Jewish Foundation of Islāmic Fiqh: Critical Assessment of Orientalists’ viewpoint

Abstract

Orientalism has become one of the important research study areas in recent time in the research centers and universities of Muslim Countries. Orientalists have contributed a lot about Islāmic Studies and different Islāmic Sciences so they are being read, quoted and critically analyzed by the Muslim scholarship. They have written about the legal tradition of Islam, its development, evolution, and history. According to some well-known Orientalists like Joseph Schacht, Charles Torrey and Bernard Lewis, the Islamic fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) developed its foundations by borrowing legal material from the Jewish legal tradition and system. In this regard, they have pointed out some areas which according to them strengthen their viewpoint of borrowed legal system. In this article, Orientalists’ viewpoint about the Jewish foundation of Islāmic Fiqh has been critically assessed and their claim that the Islamic Fiqh has borrowed its legal material from Jewish legal tradition has been refuted.

Keywords

• fiqh, jewish, qiyās, orientalists, abraham, torrey, bousquet