Old Texts, New Practices : Islamic Reform in Modern Morocco

Etty Terem

ISBN 10: 0804787077 / ISBN 13: 9780804787079

Published by Stanford University Press Apr 2014, 2014

About this Item

Neuware - Focuses on a prominent Moroccan Islamic scholar of the early twentieth century, this book investigates the creative process of transforming Islamic law to guarantee the survival of a Muslim community in a changing world.

Seller Inventory # 9780804787079

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Old Texts, New Practices : Islamic Reform in Modern Morocco
• Publisher: Stanford University Press Apr 2014
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804787077
• ISBN 13: 9780804787079
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu

About this title

Synopsis

In 1910, al-Mahdi al-Wazzani, a prominent Moroccan Islamic scholar completed his massive compilation of Maliki fatwas. An eleven-volume set, it is the most extensive collection of fatwas written and published in the Arab Middle East during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Al-Wazzani's legal opinions addressed practical concerns and questions: What are the ethical and legal duties of Muslims residing under European rule? Is emigration from non-Muslim territory an absolute duty? Is it ethical for Muslim merchants to travel to Europe? Is it legal to consume European-manufactured goods? It was his expectation that these fatwas would help the Muslim community navigate the modern world.

In considering al-Wazzani's work, this book explores the creative process of transforming Islamic law to guarantee the survival of a Muslim community in a changing world. It is the first study to treat Islamic revival and reform from discourses informed by the sociolegal concerns that shaped the daily lives of ordinary people. Etty Terem challenges conventional scholarship that presents Islamic tradition as inimical to modernity and, in so doing, provides a new framework for conceptualizing modern Islamic reform. Her innovative and insightful reorientation constructs the origins of modern Islam as firmly rooted in the messy complexity of everyday life.

About the Author

Etty Terem is Assistant Professor of History at Rhodes College.