Despite the fragmentary evidence at his disposal, Judd has given us a nuanced and well-rounded portrait of the life and teaching of an important but largely neglected jurist and theologian of the formative period of Islamic legal thought.’
-- R. Stephen Humphreys, Professor Emeritus of History and Islamic Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Table of ContentsForeword
Introduction
Al-Awza‘i’s Biography
1 THE SOURCES
2 AL-AWZA‘I’S JURISPRUDENCE
Law in the Formative Period of Islam
Al-Awza‘i’s Fiqh
Evaluating Al-Awza‘i as a Legal Scholar
3 AL-AWZA‘I’S SCHOLARLY MILIEU
Pro-Umayyad Friends and Rivals
The Hanafis: Al-Awza‘i’s Foes
The Malikis
4 AL-AWZA‘I’S THEOLOGY
Damascus as a Theological Center
Al-Awza‘i’s Theological Views
Al-Awza‘i and the Qadarites
Conclusions: Al-Awza‘i’s Theology
5 AL-AWZA‘I AND THE POLITICAL ELITE
Al-Awza‘i and the Umayyads
Surviving the Fall of the Umayyads and the Abbasid Revolution
Al-Awza‘i and the Abbasids
Al-Awza‘i’s Post-Revolutionary Life
Conclusion: Evaluating Al-Awza‘i as a Political Figure
6 AL-AWZA‘I’S LEGACY
Al-Awza‘i’s Students
Al-Awza‘i’s Regional Persistence
Al-Awza‘i’s Legal Legacy
Al-Awza‘i in Modern Times
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
