Conference Presentations by Ali Zaherinezhad
The conference brings new perspectives to Islamic discourses on ethics during the pre-modern peri... more The conference brings new perspectives to Islamic discourses on ethics during the pre-modern period across the disciplines of law, theology, philosophy, and adab. While ethics is defined in broad terms to encompass various scholarly discussions of morality, the conference adopts a contextualist approach to address the following issue: How did scholars think about ethics in their conception of the divine discourse on morality in light of the contingent nature of human reality? Earlier emic approaches to Islamic law led many to declare its literalist tendency an obstacle to rationalist ethics (as espoused, for example, by the Mu‘tazilite theologians, and by the philosophers). Exploring the question of contingency in Islamic ethics is predicated upon new findings in Islamic theories of law which not only underline jurists’ contextualist approaches to producing norms, but also the epistemological grounds of the theories which accommodate contingency (Johansen, Hallaq, Zysow, Gleave). In fact, in his recent work, Die Kultur der Ambiguität, Thomas Bauer has drawn attention to the complexity of Islamic normative discourses, depicting the tolerance of ambiguity as a key feature in the argumentation deployed in the production of the communally accepted in Islam. Evidently, these perspectives make room for adopting a contextualist approach to ethics; they help us overcome the tired opposition between scripturalism and rationalism as the only authoritative approaches to normativity in Islam.
Taking as central to its methodology Bauer’s perspectives, along with the contextual ethics of casuistry put forward by Jonsin and Toulmin in The Abuse of Casuistry, the conference is intended to explore further and more widely the contingency of ethical discourses in Islam. More specifically, discussions will include articulations of moral discourse in legal reasoning and argumentation, theological discussions of theodicy and divine command theories, the epistemology behind collecting moral knowledge in hadith collections, adab, aphoristic literature, rhetorical speeches and sermons, epistemological and ontological claims on morality, the reception of Aristotelian corrective philosophy of ethics and discussion of virtues. The conference will also serve to identify new questions, answers to which could give substance to the notion of the flexibility of norms across Islamic ethical discourses. Questions are to be answered from the perspective of each discipline, and speakers will be asked to reflect on the philosophical and theological implications that can be drawn. Comparative perspectives across the various Islamic sciences are especially encouraged.
Manuscripts can serve as witnesses to the process of ḥadīth transmission and the study of prophet... more Manuscripts can serve as witnesses to the process of ḥadīth transmission and the study of prophetic traditions across periods and localities. Different recensions of ḥadīth collections and text variants, glosses, commentaries and user entries reveal both the historical growth of these texts as well as their use in specific historical contexts. This international workshop wants to explore the potential of examining manuscripts for the field of ḥadīth studies and to bring together different generations of scholars and graduate students to discuss and exchange ideas on various aspects of ḥadīth manuscripts.
This paper intents to provide a preliminary analysis of the extensive paratextual commentary note... more This paper intents to provide a preliminary analysis of the extensive paratextual commentary notes contained in the manuscript B.or.227 of the University Library of Leipzig. Most of these notes have been recently identified as selections of two voluminous commentary works of the
14th and 15th century, namely the Maṣābīḥ al-Jāmī by the Mamluk scholar al-Damāmīnī (d. 1424) and the Maqāṣid al-Tanqīḥ by al-Kāzarūnī from Shiraz (d. 1400). The paper seeks to present the distinctive features of these two commentaries as well as the interplay between
these works in the margins of the manuscript B.or.227 in terms of content, form and function. This analysis will serve as the basis for a number of tentative conclusions on the state of commentary scholarship in 15th century Shiraz.
Ḥadīth commentators carry out an intellectually demanding task: they explain the meaning and scop... more Ḥadīth commentators carry out an intellectually demanding task: they explain the meaning and scope of a Prophetic tradition by embedding it in the larger context of Islamic scholarship while considering the interdependence of its various disciplines. The genre of ḥadīth commentaries developed parallel to the gradual process of canonising ḥadīth collections and reached its peak in the 14th and 15th centuries CE. Within ḥadīth studies, research on ḥadīth commentaries has been neglected by contemporary scholarship. The CSMC is organizing this workshop in order to stimulate further research on ḥadīth commentaries in general, and those in manuscripts, in particular. The aim is to discuss and exchange ideas on various aspects of ḥadīth commentaries, uncover distinctive features of individual commentators, periods and localities. We intend to highlight the rich tradition of commentary methods and to offer new perspectives on the purpose and social function of commentary practice.
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Conference Presentations by Ali Zaherinezhad
Taking as central to its methodology Bauer’s perspectives, along with the contextual ethics of casuistry put forward by Jonsin and Toulmin in The Abuse of Casuistry, the conference is intended to explore further and more widely the contingency of ethical discourses in Islam. More specifically, discussions will include articulations of moral discourse in legal reasoning and argumentation, theological discussions of theodicy and divine command theories, the epistemology behind collecting moral knowledge in hadith collections, adab, aphoristic literature, rhetorical speeches and sermons, epistemological and ontological claims on morality, the reception of Aristotelian corrective philosophy of ethics and discussion of virtues. The conference will also serve to identify new questions, answers to which could give substance to the notion of the flexibility of norms across Islamic ethical discourses. Questions are to be answered from the perspective of each discipline, and speakers will be asked to reflect on the philosophical and theological implications that can be drawn. Comparative perspectives across the various Islamic sciences are especially encouraged.
14th and 15th century, namely the Maṣābīḥ al-Jāmī by the Mamluk scholar al-Damāmīnī (d. 1424) and the Maqāṣid al-Tanqīḥ by al-Kāzarūnī from Shiraz (d. 1400). The paper seeks to present the distinctive features of these two commentaries as well as the interplay between
these works in the margins of the manuscript B.or.227 in terms of content, form and function. This analysis will serve as the basis for a number of tentative conclusions on the state of commentary scholarship in 15th century Shiraz.
Taking as central to its methodology Bauer’s perspectives, along with the contextual ethics of casuistry put forward by Jonsin and Toulmin in The Abuse of Casuistry, the conference is intended to explore further and more widely the contingency of ethical discourses in Islam. More specifically, discussions will include articulations of moral discourse in legal reasoning and argumentation, theological discussions of theodicy and divine command theories, the epistemology behind collecting moral knowledge in hadith collections, adab, aphoristic literature, rhetorical speeches and sermons, epistemological and ontological claims on morality, the reception of Aristotelian corrective philosophy of ethics and discussion of virtues. The conference will also serve to identify new questions, answers to which could give substance to the notion of the flexibility of norms across Islamic ethical discourses. Questions are to be answered from the perspective of each discipline, and speakers will be asked to reflect on the philosophical and theological implications that can be drawn. Comparative perspectives across the various Islamic sciences are especially encouraged.
14th and 15th century, namely the Maṣābīḥ al-Jāmī by the Mamluk scholar al-Damāmīnī (d. 1424) and the Maqāṣid al-Tanqīḥ by al-Kāzarūnī from Shiraz (d. 1400). The paper seeks to present the distinctive features of these two commentaries as well as the interplay between
these works in the margins of the manuscript B.or.227 in terms of content, form and function. This analysis will serve as the basis for a number of tentative conclusions on the state of commentary scholarship in 15th century Shiraz.