FRIAS Colloquium - Felicitas Opwis

The Theology of Ethical and Legal Norm Construction in 5^th/11^th Century Muslim Thought

This paper explores the relationship between theology, law, and ethics in the thought of three 11^th century CE Muslim scholars – ‘Abd al-Jabbar, al-Dabbusi, and al-Juwayni – who belonged to three different schools of thought in theology (Mu’tazili, Maturidi, and Ash’ari), and two different schools of legal interpretation (Shafi’i and Hanafi). Looking at how these scholars define the ethical status of actions as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and translate them into the legal categories of ‘obligatory’, ‘recommended’, ‘permissible’, ‘reprehensible’, and ‘prohibited’, reveals the underlying theological assumptions that guide their norm construction. It uncovers the ways that their theological pre-commitments about the nature of God, the role of reason and revelation, and the relationship between the divine and mundane realm delineates the space in which ethical and legal norms are constructed, and leads to different views on the role and scope of the Shari’a and Islamic law in Muslim society.