Qutb Mustafa Sanu
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Qutb Mustafa Sanu is a contemporary scholar of Islamic jurisprudence and legal theory (usul al-fiqh), a member of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and a professor of Islamic law.
Career and Academic Roles
Sanu, also known by the kunya Abu Muhammad, was based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He served as a professor of jurisprudence and legal theory at the International Islamic University Malaysia and as the director of the International Institute for Muslim Unity in Malaysia. He also became a member of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy under the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, participating in its sessions and deliberations on contemporary commercial and legal questions.
Legal Thought and Contributions
Sanu has contributed to contemporary Islamic legal studies, Islamic economics, and terminological lexicography. In legal theory, he compiled the Arabic–English dictionary Mu‘jam Mustalahat Usul al-Fiqh ("Dictionary of the Terms of Usul al-Fiqh"), which was reviewed and introduced by Muhammad Rawwas Qal'ahji.
In the field of Islamic economics and finance, Sanu authored al-Istithmar: Ahkamuhu wa-Dawabituhu fi al-Fiqh al-Islami ("Investment: Its Rulings and Regulations in Islamic Jurisprudence") and presented studies to the International Islamic Fiqh Academy examining joint profit-sharing partnerships (al-mudaraba al-mushtaraka) in contemporary financial institutions. On the classification of modern contracts, he maintained—alongside scholars including Nazih Hammad and Hasan al-Shadhili—that diminishing partnership (al-musharaka al-mutanaqisa) falls under co-ownership (sharikat amlak) rather than contractual partnership.
In his treatise Fi Mustalah al-Irhab wa-Hukmihi ("On the Term Terrorism and Its Legal Ruling"), written following the September 11 attacks, Sanu analyzed the definitions of extremism and violence in Islamic legal thought, concluding that acts of terror against civilians constitute unlawful armed banditry and terrorism (hiraba) rather than legitimate warfare (jihad).
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List of Works
Fi Mustalah al-Irhab wa Hukmihi: Qiraa Naqdiyya fi al-Mafhum wa al-Hukm min Manzur Shari ("On the Term Terrorism and Its Legal Ruling: A Critical Reading of the Concept and Ruling from a Sharia Perspective") is a contemporary jurisprudential study that examines the definition, classifications, and legal rulings surrounding terrorism in Islamic law.