Fatwa, Discursivity, and the Art of Ethical Embedding
Abstract: This paper theorizes the role of iftāʾ, the process of producing fatwas (Islamic legal opinions), on the formation of Muslim societies. I argue in this paper that iftāʾ is an ethical embedding mechanism that historically carried out this function through a set of discursive and nondiscursi...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2019]
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Year: 2019, Volume: 87, Issue: 3, Pages: 765-790 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Fatwa
/ Moral necessity
/ Moral act
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion BJ Islam NCD Political ethics |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Abstract: This paper theorizes the role of iftāʾ, the process of producing fatwas (Islamic legal opinions), on the formation of Muslim societies. I argue in this paper that iftāʾ is an ethical embedding mechanism that historically carried out this function through a set of discursive and nondiscursive relations. \"Ethical embedding\" signifies the situating of the various spheres of the social world into an ethical domain. As for iftāʾs discursive relations, the historical manifestations of its procedures and the production of fatwas represented a discursive formation because they manifested a particular regularity in their discursive operations. As for their nondiscursive relations, fatwas position actions and practices within the Islamic moral field through a definite social process. Finally, these operations generate a social field of power that structures the relations between the individuals and institutions of iftāʾ and induces personal dispositions that facilitate the practice of the norms embedded in the fatwa. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfz031 |