Codicology and the Transformation of Islamic Law
A First Assessment of the Tarjīḥāt al-bayyināt in the Princeton Garrett Collection
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21822952 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tobias Scheunchen (0000-0003-2551-1731, University of Chicago, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 449-479 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-15 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Islamic Manuscripts (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1878-4631 • E-ISSN: 1878-464X |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/1878464x-01502006 |
| OpenAlex | W4402658566 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 7 |
In Islamic law, preponderance ( tarjīḥ )—a practical method for mujtahid s to resolve legal contradictions ( taʿāruḍ ) between proofs—has been known in the uṣūl tradition from at least the 10th-century jurist al-Jaṣṣāṣ (d. 370/981). Yet, it is in several 17th and 18th-century Arabic and Ottoman manuscripts of Princeton’s Garrett Collection that we encounter summary-like lists labelled “tarjīḥāt al-bayyināt” (“ TB s”), which succinctly compile the complex rules of preponderance. Organized into three-columned lists, on loose leaves, as annotations in the margin or separate textual units, the TB s follow a grammatical and visual layout that made them predictable and recognizable for manuscript readers. This paper examines the TB s as a codicological phenomenon, arguing that they served as a shorthand for legal practitioners familiar with evidentiary law and that their presence suggests a broader transformative process of readers’/legal practitioners’ relationship with codices of positive law at this critical moment in the history of Islamic law
Arabic · Archaeology · Art · Epistemology · Islam · Linguistics · Literature · Phenomenon · Political science · Sharia · Sociology · Transformative learning · Classics · Families in Therapy and Culture · History · Islamic Finance and Banking Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
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