International seminar on “Islamic Legal Thought and Institutions in South Asia” organized by Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad
1.
A 3-day international seminar on “Islamic Legal Thought and Institutions in South Asia”, organized by Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad concluded on August 3, 2009.
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The Rector of International Islamic University (IIUI), Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik was the Chief Guest at the inaugural session, while Dr. Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi, a former President of the University presided.
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In his inaugural remarks, while welcoming the participants from Pakistan and abroad, Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik said that the seminar was of immense contemporary and topical interest as it was incidentally being held against the background of challenges being posed to the basic concepts on which Pakistan was founded, including the concept of constitutional democracy espoused by none other than Allama Iqbal. He said the deliberations of the seminar were of great importance as the views to be expressed by the eminent scholars attending the seminar might go a long way in clarifying ideas and dispelling the intellectual confusion being sought to be created about settled issues by half-baked ideologues. He hoped that the seminar would trigger a series of serious academic discussions on present-day issues related to Islamic law.
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The highlight of the inaugural session was a scholarly keynote address by Dr. Qasim Zaman, Professor Near Eastern Studies and Religions, Princeton University, who spoke on “Evolving Conceptions of Ijtihad in Modern South Asia”.
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Dr. Qasim Zaman said that Ulema, during the British rule in the subcontinent and even before that, played an important role in enabling Muslims to order their lives in accordance with the Quran and the Sunnah. He especially mentioned Maulana Anwar Shah Kashmiri, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, Allama Iqbal and some others who were deeply conscious of the dynamic role Fiqh should play in helping Muslims meet the challenges of a fast-changing world. Dr. Qasim Zaman was of the view that Muslims never gave up the concept of Ijtihad. However they were very much cautious in carrying out that exercise. He also mentioned some academic links of the Muslims of the subcontinent with those of other parts of the world like Middle East and central and northern Africa.
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In his presidential remarks Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi paid compliments to Dr. Qasim Zaman for presenting a thought-provoking paper, which was the outcome of years of study and research. While speaking of the contemporary relevance of the seminar, which primarily sought to review the development of Islamic legal thought in South Asia, he spoke at length on the significant contribution of Allama Iqbal to help evolve Fiqh thinking and develop a religious approach capable of responding to the challenges of the present and the future in both intellectual and practical spheres.
7.
The inaugural session was followed by an extension lecture by Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Ghazi, former President of IIUI. The topic of his address was “The Past, Present and Future of the Fiqh in the Subcontinent”. Dealing with various aspects of the evolution of Fiqh, he said the Muslims never undervalued the importance of Fiqh in their daily lives. It was Fiqh that always regulated their personal life in accordance with the principles and injunctions of the Holy Quran. He stressed the need of introducing a new Cosmopolitan Fiqh to meet the requirements arising out of increasing globalization. He said the Muslims in different parts of the world, subscribing to different schools of Fiqh as they did, would face practical problems as a consequence of globalization. Evolving a global or Cosmopolitan Fiqh might be necessary to meet the requirements of the changing times. He said Islamic institutions like the IIUI were trying to address that issue.
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The first day’s programme, also featured three working sessions in which scholars presented their papers on different topics. Those who read their papers on the opening day were: Dr. Safir Akhtar, Dr. Mahfooz Ahmad, Dr. Muhammad Munir, Dr. Asmatullah, Dr. Sajida Hussain Butt, Maulana Abdul Aziz Nehrhio, Maulana Muhammad Ishaq Bhatti, Dr. Ikramul Haq Yasin, Mr. Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmad and Mrs. Shagufta Omar.
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On the second day of the seminar, Dr. Zafarul Islam, of the Muslim University, Aligarh made a presentation on the famous Tatarkhani Fatawa compiled in the period of Delhi Sultanate. He made a point of bringing out the relevance and validity of the Fiqh thinking of the period in the context of the issues of the present times.
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Another Indian scholar, Dr. Mufti Shamim Akhtar presented a paper on the well-known Fatawa-i-Alamgiri. He dealt with the process of compilation of the monumental work, which was the outcome of an effort by a team of some forty dedicated scholars as well as the interest personally taken by Emperor Aurangzeb in that activity of scholarly significance.
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Maulana Zahidur Rashdi, Director, Shariah Academy, Gujranwala presented his paper in which he reviewed the Islamic juridical trends of the period 1857-1947, covering a wide range represented by Deobandi, Barelvi and Ahl-i-Hadith schools of thought. He also threw light on the directions taken by the process of Ijtihad during that period, eventually leading to the passing of the historic Objectives Resolution by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. He said despite their best efforts the imperialist forces could not disrupt the Muslims’ scholarly tradition nor shake their belief system, mainly due to the intellectual guidance and historic resistance provided by a group of dedicated eminent scholars of South Asia.
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The distinguishing features of the Fiqh thinking of the scholars belonging to Ahl-i-Hadith school of thought were brought out in the papers presented by two scholars, viz Dr. Abdur Rauf Zafar and Dr.Sohail Hasan. One of those features was the emphasis laid on comparative study of the principles and methodology pursued by jurists of other schools of Fiqh. A number of legal issues of historic significance addressed by the scholars belonging to this school of thought were discussed in detail by Dr. Zafar and Dr. Sohail Hasan.
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The first session of the 3rd day of the seminar, which was devoted to papers on Fatawa collections, was presided over by Mufti Mohammad Rafi Usmani, Head of Darul Uloom, Karachi.
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In his paper Dr. Tajuddin Azhari emphasized the need for due deliberation and moderation in issuing Fatawa. Another scholar, Dr. Tahir Hakim also dealt with the trend of issuing Fatawa and cautioned those who issue edicts against the shortcomings often found in their pronouncements.
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Mr. G.A. Haq Muhammad reviewed the 30-volume compilation of Fatawa issued by Maulana Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi, known as Fatawa-i-Razawiyyah.
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Dr. Hafiz Ghulam Yusuf made a presentation on thirteen (13) selected collections of Fatawa issued by the scholars of Deoband, particularly Fatawa-i-Rashidiyyah, a compilation of the edicts attributed to Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi.
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In his presidential address Mufti Rafi Usmani pointed out that the generally-held concept of Fiqh fell short of what was envisaged in the Quran and the Hadith. He said Fiqh did not merely deal with particular aspects of personal life, or business and dealings with others, but also with matters related to man’s inner self, his motivations, his weaknesses like jealousy, pride, avarice, love of material things, etc. The purpose was purification and sublimation of the total self and cultivation of love for God. Fiqh in that sense amounted to deep understanding of the vision of the Quran and the Hadith.
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The last session of the seminar was presided over by Maulana Sahibzadah Hamid Saeed Kazmi, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs.
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The session was devoted to a review of the books on Fiqh produced in the South Asian subcontinent. Those who presented their papers in that session included Dr. Inamul Haq Kausar, Dr. Mohammad Sharif Shakir and Dr. Ziauddin Falahi.
20.
In his presidential remarks, Federal Minister Sahibzada Hamid Saeed Kazmi dwelt on the significant role of Fiqh in regulating the lives of the Muslims. He lauded the efforts of the Islamic Research Institute and the International Islamic University for the promotion of Fiqh studies as well as research and studies in other disciplines of Islamic learning and assured them of his full support to enable them to achieve their objectives.
21.
Dr. Zafar Ishaq Ansari, Director, Islamic Research Institute in his speeches at the inaugural and the concluding sessions of the seminar thanked the scholars from Pakistan and abroad who participated in the seminar and contributed to its success. He pointed out that the seminar on “Islamic Legal Thought and Institutions in South Asia” was a continuation of a series of international seminars being organized by the Islamic Research Institute for a number of years, the earlier ones being on Quranic Studies, Hadith Studies and Collective Ijtihad efforts by Muslim scholars of the subcontinent.
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The recommendations and proposals that emerged from the papers read and the discussions held during the 3 days of the seminar were presented for ratification at the concluding session of the moot. One of the recommendations said that arrangements be made for electronic preservation of important manuscripts related to Islamic Fiqh as well as the collections of the Fatawa that were available in Pakistan.
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Another recommendation said that different collections of Fatawa constituted a significant part of the Fiqh or legal legacy of Muslims. Out of the Fatawa collections of the period up to the 10th Hijra century only two or three had so far been published. There was need for research on the remaining ones which should also be preserved and published after proper editing.
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A comparative study of different schools of Fiqh and development of consensus on what might be termed a cosmopolitan corpus of Fiqh was recommended through another proposal.
The papers presented and extension lectures held during the 3-day international seminar on “Islamic Legal Thought and Institutions in South Asia”, organized by Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad from August 1 to August 3, 2009, were as follows:
2003 - 2010 Islamic Reserach Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan.
