Today's blog post is actually a follow-up to one I began on Saturday, that is What It Means - Day 89, the one on the meaning of shariah. I promised to follow it up the next day, but ended up getting distracted by a dozen different things and thus took a different approach on the fly (which is pretty typical, and why there really is no overarching theme this year). I will be borrowing extensively from a paper by Azizah Y. al-Hibri, J.D. Ph.D. entitled "Family Planning and Islamic Jurisprudence" which I also use in class.
This article brilliantly, but also plainly, lays out how shariah works, using the issue of family planning as a case study. Dr. al-Hibri starts off by discussing the extraordinary importance of the Quran as well as the Hadith and Sunnah in helping the average Muslim work there way through difficult decisions, but also makes it clear that not every answer is answered easily or clearly in these principle resources. Consequently, "In such cases, Muslims rely on ijtihad, which is the ability to analyze a Qur'anic text or a problematic situation within the relevant cultural and historical context and then devise an appropriate interpretation or solution based on a thorough understanding of Qur'anic principles and the Sunnah." In layman's language, his point is that despite the guidance you're still often left to sort these things out as best you can.
Dr. al-Hibri also makes it clear that there is flexibility, and that it is intentionally built into the system. That is, we're supposed to be working these issues out and using the Quran and the Hadith and the Sunnah as tools in the process. I guess I would add that we're not robots and we're not just memorizing things; we're humans and we have to live and think about our faith. Continuing, Dr. al-Hibri adds that there are fundamental principles of ijtihad:
"1. Laws change with changes in time and place;
2. Choosing the lesser of two harms; and
3. Preserving public interest."
So, you study the Quran and the Hadith and the Sunnah, you do your best to make analogies if the answer is not clearly defined, and you follow some basic guidelines. The notion that "laws change with changes in time and place" is an interesting point, and one that really resonates with me. This brings me back to my well-documented struggle between the external and internal aspects of the faith, and my belief that most of the rules that we fixate on (and often cruelly and hypocritically judge each other on) are products more of time and culture than divine intent.
Now, with this background, I'll try and briefly walk through Dr. al-Hibri's point, at least in regards to the issue of contraception (I suspect his discussion of abortion will have to wait for another day). Starting off, does the Quran or the Hadith/Sunnah definitely cover this issue? Some would say yes, but the vast majority of scholars would say no. al-Hibri summarizes the argument that Islam does not permit family planning: "First, that the Qur'an prohibited Muslims from killing their children for fear of want. Second, that the Prophet exhorted Muslims to multiply." While these are compelling pieces of evidence, they do not definitively make this a clear cut decision. Dr. al-Hibri also makes the point that in Islam and Shariah if the answer is not definitely No, then the default is Yes (something that would also surprise non-Muslims, and doubtless some Muslims, who view the faith as remarkably rigid).
In the end this argument comes down to an interesting discussion of sperm, which would also surprise folks outside the faith who consider all Muslims as either joyless stuffed-shirts or misguided fanatics (we, like all religions, have more than a few of both categories). As al-Hibri points out, "Semen in Islam has no special value. Alone, it is not life and whether ir ever develops into life is a matter of divine omnipotence." Central to this argument is the concept of al-azl, which you might be more familiar with by it's Latin term coitus interruptus (or, as one of my students said the other night when discussing this article, "wait, what, are you talking about pulling out?"). The argument, simplified, is as follows: 1) There are no specific Quranic revelations specifically against contraception, and the one cited refers to taking the life of a child after birth based on fear of want, so in the absence of a definitive No then it is a Yes; 2) If al-azl was common during the time of the Prophet and he never definitively said that it should never be practiced, then, again, without a definitive No it's a Yes (again, not every school of Islamic thought agrees with this view); and 3) since al-azl is a form of contraception (why else would you do it?) then, drawing an analogy, there is no definitive No on contraception, so then the default is a Yes.
Now, is this as clean and easy and universal as it might appear from my summary - of course not - but the point is just to show how Shariah works. Again, it's not simply a set of laws you can download off the internet or memorize, but rather a process of solving everyday problems. To me, the very messiness of this process is what I find interesting (and useful). The point is not that you have to go through this nerve-wracking process fearing that you'll go to Hell if you choose incorrectly. Rather, it's designed to help you do as good a job as possible when faced with the seemingly endless complexities of life. We are told several times in the Quran that if God wanted us all to believe the way things then we'd believe the same thing. Similarly, I would argue that if God wanted us all to act the same way and make the same decisions then we'd all act the same way and make the same decisions. So, instead, it's as if God said, "Here are some tools, go try and do the best you can with them, and in the process you'll learn something and become better people." to me, the messiness is the divinity.
Doubtless, I'll come back to this again later.
This article brilliantly, but also plainly, lays out how shariah works, using the issue of family planning as a case study. Dr. al-Hibri starts off by discussing the extraordinary importance of the Quran as well as the Hadith and Sunnah in helping the average Muslim work there way through difficult decisions, but also makes it clear that not every answer is answered easily or clearly in these principle resources. Consequently, "In such cases, Muslims rely on ijtihad, which is the ability to analyze a Qur'anic text or a problematic situation within the relevant cultural and historical context and then devise an appropriate interpretation or solution based on a thorough understanding of Qur'anic principles and the Sunnah." In layman's language, his point is that despite the guidance you're still often left to sort these things out as best you can.
Dr. al-Hibri also makes it clear that there is flexibility, and that it is intentionally built into the system. That is, we're supposed to be working these issues out and using the Quran and the Hadith and the Sunnah as tools in the process. I guess I would add that we're not robots and we're not just memorizing things; we're humans and we have to live and think about our faith. Continuing, Dr. al-Hibri adds that there are fundamental principles of ijtihad:
"1. Laws change with changes in time and place;
2. Choosing the lesser of two harms; and
3. Preserving public interest."
So, you study the Quran and the Hadith and the Sunnah, you do your best to make analogies if the answer is not clearly defined, and you follow some basic guidelines. The notion that "laws change with changes in time and place" is an interesting point, and one that really resonates with me. This brings me back to my well-documented struggle between the external and internal aspects of the faith, and my belief that most of the rules that we fixate on (and often cruelly and hypocritically judge each other on) are products more of time and culture than divine intent.
Now, with this background, I'll try and briefly walk through Dr. al-Hibri's point, at least in regards to the issue of contraception (I suspect his discussion of abortion will have to wait for another day). Starting off, does the Quran or the Hadith/Sunnah definitely cover this issue? Some would say yes, but the vast majority of scholars would say no. al-Hibri summarizes the argument that Islam does not permit family planning: "First, that the Qur'an prohibited Muslims from killing their children for fear of want. Second, that the Prophet exhorted Muslims to multiply." While these are compelling pieces of evidence, they do not definitively make this a clear cut decision. Dr. al-Hibri also makes the point that in Islam and Shariah if the answer is not definitely No, then the default is Yes (something that would also surprise non-Muslims, and doubtless some Muslims, who view the faith as remarkably rigid).
In the end this argument comes down to an interesting discussion of sperm, which would also surprise folks outside the faith who consider all Muslims as either joyless stuffed-shirts or misguided fanatics (we, like all religions, have more than a few of both categories). As al-Hibri points out, "Semen in Islam has no special value. Alone, it is not life and whether ir ever develops into life is a matter of divine omnipotence." Central to this argument is the concept of al-azl, which you might be more familiar with by it's Latin term coitus interruptus (or, as one of my students said the other night when discussing this article, "wait, what, are you talking about pulling out?"). The argument, simplified, is as follows: 1) There are no specific Quranic revelations specifically against contraception, and the one cited refers to taking the life of a child after birth based on fear of want, so in the absence of a definitive No then it is a Yes; 2) If al-azl was common during the time of the Prophet and he never definitively said that it should never be practiced, then, again, without a definitive No it's a Yes (again, not every school of Islamic thought agrees with this view); and 3) since al-azl is a form of contraception (why else would you do it?) then, drawing an analogy, there is no definitive No on contraception, so then the default is a Yes.
Now, is this as clean and easy and universal as it might appear from my summary - of course not - but the point is just to show how Shariah works. Again, it's not simply a set of laws you can download off the internet or memorize, but rather a process of solving everyday problems. To me, the very messiness of this process is what I find interesting (and useful). The point is not that you have to go through this nerve-wracking process fearing that you'll go to Hell if you choose incorrectly. Rather, it's designed to help you do as good a job as possible when faced with the seemingly endless complexities of life. We are told several times in the Quran that if God wanted us all to believe the way things then we'd believe the same thing. Similarly, I would argue that if God wanted us all to act the same way and make the same decisions then we'd all act the same way and make the same decisions. So, instead, it's as if God said, "Here are some tools, go try and do the best you can with them, and in the process you'll learn something and become better people." to me, the messiness is the divinity.
Doubtless, I'll come back to this again later.
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