al-Waqf al-Qurani wa Atharuhu fi al-Tarjih inda al-Hanafiyya
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al-Waqf al-Qurani wa Atharuhu fi al-Tarjih inda al-Hanafiyya ("Quranic Pausing and Its Impact on Legal Weighting Among the Hanafis") is a treatise by Izzat Shehata Karrar that examines how the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence employs Quranic pauses (al-waqf wa-l-ibtida) as an interpretive instrument to substantiate and favor its legal positions over those of other schools.
Background and Purpose
The author states that his motivation for the work arose from observing that Hanafi jurists frequently cited pause placements in books of legal exegesis (tafsir ayat al-ahkam) to establish the preponderance (tarjih) of their legal doctrines. He was further prompted by a master's thesis by Hala Uthman Abd al-Wahid submitted to the Faculty of Dar al-Ulum at Minia University, which addressed the grammatical influence of pause in the Quranic text; while that thesis was confined to syntax, it suggested the unexplored potential of studying the impact of pause on substantive legal rulings (fiqh). The study aims to delineate the Hanafi stance on utilizing pause as an interpretive weight and to demonstrate how disagreements over pause locations yield divergent rulings across various legal branches.
Structure and Content
The book opens with an introduction, a catalog of the Quranic verses examined, and a guide to citation abbreviations, before proceeding into two main chapters:
- Chapter One: The Emergence of Quranic Readings and the Definition and Types of Pause (Nasyat al-Qiraat al-Quraniyya wa Tarif al-Waqf wa Aqsamatuhu): Divided into three sub-sections covering the origins of Quranic variant readings (qiraat), the definition and importance of pause, its classifications, and the scholarly debate over whether pause positions are divinely determined (tawqifi) or deduced through linguistic and interpretive reasoning.
- Chapter Two: Pause and Its Impact on Legal Weighting Among the Hanafis (al-Waqf wa Atharuhu fi al-Tarjih inda al-Hanafiyya): An applied legal study examining ten distinct jurisprudential issues:
- Cohabitation with a wife following the cessation of menstrual bleeding.
- Retaliation (qisas).
- Executing a Muslim for killing a non-Muslim subject (dhimmi).
- Marriage to a wife's mother and a stepdaughter (rabiba).
- The obligatory status of the lesser pilgrimage (umrah).
- The prohibitions of the pilgrim state (ihram).
- The penalty for hunting game within the sacred precinct (al-haram).
- The ruling on delving into ambiguous verses (al-mutashabih).
- Pronouncing the name of God (tasmiya) at the time of animal slaughter.
- The admissibility of legal testimony from an individual previously punished for false accusation of unchastity (qadhf).
Findings
In the conclusion, the author records several key outcomes of the research, noting that the Hanafi school relies on Quranic pause in legal preference more extensively than other legal schools. The study concludes that Quranic pause is not divinely fixed (tawqifi) as a general rule, except in instances supported by an authentic prophetic tradition. It also concludes that pauses transmitted solely via non-canonical variant readings (qiraah shadhdhah) lack the strength to outweigh canonical readings in legal argumentation. Furthermore, the work highlights specific rulings determined by pause, such as the prohibition of marrying a wife's mother upon the execution of the marriage contract alone, the obligation of reciting the tasmiya during slaughter, and the permissibility of monetary compensation for game killed during ihram.
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