Identity Formation and Politics of Communalism

The dissertation of Dr Huey P. Newton co-founder of the Black Panther Party featuring a Summary of his writings on the concept of 'Intercommunalism'.

WAR AGAINST THE PANTHERS:
A STUDY OF REPRESSION IN AMERICA

A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of:

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
HISTORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

by
Huey P. Newton June 1980

The Supreme Court of India recently ruled that “Fatwa ... has no place in independent India under our Constitutional scheme. It has no legal sanction and cannot be enforced by any legal process either by the Dar-ul-Qaza issuing that or the person concerned or for that matter any body.” However, it did not grant the prayers of the Petitioner declaring that the movement / activities being pursued by All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other similar organizations for establishment of Muslim judicial system and setting up of Dar-ul-Qazas and Shariat Courts in India were absolutely illegal and unconstitutional. The fatwas issued by Dar-ul-Ifta draw on medieval interpretations of Islam and are generally against a gender-just reading of Quran. This is because the gates of ijtehad were closed by various schools of jurispudence in Islam. In this paper, I argue that the gates of ijtehad need to be opened up to understand the Quranic message in the present context.

Tuscan notarial acts permit the exploration of the often elusive relationship of Jewish practice, Jewish law and the corresponding laws of the state. One issue in early modern Italian Jewish marriage negotiations was the eventual disposition of the dowry of a childless wife who predeceased her husband. Jewish law on the succession of the childless woman was complicated by traditional or regional customs and communal ordinances. Moreover, in sixteenth-century Tuscany there was no official code, court or arbiter of Jewish law. Nonetheless, Christian notaries who wrote pre-nuptial stipulations or pacts for Jews worked with the assumption that Jews were allowed to live according to their own law. This essay argues that individual Jews used to advantage the state's assumption that they could follow Jewish law (despite the absence of any universally-acknowledged or applicable law on this specific subject) by employing notaries to write contracts in disregard of both local statutes and well-known Jewish customs. In the second part of this essay I locate the stipulations in the Jewish marriage system and suggest that the process of negotiation over the fate of the dowry was integrally related to the system's emphasis – in contrast to that of contemporary Christians – on universal marriage and procreation.

Tuscan notarial acts permit the exploration of the often elusive relationship of Jewish practice, Jewish law and the corresponding laws of the state. One issue in early modern Italian Jewish marriage negotiations was the eventual disposition of the dowry of a childless wife who predeceased her husband. Jewish law on the succession of the childless woman was complicated by traditional or regional customs and communal ordinances. Moreover, in sixteenth-century Tuscany there was no official code, court or arbiter of Jewish law. Nonetheless, Christian notaries who wrote prenuptial stipulations or pacts for Jews worked with the assumption that Jews were allowed to live according to their own law. This essay argues that individual Jews used to advantage the state's assumption that they could follow Jewish law (despite the absence of any universally-acknowledged or applicable law on this specific subject) by employing notaries to write contracts in disregard of both local statutes and well-known Jewish customs. In the second part of this essay I locate the stipulations in the Jewish marriage system and suggest that the process of negotiation over the fate of the dowry was integrally related to the system's emphasis-in contrast to that of contemporary Christians-on universal marriage and procreation. * This paper is a revision of a paper written for a panel at a conference of the American Historical Association (1999) with the papers of Elka Klein and Rebecca Weiner; an earlier version was presented at the meeting of the Social Science History Association (1998) and a later version at the Berkshire Conference on Women's History (1999). I thank Jodi Bilinkoff, Todd Endelman and especially Kenneth Stow for helpful comments on versions or drafts of this paper.