Abd al-Aziz al-Khayyat
- Died
- 1432 AH
- Born in
- -
Abd al-Aziz al-Khayyat (d. 1432 AH / 2011 CE) was a Jordanian jurist, legal theorist, and scholar who served as the vice president of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman .
Career and Institutional Roles
Known fully as Abd al-Aziz Izzat al-Khayyat, he was an active contributor to modern legal research assemblies . He served as vice president and member of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (formerly the Royal Academy for Islamic Civilization Research) in Jordan . He was also a prominent participant in the proceedings and sessions of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, presenting detailed legal studies and policy proposals on international relations, arbitration, and applied jurisprudence .
Legal Thought and Scholarship
Al-Khayyat concentrated extensively on Islamic legal theory (usul al-fiqh), contemporary commercial law, and political thought . In legal methodology, he advocated the active application of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) by qualified scholars to meet modern social needs rather than remaining passive or waiting for full scholarly consensus (ijma'), which he regarded as unfeasible across diverse geographic and social conditions after the era of the Prophet's Companions . His booklet Turuq al-Istidlal bil-Sunna wal-Istinbat minha (Methods of Inferring from the Sunnah and Deriving Rulings from It, 1406 AH / 1986 CE) outlined the systematic textual and linguistic mechanisms required to deduce legal norms from prophetic traditions . He complemented this methodological framework with a dedicated theoretical exploration in his study Nazariyat al-Ijtihad (The Theory of Ijtihad) .
In the sphere of comparative commercial law, his treatise al-Sharikat fi al-Shari'ah al-Islamiyyah wal-Qanun al-Wad'i (Partnerships in Islamic Law and Positive Law) examined corporate structures and demonstrated how the concept of independent legal personality (al-shakhsiyyah al-i'tibariyyah) has grounding within classical Islamic jurisprudence through institutions like endowments (waqf) and public treasuries (bayt al-mal) . In political philosophy, al-Khayyat maintained that while political authority derives from the community (ummah), ultimate sovereignty belongs strictly to divine law (shari'ah) . He died in 1432 AH (2011 CE).
Answer updated
List of Works
Turuq al-Istidlal bil-Sunna wal-Istinbat minha (Methods of Inferring from the Sunnah and Deriving Rulings from It) is a legal methodology treatise focusing on the principles and linguistic mechanisms of deriving legal rulings (fiqh) from the prophetic Sunnah. Published in 1406 AH / 1986 CE as a single-volume booklet, it presents a systematic framework for inferring legal rulings from prophetic traditions to address modern social questions.