Significant Intersections between Legal and Rhetorical Theories
Lessons from an Interdisciplinary Reading of al-Bāqillānī’s Theory of Language
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19426666 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rachel Anne Friedman (0000-0002-2956-3320, Williams College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1970 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Pages | 99-123 |
| Publication date | 1970-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0806-198X • E-ISSN: 0806-198X |
| Publisher | University of Oslo Library (PUBLISHER • NO) |
| DOI | 10.5617/jais.4742 |
| OpenAlex | W2733511220 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
Abū Bakr al-Bāqillānī (d. 403/1013) was a preeminent scholar and an influential participant in a diverse range of Islamic discourses including the Ashʿarī school of theology and the Mālikī school of law. Al-Bāqillānī’s texts are often studied within the context of individual disciplines, but this article demonstrates that an interdisciplinary reading of his scholarly production uncovers significant areas of overlap. These intersections bring to light topics of sustained concern for al-Bāqillānī that crosscut his work and allow him to draw together various Islamic intellectual discourses. Through looking at three such intersections, on the topics of bayān, muḥkamāt and mutashābihāt, and the so-called Mysterious Letters, this article shows that al-Bāqillānī’s argument in favor of the clarity and eminent understandability of language, including all of the Qurʾān, is best understood through a cross-disciplinary reading of al-Bāqillānī’s oeuvre. Bringing to-gether al-Bāqillānī’s thought in the two seemingly disparate genres of uṣūl al-fiqh (legal theory) and iʿjāz al-Qurʾān (the inimitability of the Qurʾān) serves the dual purpose of examining the relationship between these fields and shedding light on al-Bāqillānī’s work across disciplines. It thus contributes to a more com-plete picture of the identity of a scholar who was concerned with providing a consistent and multifaceted theory of language within a broader synthesis of Islamic thought.Key words: Language, al-Bāqillānī, uṣūl al-fiqh, iʿjāz al-Qurʾān, bayān, interdisciplinary
CLARITY · Discipline · Epistemology · Islam · Linguistics · Rhetorical question · Social science · Sociology · Theology · Families in Therapy and Culture · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
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