Thesis (M.A.). / Written for the Institute of Islamic Studies. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/09/29). Includes bibliographical references.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät II--Freiburg i. Br.--Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 1990. / Bibliogr. p. 338-367. Index. Glossaire.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1990. / Indonesian and English. Translation of: Fatwās of the Council of Indonesian Ulama; with original English version following. English t.p. [iii]: Fatwas of the Council of Indonesia[n] Ulama : a study of Islamic legal thought in Indonesia, 1975-1988 / by Mohammad Atho Mudzhar. Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-157, 127-137 [2nd numeration]).

Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 1990. / Indonesian and English. Translation of: Fatwās of the Council of Indonesian Ulama; with original English version following. English t.p. [iii]: Fatwas of the Council of Indonesia[n] Ulama : a study of Islamic legal thought in Indonesia, 1975-1988 / by Mohammad Atho Mudzhar. Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-157, 127-137 [2nd numeration]).

The main aim of this interdisciplinary project is to examine attempts to codify sexual knowledge in Egypt between 1830 and 1928. Through surveying medical, religious, legal and moral writings on sexuality, this study aims to examine the underlying politics of sexual knowledge and the structures of permissions and prohibitions within which sexual knowledge was articulated in the period under study. The research recognizes that there are several sources that informed people about sexual behaviour in the period under study. However, the study is concerned only with a number of writings that imparted teachings about sex directly or indirectly to the growing literate middle class, and proceeds to discuss their authors and contexts. The study's main focus is the influence of medical and scientific conceptualization of sex differences on the understandings of gender and sexuality. In nineteenth-century Egypt, the study argues, professional medical authorities promoted medical theories that suggested men's innate active sexuality and inability to control their sexual urges. At the same time, professional Egyptian doctors increasingly projected women as mentally and physically fragile because of their reproductive cycle. Women were increasingly viewed as incapable of being sexually spontaneous. To remain healthy, women were advised to suppress their sexual desires to be satisfied only through marital sex. Through examining the interconnections between medical, legal, religious and moral discursive literature on sexual behaviour, this study brings into light the associations between sex, sexuality and the creation and recreation of gender. The study demonstrates that medical perceptions of male and female sexualities were at the core of moral and intellectual discourses on gender equality as well as religious opinions on sex-related issues. Since there was a multiplicity of ideological and activist stands on questions about sexuality and gender in the period under study, the study explores the variety of ways in which nationalists, feminists and religious scholars adopted, borrowed or negotiated with scientific and medical ideas on female sexuality to support their different views on contemporary controversial issues such as gender equality, polygamy etc. Medical and scientific ideas of male and female sexuality had a complex impact on discursive literature on gender and sexuality. On the one hand, they were employed to justify the continuity of patriarchy and the increasing male regulation of female sexuality. On the other hand, they strengthened arguments in support of the participation of women in public life.

This paper studies the trends in the interpretation of Islamic Law in India with particular reference to the Fatawa literature of Deoband. It relates mainly to two important concepts in the interpretation of Islamic law: bid'ah and ijtihad. The introduction gives the historical background of the fatawa literature and analyzes the concepts of bid'ah and ijtihad, postulating working definitions for these concepts. The first chapter summarizes and the second analyses the arguments in the relevant fatawa. The study concludes that the relevant inventions and new social practices were not considered bid'ah and that the reasoning in these fatawa was based on analogies made to similar previous cases in fiqh literature. Such interpretations adhered strictly to the letter of the law.

This dissertation explores why some Muslim clerics adopt the ideology of militant Jihad while others do not. I argue that clerics strategically adopt or reject Jihadi ideology because of career incentives generated by the structure of cleric educational networks. Well-connected clerics enjoy substantial success at pursuing comfortable careers within state-run religious institutions and they reject Jihadi ideology in exchange for continued material support from the state. Clerics with poor educational networks cannot rely on connections to advance through the state-run institutions, so many pursue careers outside of the system by appealing directly to lay audiences for support. These clerics are more likely to adopt Jihadi ideology because it helps them demonstrate to potential supporters that they have not been theologically coopted by political elites. I provide evidence of these dynamics by collecting and analyzing 27,142 fatwas, articles, and books written by 101 contemporary clerics. Using statistical natural language processing, I measure the extent to which each cleric adopts Jihadi ideology in their writing. I combine this with biographical and network information about each cleric to trace the process by which poorly-connected clerics become more likely to adopt Jihadi ideology. / Government

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This thesis is a study of Ibn Qayyim's approach to the fatwa as defined in his $I sp{c}l bar am al$-$Muwaqqi sp{c}in.$ This treatise deals primarily with the role of the mufti/ the procedure of issuing a fatwa and the necessary sources for a fatwa. Lawful application of these criteria ensures a proper and viable fatwa. Ibn Qayyim, however, highlights the misuse of fatwas, specifically those on hiyal. By questioning this misapplication, Ibn Qayyim hoped to redefine the entire use of the fatwa in Islamic jurisprudence. This argumentation is supplemented by a section addressing the dynamic essence of the fatwa. By examining the underlying $ sp{c}illa$ of a ruling and the maslaha as the main goal of its application, Ibn Qayyim believed that most rulings were, in some way, influenced by the surrounding elements of time and space. If the $ sp{c}illa$ changed due to changing circumstances, Ibn Qayyim surmised that the fatwa itself could undergo changes. This line of discourse helped establish the fatwa as an adaptable tool of law, further indicating the ability of Islamic law to accommodate unprecedented situations.

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.