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Early Ẓāhirī Jurisprudential Exegesis: Notes on “Nukat al-Qurʼān al-dāllah ʻalá al-bayān fī anwāʻ al-ʻulūm wa-al-aḥkām” by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Karajī al-Qaṣṣāb
Abstract by Dr. Abderrahmane Zaatri On Session VIII-16  (Legal Frameworks)

On Thursday, November 14 at 2:30 pm

2024 Annual Meeting

Abstract
The Tafsīr works of the Ẓāhirī school are largely considered lost, except al-Baḥr al-muḥīṭ by Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalusī (d. 745 AH/1344 CE). However, we do not know whether he has written it while being a Ẓāhirī, or after the change towards the Shafi'i school. Since Goldziher's important work titled "Die Ẓâhiriten: Ihr Lehrsystem und ihre Geschichte", The majority of contemporary studies that attempt to comprehend the Ẓāhirī approach to the Quranic exegesis employ scattered texts from prominent Ẓāhirī scholars, such as Ibn Ḥazm al-Andalusī (d. 456 AH/1064 CE) and Ibn ʻArabī (d. 638 AH/1240 CE), which are insufficient for a comprehensive understanding the history of the school and their interpretive methods. A rare work by the prominent 4th-century Ẓāhirī scholar, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Karajī al-Qaṣṣāb (d. 360 AH/970 CE), titled "Nukat al-Qurʼān al-dāllah ʻalá al-bayān fī anwāʻ al-ʻulūm wa-al-aḥkām", offers valuable insights into the Ẓāhirī interpretation of Quran and the methodological diversity in the school. Not much is known about Al-Karji's life, social background, or scholarly history. For the most part, he has been neglected by most historians and Jurists, except for a few faint references to his works in the writings of later scholars like Ibn Taymīyah (d. 728 AH/1328 CE). However, we can safely assume that he has been a Ẓāhirī based on his staunch defense of Ẓāhirī principles and his rejection of analogy (al-Qiyās) and al-Raʼy. This paper aims to shed light on new trends within the Ẓāhirī school by examining al-Qaṣṣāb’s book, offering some new perspectives on the development and diversity of Ẓāhirī thought.
Discipline
Other
Geographic Area
All Middle East
Sub Area
None