Body of Text

Marion Holmes Katz

Description

Ritual purity is one of the least understood aspects of Islamic law and practice, yet it enjoys a prominent place in traditional legal texts and permeates the daily life of ordinary believers. Body of Text examines the emergence and crystallization of the law of ritual purity, using early sources to reconstruct the formative debates among Muslim scholars. The lively interaction among legal theorizing, caliphal politics, and popular practice illustrates the formation of the law, because as scholars strove for synthesis, they advanced competing understandings of the underlying structure and meaning of ritual purity. Katz demonstrates that no single theory can adequately interpret the diversity of opinion within the tradition.
Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Comprehensiveness of the Law
The Historical Background
Methodological Developments
The Case of Islamic Law
Approach to the Sources

1. Qur'anic Rules of Purity and the Covenantal Community

The Biblical Example
The Qur'anic Material: Surat al-Ma'ida
Patterns within the Qur'an
Conclusions

2. Interpreting the Qur'anic Text

The Problem
"When You Rise to Pray"
"Wipe Your Heads and Your Feet . . . "
"If You Have Touched Women . . . "
Conclusion: Revealed Text and Personal Example in the Law of Purity

3. "Cancelers of Wudu" and the Boundaries of the Body

Wudu from Cooked Food
Wudu from Touching the Genitals
Blood and Other Bodily Issues
Conclusions

4. Substantive Impurity and the Boundaries of Society

The Fluidity of the Law
Women, Nonbelievers, and the Dead
Children of Adam
Purity and Gender
Conclusions

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• History of the Middle East
• Middle East

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791488577
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 13 Mo

Extrait

Body of Text

TheEmergenceoftheSunnı¯LawofRitualPurity

Marion Holmes Katz

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Body of Text

SUNY series in Medieval Middle East History Jere Bacharach, editor

Body of Text

The Emergence of the Sunn¬ Law of Ritual Purity

Marion Holmes Katz

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2002 State University of New York

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Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Katz, Marion Holmes, 1967– Body of text : the emergence of the Sunni law of ritual purity / Marion Holmes Katz. p. cm. — (SUNY series in medieval Middle East history) Based on the author’s thesis (doctoral)—University of Chicago. Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN 0-7914-5381-2 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-7914-5382-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Purity, Ritual—Islam. 2. Islam—Customs and practices. I. Title. II. Series.

BP184.4.K37 2002 297.3'8—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2001049803

Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction The Comprehensiveness of the Law The Historical Background Methodological Developments The Case of Islamic Law Approach to the Sources Chapter 1. Qurß®nic Rules of Purity and the Covenantal Community The Biblical Example The Qurß®nic Material: S‚rat al-M®ßida Patterns within the Qurß®n Conclusions Chapter 2. Interpreting the Qurß®nic Text The Problem “When You Rise to Pray” “Wipe Your Heads and Your Feet . . . ” “If You Have Touched Women . . . ” Conclusion: Revealed Text and Personal Example in the Law of Purity Chapter 3. “Cancelers ofWu¥‚ß” and the Boundaries of the Body Wu¥‚ß from Cooked Food Wu¥‚ßTouching the Genitals from Blood and Other Bodily Issues Conclusions Chapter 4. Substantive Impurity and the Boundaries of Society The Fluidity of the Law Women, Nonbelievers, and the Dead Children of Adam Purity and Gender Conclusions

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1 3 13 18 24

29 32 46 57

59 60 75 86

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6

101 123 135 140

145 149 164 187 203

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Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Contents

207 211 263 271

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Qur߮nic Rules of Purity

Acknowledgments

This book is based on my doctoral dissertation, written under the su- pervision of Professors Wadad Kadi, Fred Donner, and Robert Dankoff of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chi- cago. They have been models of deep learning and reliable kindness as well as sources of valuable criticism. Without their erudition and their patience, this work could not have been written. I also have a debt of gratitude to Professor Frank Reynolds and the members of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School, 1995–96, who critiqued chapter 1 and provided a stimulating environment for the early stages of my project. My colleagues at the Department of Religion, Franklin and Marshall College, 1996–97, and at Mount Holyoke, from 1997 until the present, also provided valuable advice and support. Finally, my thanks go to the members of my family, Adria, Stanley, and Derek Katz. I can never express my gratitude to you. The following quotations from previously printed works are reprinted here with the permission of their publishers. Quotations from Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (Routledge, 1966) reprinted by permission of Routledge. Quotations from Julie Marcus,A World of Difference: Islam and Gender Hierarchy in Turkey (London, Atlantic Highland, N.J., U.S.A.: Zed, 1992) reprinted by permission of Zed Books Ltd. Quotation from Howard Eilber-Schwartz,The Savage in Judaism(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990) reprinted by permission of Indiana University Press. Quotation from P. Hershman, “Hair, Sex and Dirt (Man, n.s. 9 [1974]) reprinted by permission of Blackwell Publishers. Quotations from Carol Delaney, “Mortal Flow: Menstruation in Turkish Village Society,” in Thomas Buckley and Alma Gottlieb, Blood Magic: Explorations in the Anthropology of Menstruation, © 1988 The Regents of the University of California, reprinted by permission of the University of California Press. Quotation from Jack Goody,The Do- mestication of the Savage Mind(Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1977), reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press. Quota- tions from Mary Boyce, “Padyab and Nerang: Two Pahlavi Terms Further Considered,”Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies54 (1991),

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viii

Acknowledgments

pp. 281–91, reprinted with the permission of Oxford University Press. Quo- tation from Peter Brown,The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early ChristianityYork: Columbia University Press, (New 1988), reprinted with permission of Columbia University Press. Quotation from Sherry Ortner, “Is Male to Female as Nature is to Culture?” in Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere, eds.,Woman, Culture, and Society (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1974), © 1974 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, reprinted with permis- sion of Stanford University Press. Quotation from Geraldine Brooks,Nine Parts of Desire(New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1995), reprinted with permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.