Sunna, Nâmus and Sharí'a: A Christian-Muslim Debate in the First Centuries of Islam

Daga Portillo, Rosario del Rocio (2018): Sunna, Nâmus and Sharí'a: A Christian-Muslim Debate in the First Centuries of Islam. In: Paša, Željko (ed.) : Between the cross and the crescent : studies in honor of Samir Khalil Samir, S.J. on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. Rom: Pontificio Instituto Orientale. pp. 593-610

Abstract

Sunna, and not sharí‘a, understood as oral revelation and oral customary law is the first word to refer to revelation and law at the outset of Islamic history. The concept of an oral revelation, Sunna, parallel to the written one, carrying an hermeneutical function within it in relation to the written one, is present, although in different forms, in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This oral revelation is rooted in a communal experienced and, as such, resists any kind of fundamentalism based on the written word. By the 8th- 9th century, the Abbasids needing a law to organize and unify their territories, encouraged the activities of jurists and the compilation of üadíõ. Consequently, Sunna understood as oral revelation and customary law started a process of “canonization” as written corpus. Sunna became a contended term identified as wisdom and source of law, fiqh. This wisdom was identified with Sunnat Muüammad as the second source of revelation for deriving the law, fiqh. At the same time, the debate on wisdom, revelation and law is mirrored by Christian authors such as Abû Qurra and Sâwírûs b. al-Muqaffa‘ in their works. Moreover, the shared terminology reflects the dynamic of terms and concepts beyond religious boundaries. We render here some examples of the use of the terms sunna, nâmûs and sharí‘a in Christian and early Muslim authors in order to track down the debate on revelation, wisdom and law.

• Item Type: Book Section
• Keywords: Sunna; Shârí‘a; Nâmûs; Abû Qurra; al-Shâfi‘í; Sâwírus b. al-Muqaffa
• Faculties: Cultural Studies > Department of Ancient and Modern Cultures > Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies; Cultural Studies > Department of Ancient and Modern Cultures > Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies > Arabic and Islamic Studies
• Subjects: 200 Religion > 200 Religion; 200 Religion > 290 Other religions
• ISBN: 978-88-7210-398-2
• Place of Publication: Rom
• Language: English