Title: Before Revelation : the boundaries of Muslim moral thought /
Authors: Reinhart, A. Kevin, 1952-
Publisher: State University of New York Press,
Year: 1995
Subjects: Islam Doctrines History; Islamic law Interpretation and construction.
Abstract: Before Revelation studies the development of Muslim jurisprudential and theological thought as expressed in the extensive dispute over the assessment of acts that took place before the arrival of Revelation. Between the ninth and nineteenth centuries Muslims debated, often fiercely, the question, "What is the value of an act moving from place to place, breathing, or eating a tasty food, for instance - before Revelation arrives?" That is, Muslims, whose existence as Muslims derived from the Quranic Revelation, debated whether acts could be called "good," or reprehensible," before the Quran. This book analyzes that prolonged debate from a History of Religions perspective, using sources from the Mulsim sciences of jurisprudential theory (usul al-fiqh) and theology (kalam).
Contents: pt. I. Introduction and Overview. 2. Development and Doxography -- pt. II. The Three Positions. 3. Acts Are Proscribed (mahzur). 4. The Permitted Position. 5. "No Assessment" -- Appendix: Two Translations of "Before Revelation" Texts. Translation of a Section from al-Fusul fil-Usul of al-Jassas. Translation of a Section from Kitab al-Mustasfa fi'ilm al-usul Abu Hamid al-Ghazali -- pt. III. Thanking the Benefactor. 6. God As Patron: Thanking the Benefactor -- Appendix: An Early Debate on Thanking the Benefactor -- pt. IV. The Background. 7. Conceptual Sources of the Problem. 8. Abu I-Hudhayl and the Early Mu'tazilah. 9. The Basrans: Moral Ontology and Epistemology. 10. The Critique of the Mu'tazilah: Ignoring Ontology -- pt. V. Conclusions.