Après son annexion à la Sublime Porte au XVIe siècle, Alger a vue naître de grandes fondations de waqf, dont celle des Subul al-Khayrāt qui se distingue par le fait qu'il s'agit d'une fondation de madhhab hanéfite alors que la population algéroise est de madhhab malékite dans la grande majorité. Elle a été crée par les Turcs ottomans vers la fin du XVIe siècle et chargée de la gestion des mosquées hanéfites qui lui en dépendaient ainsi que de leurs biens appartenant à leur waqf. Trois de ses mosquées ont survécues à la démolition après la prise d'Alger : al-Jāmi‘ al-Jadid qui est la principale mosquée hanéfite édifié au XVIIe siècle par ordre de l'armée (bi amrin min al-‘askar al-manṣūr) et financée par les Subul al-Khayrāt, Jāmi‘ Kashshāwa et Jāmi‘ al-Qā'id Ṣafar. L'exploitation des documents relatifs aux waqf, pour la plupart inédits, a servi à connaître le nombre et la nature des biens waqf de la dite fondation et, par conséquent, leurs fondateurs qui sont en majorité des Turcs. Les documents ont également servi à connaître la composante démographique de la ville d'Alger à l'époque ottomane ainsi que les différents fonctions et métiers exercés dans cette cité. / After its annexion to the Sublime Porte in the 16th century, large waqf foundations developed in Algiers: the Subul al-Khayrāt figured among them. The Subul al-Khayrāt were different from other waqf in the city because their foundations were regulated by the Hanafi madhhab while the Algerian population was largely Maliki. The Ottoman Turks created the Subul al-Khayrāt towards the end of the 16th century and they created the structures to manage the waqf which belonged to it. Three mosques belonging to the Subul al-Khayrāt survived the demolition of Algiers after its conquest by the French in 1830: al-Jāmi‘ al-Jadid which is the principal Hanafi mosque built in the 17th century by order of the army (bi amrin min al-‘askar al-manṣūr) and financed by the Subul al-Khayrāt, Jāmi‘ Kashshāwa and Jāmi‘ al-Qā'id Ṣafar.The study of the pertinent documents regarding this waqf which, for the most part have not been published, served as the basis to study the number and the nature of the assets belonging to this foundation and, as a consequence, to study their endowers who were mostly Turks. The documents also served as a source to know the demographic components of the city of Algiers during the Ottoman period as well as the different functions and professions exercized in this city.

This thesis examines the role that scholarly digests and commentaries played in the formation of legal rules in the Muslim legal institution known as the madhhab. I posit that a shared approach to legal rule-determination, and the respect of juristic precedent that it entails, underlies the jurisprudential processes of all of the four post-classical Sunni madhhabs (the Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfi'ī, and Ḥanbalī), and unites them in a wider ‘madhhab-law tradition’. Taking the Ḥanafī madhhab as a case study, the thesis analyses a commentary written by the late Mamluk jurist Ibn Quṭlūbughā (d. 879/1474) upon the digest of the celebrated Abbasid-era Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Qudūrī (d. 428/1037). In discussing the madhhab's heritage of precedent, Ibn Quṭlūbughā's commentary weaves an intricate tapestry of quotations and references from previous jurists and works, providing us with insight into how author-scholars reacted to, and interacted with, other jurists over space and time. Chapter 1 provides a short introduction to the lives of Qudūrī and Ibn Quṭlūbughā, and the contexts within which they produced their works. Chapter 2 employs both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the commentary, in order to deduce historical and geographical patterns out of which a periodisation of rule-determination in the Ḥanafī madhhab is proposed. In Chapter 3, Ibn Quṭlūbughā's jurisprudential theory of rule-determination is studied, examining both the justifications and the processes employed by jurists in arriving at a legal rule in the Ḥanafī madhhab. Chapter 4 then turns to the craft of commentary itself, analysing over eighty case examples for the logical relationships, rhetorical devices, and legal arguments that inform the actual practice of rule-determination through commentary. A final chapter then summarises the conclusions, and situates them within a broader discussion as to the nature of the madhhab-law tradition.

Magister Artium - MA / Imam Malik b. Anas (d. 179 A.H.) is an important intellectual figure in Islam. He is the author of the first hadith collection, the Muwatta, and is the founder of one of the four major Sunni schools of law. His contribution towards formulating a distinct legal school allows millions of Muslims daily to perform their daily rituals of worship. Previous research, however, has not given enough attention to a systematic study of his beliefs. This study intends to address this shortcoming. My thesis examines the belief of imam Malik, particularly his concept of faith and the external expression thereof. It examines the first two eras of Islam, that of the Companions and Followers, which preceded him and their influence on his methodology of formulating his theological and legal views. It further looks at his approach to the textual evidences and his attitude towards speculative reasoning (kalam) regarding theological issues. This study further aims to verify the statements attributed to imam Malik regarding what constitutes correct faith and whether it increases or decreases. It also looks at the conflicting statements attributed to him regarding the increase and decrease of faith and tries to resolve them. Furthermore, it sources reliable biographical information on imam Malik to determine his attitude towards the diverse theological trends such as the Qadarites and Murji’ites prevalent during his time. In addition, the study compares the views of imam Malik with that of the other three founders of the Sunni Sunni legal schools.

Text in English and Arabic / In pre-colonial Africa, the Southwestern Sahara which includes Mauritania, Mali and Senegal belonged to what was then referred to as the Sudan and extended from the Atlantic seaboard to the Red Sea. The advent of Islam and the Arabic language to West Africa in the 11th century heralded an intellectual marathon whose literary output still fascinates us today. At a time when Europe was emerging from the dark ages and Africa was for most Europeans a terra incognita, indigenous African scholars were composing treatises as diverse as mathematics, agriculture and the Islamic sciences. A twentieth century Mauritanian, Arabic monograph, Irshād al- Muqallidīn ʿinda ikhtilāf al-Mujtahidīn1, written circa 1910/1332, by a yet unknown Mauritanian jurist of the Mālikī School, Bāba bin al-Shaykh Sīdī al- Shinqīṭī al-Ntishā-ī (d.1920/1342), a member of the muchacclaimed Shinqīṭī fraternity of scholars, is a fine example of African literary accomplishment. This manuscript hereinafter referred to as the Irshād, is written within the legal framework of Islamic jurisprudence (usūl al-fiqh). A science that relies for the most part on the intellectual and interpretive competence of the independent jurist, or mujtahid, in the application of the methodologies employed in the extraction of legal norms from the primary sources of the sharīʿah. The subject matter of the Irshād deals with the question of juristic differences. Juristic differences invariably arise when a mujtahid exercises his academic freedom to clarify or resolve conundrums in the law and to postulate legal norms. Other independent jurists (mujtahidūn) may posit different legal norms because of the exercise of their individual interpretive skills. These differences, when they are deemed juristically irreconcilable, are called ikhtilāfāt (pl. of ikhtilāf). The author of the Irshād explores a corollary of the ikhtilāf narrative and posits the hypothesis that there ought not to be ikhtilāf in the sharīʿah. The proposed research will comprise an annotated translation of the monograph followed by a synopsis and commentary on its dominant themes. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Litt. et Phil. (Islamic Studies)