We will continue to hold meetings on Zoom. Though we are sad to miss our regular post-meeting dinners, Zoom has enabled us to reach international audiences and invite speakers from across the world.
Please note the differing times to accommodate the various time zones. For more information, please see our seminar website: https://researchblogs.cul.columbia.edu/islamicbooks/religionwriting/
“The Early Epitome (mukhtaṣar) of Islamic Law: Evolution of a Genre.”
The epitome (mukhtaṣar) is a succinct collection of the rules of Islamic law. The earliest examples, considered part of the Mālikī tradition, actually present themselves as collecting the wisdom of a regional tradition. Regional schools gave way to the personal across the ninth century CE, and the earliest Shāfi`ī epitomes, by al-Buwayṭī (d. 846?) and al-Muzanī (d. 877?), present the doctrine of a respected individual, the imam of the school. By comparison with the classical epitomes to come, they include a good deal of the authors themselves, sometimes reinforcing or even disputing the imam’s doctrine. The earliest Ḥanafi epitome, by al-Ṭaḥāwī (d. 933), still expressly chooses among available options. The earliest examples of the classical epitome, from the mid-tenth century, are by the Ḥanbalī al-Khiraqī (d. 945/6) and the Ḥanafī al-Marwazī (d. 945). They presage the formation of guild schools, certifying who may or may not give opinions as an adherent. The chief development to come after them is growing concern to identify the single best estimate of the rule for any given case, sidelining alternative rules attributed to the imam or to major followers.
