Wael Hallaq Books

Argues that the "Islamic state," judged by any standard definition of what the modern state represents, is both impossible and inherently self-contradictory. Comparing the legal, political, moral, and constitutional histories of premodern Islam and Euro-America, he finds the adoption and practice of the modern state to be highly problematic for modern Muslims. He also critiques more expansively modernity's moral predicament, which renders impossible any project resting solely on ethical foundations. The modern state not only suffers from serious legal, political, and constitutional issues, Hallaq argues, but also, by its very nature, fashions a subject inconsistent with what it means to be, or to live as, a Muslim. By Islamic standards, the state's technologies of the self are severely lacking in moral substance, and today's Islamic state, as Hallaq shows, has done little to advance an acceptable form of genuine Shari'a governance. The Islamists' constitutional battles in Egypt and Pakistan, the Islamic legal and political failures of the Iranian Revolution, and similar disappointments underscore this fact. Nevertheless, the state remains the favored template of the Islamists and the ulama (Muslim clergymen)

The book delves into the philosophical contributions of Abdurrahman Taha, offering a critical examination of contemporary intellectual trends in the Islamic world. Wael B. Hallaq highlights Taha's insights, which challenge both Western and Islamic modernities, providing a comprehensive intellectual history that reflects on the complexities of modernity. Through this exploration, the work engages with significant themes around identity, tradition, and the interplay between different cultural paradigms.

Wael B. Hallaq's Restating Orientalism is going to add a new dimension to the long debate about Orientalism. Hallaq's work offers both a partial reevaluation and a substantial extension to Said's original argument. Going beyond the questions of representations of the Orient, Hallaq's work expands the scope of this critical discussion to reexamine the epistemological foundations of modern historical social sciences. Sudipta Kaviraj, Columbia University

This tribute to Charles J. Adams from colleagues and students includes essays on numerous aspects of Islamic civilization, beginning with early Islam down to the modern period. The Qur'ān receives the attention of five Andrew Rippin focuses on references to the pre-Islamic Hanīfs, while Issa Boullata traces poetic citation in Qur'ānic exegesis. Sulami's commentary is discussed by Gerhard Böwering, and Hallaq draws attention to the unique place the Qur'ān occupied in Shātibī's legal theory. Finally, W.C. Smith looks at the Qur'ān from a comparativist perspective.Ulrich Haarmann and Donald P. Little deal, respectively, with the attitudes of medieval Egyptians towards the Pyramids, and the nature of Sūfī institutions under the Mamluks. Mehdi Mohaghegh, Hasan Murad and Paul Walker treat philosophical and theological issues, while Eric Ormsby analyzes the structure of experience in Ghazali.Sajida Alvi explores the religious writings of the eighteenth-century Indian scholar Panīpatī, and Üner Turgay examines Circassian immigration to the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. Orthodoxy and aberrancy in the Ithna 'Asharī tradition is the subject of Savory's article, and the notion of literature in Arab and Islamic culture is treated by Wickens. Finally, Bernard Weiss compares Islamic and Western conceptions of law.

Wael Hallaq treats the rise of Islamic law from 622 to 950 AD when the law and legal system reached maturity. This is the first book that offers such a wide coverage of Islamic legal history, with the intention of informing students and non-specialists in a readable and insightful narrative.

This book is an introduction to the fundamentals of Islamic law and its history.

This 1997 book traces the history of Islamic legal theory from its early beginnings until the modern period.

Edward Saids "Orientalismus"-Buch, das bereits vor über 40 Jahren den europäischen Blick auf den Orient als "Stil der Herrschaft und Umstrukturierung" zu entlarven suchte, gilt als eines der Gründungsdokumente der postkolonialen Theorie. Der in New York Islamwissenschaften und politische Theorie lehrende Wael B. Hallaq unterwirft Saids Thesen einer grundlegenden Kritik und Neubewertung. Dabei nimmt er zentrale Gedankenfiguren westlichen Denkens wie Souveränität, Subjekt oder Selbst in den Blick und analysiert, welche Rolle sie für das Aufkommen des Kolonialismus spielten. Hallaq diagnostiziert auf faszinierende Weise den europäischen Herrschaftsdiskurs und dessen problematische Verbindung von Wissen und Macht als Ergebnis einer "psychoepistemischen Störung", die für die Auswüchse des Kolonialismus, aber auch für die von Europa ausgehenden Genozide und die systematische Naturzerstörung verantwortlich ist. Quelle: Verlag