Body of Text: The Emergence of the Sunni Law of Ritual Purity

by Marion Holmes Katz

Overview

Ritual purity is one of the least understood aspects of Islamic law and practice, yet it enjoys a prominent place in traditional legal texts and permeates the daily life of ordinary believers. Body of Text examines the emergence and crystallization of the law of ritual purity, using early sources to reconstruct the formative debates among Muslim scholars. The lively interaction among legal theorizing, caliphal politics, and popular practice illustrates the formation of the law, because as scholars strove for synthesis, they advanced competing understandings of the underlying structure and meaning of ritual purity. Katz demonstrates that no single theory can adequately interpret the diversity of opinion within the tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791488577
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	02/01/2012
Series:	SUNY series in Medieval Middle East History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	283
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Marion Holmes Katz is Assistant Professor of Religion at Mount Holyoke College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Comprehensiveness of the Law
The Historical Background
Methodological Developments
The Case of Islamic Law
Approach to the Sources

1. Qur'anic Rules of Purity and the Covenantal Community

The Biblical Example
The Qur'anic Material: Surat al-Ma'ida
Patterns within the Qur'an
Conclusions

2. Interpreting the Qur'anic Text

The Problem
"When You Rise to Pray"
"Wipe Your Heads and Your Feet . . . "
"If You Have Touched Women . . . "
Conclusion: Revealed Text and Personal Example in the Law of Purity

3. "Cancelers of Wudu" and the Boundaries of the Body

Wudu from Cooked Food
Wudu from Touching the Genitals
Blood and Other Bodily Issues
Conclusions

4. Substantive Impurity and the Boundaries of Society

The Fluidity of the Law
Women, Nonbelievers, and the Dead
Children of Adam
Purity and Gender
Conclusions

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Rather than treating the ritual purity required by Islamic law as derivative of earlier religions, Katz (religion, Mount Holyoke College) interprets taboos regarding blood, menstruating women, sexual intercourse, and such as due to the Qur'an's relevance to everyday life. She discusses the early evolution of rules regarding impurity, in contrast to revisionist readings that later generations projected their views onto sources. Based on the author's U. of Chicago doctoral thesis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"…recommend[ed] … for those who are looking for a path into the sources of and the debates about formative Islam and law." — Journal of the American Oriental Society

"For too long Islamic law has been seen by academics as a body of esoteric lore discernible only to the initiated. Katz masterfully positions a detailed and technical subject—early Islamic ritual law—within the broader context of comparative religions. This book will be the starting point for any future work on the subject." — Paul M. Cobb, University of Notre Dame, author of White Banners: Contention in >Abbasid Syria, 750–880

"Katz breaks new ground in the field of Islamic law. This is the first book to thoroughly examine the classical Islamic-law works as well as the works of Western anthropologists on matters of ritual purity." — Farhat J. Ziadeh, author of Property Law in the Arab World

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