This thesis argues that the Salman Rushdie controversy has a range of "entails" which focus and contribute to the need for a reconsideration of the complex constitutional nexus of religion, society and state currently embodied in the establishment of the Church of England. Chapter 1: The Introduction, acknowledges the academic and professional contexts that have informed the thesis. It clarifies the central research questions, defines the boundaries of the research and sets out the arguments in brief. Chapter 2: The Contours of the Controversy, charts the principal features of the controversy as it developed between 1988 and the end of 1995, primarily by highlighting the "critical incidents" during 1989. Chapter 3: The Controversy: Actions and Reactions outlines a range of positions taken up within the controversy and concludes by distilling five clusters of issues (social, religious, cultural, legal and political) which it is argued have "entails" for established religion in England. Chapter 4 on Established Religion, The Controversy and the Issues outlines the inheritance of established religion in England. It brings the identified clusters of issues into critical interaction with debates around this inheritance and the constitutional nexus which it represents for the contemporary relationships between religion(s), state and society in England. Finally, some alternative patterns for structuring these relationships are examined. Chapter 5 on Towards a New Socio-Religious Contract concludes the thesis by arguing that, in the context of the changed composition of English society and the public policies and community responses adopted in relation to these changes, the "entails" of the Rushdie controversy signal the arrival of a "kairos" for established religion and the need for negotiating a new "socio-religious contract. " Some alternative models are debated for symbolising, structuring and operationalising the relationships between religion(s), state and society in England within the UK, and a proposal is made for what is argued to be a more theoretically coherent and practically appropriate way forward than either the current form of established religion or the other identified possibilities.

La religion musulmane est une religion universelle, elle ne se limite pas à un espace défini, ni à une époque. Elle peut s’étendre à tous les lieux. Le passé a témoigné et démontré sa capacité à être une religion conciliable et adaptable à toutes cultures et civilisations. Dès lors, il est tout à fait possible d’affirmer qu'elle est une religion flexible selon l'environnement. Le flux migratoire en Europe des personnes en provenance de pays musulmans a engendré l’enracinement progressif de l’Islam, dans un environnement non musulman et sécularisé. C’est dans ce contexte sans précédent, qu’une réflexion innovatrice a émergé, tenant compte des différents aspects sociétaux. Elle consiste à réfléchir aux nouvelles perspectives visant à structurer un modèle cohérent pour les musulmans d’Europe, en phase avec la société occidentale. Ce renouveau dépend essentiellement de la double capacité à conjuguer raison et respect du patrimoine des fondements de la jurisprudence musulmane. Mais, il doit également intégrer une lecture critique de ce patrimoine par le biais de nouveaux outils de compréhension, répondant aux finalités de la loi musulmane.L’objet de cette recherche porte sur le concept de fatwa, qui permet justement l’adaptation, en apportant des solutions adéquates aux Musulmans vivant en Europe. Cette recherche englobe aussi bien la structuration du CEFR et sa méthodologie d’expertise que les catégories de lois sujettes à la flexibilité. Les fatwa(s) émises par le conseil déterminent ainsi les mécanismes employés pour la résolution des cas spécifiques au contexte européen où les communautés musulmanes sont minoritaires. Ceci permet d’évaluer, par conséquent, la pertinence et la recevabilité de ce nouvel habillage du fiqh, qui vise à offrir de nouveaux horizons, sans pour autant se détacher complètement du patrimoine juridique existant. / Islam is a universal religion. It may not be hemmed in any limited boundaries, neither in a specific era. It has ability to extend to all the places. In the past this religion has proven its adaptability and compatibility to all the cultures and civilizations. Consequently, we can assure with certainty that Islam is completely flexible and adaptable to a given environment. The migratory flow to Europe from Muslim countries has established its roots gradually in a non-Muslim and secular environment. In this unprecedented context an innovative reflection has emerged englobing all the societal aspects. It consists in thinking out new viewpoints on creating models that are coherent for Muslims in Europe and are in accordance with the western society. This renewal depends essentially on the double capacity of combining reason and respect of the patrimony of the basis of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet, it also has to incorporate the analytical interpretations of this patrimony through the new tools of comprehension, meeting with the aims of Islamic laws.The aim of this research is about the concept of a Fatwa that allows adaptation bringing suitable solutions for the Muslims living in Europe. This research includes structuring of CEFR, its methodology of assessment as well as the categories of laws that are subjected to flexibility. The Fatwas issued by the Council consequently determine the mechanisms used to solve cases specific to European context where the Muslim communities are a minority. This allows us to evaluate the pertinence and the admissibility of embellishing of Fiqh which is meant to open new horizons, all the same without being totally detached from the existing legal patrimony.

The non-binding Islamic legal rulings or opinions (fatwās), which are issued by Muslim scholars or Islamic religious institutions in response to questions asked by Muslim individuals may be said to represent the most dynamic genre of (past or present) Islamic legal literature. It was traditionally the case that the practice of iftā’ resided in the individual authority and effort of Muslim scholars. However, after national and international Islamic religious institutions were established at the beginning of the twentieth century, this practice has largely become the responsibility of specific bodies tasked with issuing fatwās. Saudi Arabia’s Dār al-Iftā’ (the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Iftā’) and Turkey’s Diyanet (the Presidency of Religious Affairs) are concrete products of the twentieth century. Both institutions provide an idiosyncratic insight into the practice of iftā’ and more specifically its development and application within two very different societies. One of the primary concerns of this thesis is therefore to identify the authority, function and role of the two institutions and their official fatwās in their respective environments. The thesis compares the fatwās issued by the two institutions with the intention of determining which Islamic legal concepts and methodologies are applied. In addition, the discussion will also assess how the institutions interpreted authoritative sources of Islamic law and the process through which they came to arrive at divergent, and even opposed, interpretations. The thesis provides insight into the dynamic interconnection and interaction between Islamic legal methodologies and societal realities by examining these two Islamic modern institutions and focusing on their legal interpretation or edicts (fatwās). The active dimension of Islamic law is visibly rendered within the cultural, legal, political and social context in which the fatwā mechanism provides new regulations and rulings. The analysis converges upon the proposition that differences of opinion do not derive from the fundamental Islamic legal sources, the Qur’an and Sunna, but can instead be traced back to the different contextual environments in which the fatwās emerged, thus illustrating the strong connection between contextual elements and Islamic legal methodologies. In analysing fatwās issued by the two institutions on similar subjects within a comparative framework, I seek to explore the interaction between Islamic legal methodologies and the contexts in which they are applied. I therefore provide a contextual and methodological analysis of contemporary fatwās issued by the two institutions. After identifying four thematic criteria (the predominant madhhab affiliation, legal systems, political structures, and social presumptions and cultural practices), the thesis then proceeds to identify the points at which the two institutions converge and diverge in each of these respects. The study also uses the fatwās to demonstrate how the two institutions employ different Islamic legal concepts and principles when addressing identical issues. Finally, the thesis seeks to introduce an advanced comparative model for the study of fatwās that encompasses institutions (as social and religious interpreters), Islamic legal theories and methodologies (as an essential source of the law) and the social context in which fatwās emerge. I envisage that a comparative analysis of the Dār al-Iftā’ and the Diyanet will encourage academic researchers to investigate the institutionalised iftā’ practice and to explore differences of opinion in the modern world. Institutionalised fatwās are important elemental materials that provide considerable insight into the points at which Islamic law encounters rapidly changing socio-cultural, socio-legal and socio-political circumstances.

This paper is an attempt to describe how two religious edicts by the current Egyptian grand mufti relate to an ongoing theological debate in the Muslim world on the nature of miracles and the state of mankind between life and death. The study illustrates how the mufti adheres to the Sunni theological school of Ash‘ariyya and in what way said school has emerged as a theological middle ground between the literal and interpretative schools of thought. The study also reveals how the Mufti as a guardian of the faith must operate within a secularising context and what strategies are possible for him to utilise if he is to meet the demands of a modernised society whilst retaining a coherent religious explanation. In his office as grand mufti, Ali Goma may well be described as a traditionalist where theological matters are considered even if the governmental institute of Dār al- iftā has been modernised under his supervision and now uses 24 hour phone lines, e-mail, facebook and has an official webpage and translates many of its edicts into other languages than Arabic. This means that Dār al-iftā and Ali Goma are communicating an official Islam not only to the Muslims of Egypt, but has transformed from a national institute to a player in the era of globalisation.

This thesis examines the dynamic interplay of the shared legal, personal, and societal commitments of mustaftis (petitioners), and muftis at Cairo's Dar Al-Iftaa, the official fatwa council, where I observed 140 fatwa sessions mostly concerning marital disputes. It focuses on the role and impact of fatwas in preserving social and gender relations in a society with increased religious tendencies and dispositions, such as the Egyptian society. The thesis demonstrates that the study of iftaa within its institutionalized and interactive channels could effectively enhance our understanding of the process of legal interpretation in general, and the power dynamics of social/gender relations in particular. Therefore, the thesis attempts to develop a model for the study of fatwas that gives consideration to petitioners, as agencies of the law; muftis, as social and religious interpreters; and the structures of the society of which fatwas are issued, as an influential, yet influenced element. The thesis demonstrates that Dar Al-Iftaa provides Egyptians with an alternative to courts for religious, marital, and social counseling. It further demonstrates how Dar Al-Iftaa aims at preserving marriages, and, by extension, the societal and gender norms. During the society preservation attempts, muftis adapted to the social patriarchal assumptions that give each married partner privileges in correspondence to their gender position in the society. Hence, I pay closer attention to women's involvement in male-dominated spaces such as religious institutions to negotiate their marital relations and to challenge the hegemonic structures of their society.

No description available.

L'histoire de la genèse des institutions religieuses musulmanes diverge de celle des autres institutions particulièrement chrétiennes. En l'absence d'un pouvoir central puissant comme l'Empire byzantin, les premiers musulmans ne s'étaient pas pliés aux ordres d'une autorité politique dominante en dehors de l'islam. C'est ainsi que se développaient très tôt des institutions politico-religieuses qui ont pris en charge, tout à la fois, l'administration de l'Etat et la règlementation des affaires religieuses. A cet amalgame s'ajoutait l'aspect dogmatique de l'islam qui refusait toute sorte d'intercession ou clergé entre Dieu et les hommes. Cette émergence continue jusqu'à nos jours à être sujet de polémique entre les défenseurs d'une séparation nette des deux domaines et les défenseurs d'un Islam totalisant englobant le spirituel et le temporel. L'Empire Ottoman, comme ses deux prédécesseurs, a admis une collaboration étroite entre les deux domaines. Les Etats modernes se partagent entre trois tendances : Une qui supprime ou affaiblit les institutions religieuses, une autre qui les intègre à l'appareil de l'Etat et une troisième qui exerce une neutralité vis-à-vis d'elles. Le Liban adopte cette troisième voie. Pour connaître ce mécanisme chaque communauté religieuse est coiffée d'un appareil religieux central qui exerce des compétences législatives, exécutives et judiciaires en tout ce qui touche à ses affaires religieuses et à la gestion de ses biens-waqf. Comment fonctionnent ces institutions religieuses ? C'est le sujet de notre contribution à l'étude des institutions religieuses islamiques. / The history of genesis of the Muslim religious institutions diverges from that of the other institutions, particularly the Christian ones. In the absence of a powerful central power like the Byzantine Empire, the first muslims did not consent to the orders of a dominant political authority outside of Islam. This is how political-religious institutions developed very early, and those took in charge, all together, the administration of the State and the ruling of the religious matters. To this amalgam was added the dogmatic aspect of Islam, that refused to the clergy any sort of intercession between God and men. This emergence continues in our present days to be a subject of polemic nature between the defenders of a clear separation of the two domains, and the defenders of a totalitarian Islam grouping the spiritual and the temporal. The Ottoman Empire, like its two predecessors, have admitted a close collaboration between the two domains. The modern States are divided between three tendencies: One that cancels or weakens the religious institutions, another that integrates them to the State operation and a third one that exercises neutrality in their regard. Lebanon adopts this third way. To know this mechanism, every religious community has its own central religious engine that exercises legislative, executive and judiciary competencies in all what relates to its religious matters and to the administration of its properties- waqf. How do these religious institutions function? This is the subject of our contribution to the study of the Islamic religious institutions

My dissertation examines the transformation of Islamic legal discourse and the impact of that discourse on Muslim society. More particularly, it analyzes fatwas (religious legal edicts) over the course of Muslim history so as to determine how this legal mechanism was instrumental in the making and remaking of Islamic law and society. Historically speaking, substantive aspects of Islamic law developed out of the material of fatwas. In the very early stages of Islamic history there were no codified laws to guide people in their religious and social concerns, but the manner in which Muslims received guidance with regards to their religious practice was that they posed their concerns to early proto-jurists in the form of religio-legal questions, which these jurists addressed in the form of fatwas. Out of the critical mass of these fatwas, Islamic legal manuals began to be compiled and a definitive corpus of Islamic law came into being. Essentially, my investigation looks at the development and continuing evolution of Islamic law through lens of a particular legal practice: issuance of fatwas. By examining fatwas in different periods of Islamic history from the beginning until today, I chart the transformations that take place in Islamic legal tradition(s) as a result of the encounter with changing socio-historical conditions. More particularly, my analysis draws attention to the way in which legal practices amongst jurists created discursive shifts to established norms within Islamic legal discourse on how these discursive shifts contributed to the evolution of Islamic law. Moreover, by analyzing fatwas issued from Muslim jurists from various regions and periods, I identify how fatwas were essential catalysts for historical change, which gives us a better appreciation of the interrelationship between law and society. This historical foundation provides a basis for a diachronic assessment of the transformations that take place in Islamic legal tradition as a result of the encounter with colonialism. In latter part of my investigation, I examine how the practice and rationalization of fatwa has changed due to the ramifications of colonialism on the Muslim world. In this era, the established practices and doctrines of Islamic law were critiqued through the lens of modern Western ideas. This spawned modern Muslim movements that sought to reform Islamic law and redefine its relationship to the state and society. After historically establishing the ideas which were advocated by reformers, my goal is to assess whether those calls for reform have actually affected the practice Islamic law at the substantive and procedural levels. I do this by subjecting fatwas issued in the postcolonial period to critical analysis, so as to determine whether the procedures or rationale of fatwas have changed in a fundamental way. The larger themes that I address in my latter analysis is whether this modern trend amongst some Muslim thinkers and jurists towards contextually oriented legal concepts represents a lasting shift away from the traditional textually oriented legal methodology to produce a new type of discourse that is revolutionizing Islamic law or is it a passing phenomenon that will not make a lasting impact on how Islamic law is derived in the future. Fatwas are the key starting points in addressing these question because they represent the most elemental dimensions of Islamic law and the new legal developments within it. So, they offer vistas on how Muslim religious and legal practice will undergo a transformation in the future. / Religion

Islamic Jurisprudence comprises of the laws that govern a Muslims daily life. The Prophet Muhammad explained and practically demonstrated these laws. The jurists studied the Quran and the Prophet's life and they adopted a refined methodology which they used to extract legal rulings and verdicts. This methodology is known as the Principles of Jurisprudence. The jurists expanded on this methodology with some differences among them on the usage and the application of some aspects as acceptable forms of evidence. Eventually, the Muslim world was left with four schools of jurisprudence that are present to this day. There are differences between these schools on some issues but these differences never caused conflict, instead it provided us with a wealth of knowledge. We need to study these schools and its principles together with the objectives and intent of the Shariah and utilize this to find solutions to all new issues that arise. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M. A. (Islamic Studies)

Islamic Jurisprudence comprises of the laws that govern a Muslims daily life. The Prophet Muhammad explained and practically demonstrated these laws. The jurists studied the Quran and the Prophet's life and they adopted a refined methodology which they used to extract legal rulings and verdicts. This methodology is known as the Principles of Jurisprudence. The jurists expanded on this methodology with some differences among them on the usage and the application of some aspects as acceptable forms of evidence. Eventually, the Muslim world was left with four schools of jurisprudence that are present to this day. There are differences between these schools on some issues but these differences never caused conflict, instead it provided us with a wealth of knowledge. We need to study these schools and its principles together with the objectives and intent of the Shariah and utilize this to find solutions to all new issues that arise. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M. A. (Islamic Studies)