Serjeant_Sunnah Quran Urf

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33

S hQ ,- cU'fI unna ., . ur an, r,

R D,.,SE.RJEANT

In this, paper I shall treat of the so-called "Constim tiOlll! of Medina" and

cerooe Qur'an passages, related to it, 'llmar's supposed letter ito Abu,

Miisiil al-Ash'arf" on. the office ofqii4f. Yemeni custoraary law codes on

m(Jlrlah . B a ~abrayn al-Hadrami's al-Manahf al~TahMnifyy(Jh and other

studi,es, drawin:g upon my researches completed and not yet completed,

The two last named works have not yet been pUibl ishedl l : but I have been

working on them for a numbers of years. I shaJ!lalso refer to A1;una,d

Oweidi ,al-~Abbidi's Cambridge thesis Bedoom lawinJOrdanwhidlI Edin-

burgh University Press has agreedto publish. With, Muslim theories on

how . sMn'Jah was formulated I am not directly concerned, butwiththe

his'Eory ofArabiaiO law that preceded the soon.....Jhand! which, termed<u.rj

or ciidah~ persises I t i i H today" apparently little chaaged in principleor

practice since the pagan Jabiliyyah age,. From this ancient Am-abian law

branches off the Islamic shan- '«h as a diviergen t, modiJ}ting and adding to

it.The theory that Islamic law derives from the Qur'in supplemented by

the Sunnah, then ijmil' consensus, and analogical reasoning I C c p y i i s ) , does

not reflect the initial historical ciJrClltIDstancesof Islam.

First.ofalJ the notion ora break.a line separn.tingme'Jahiliyyah from

Islam is to be abandoned. Contemporary researches on m e south Ar.i;-

bian inscriptions and indeed in Arabic Iiteratnre itself show ever more

clearly how unacceptable ~tis, and nowhere is this mQre' evident than in

litheSurmah ..For the purposes of this paper a sunnah in its legal coatext

may be defined 3S, a legal decision taken by an arbiter ina case brought

I See m:yThe 'Constitutiota of Mediina', lslami(: ~(.u1~" LoodqD, 1964, V1.J1,pp..3-][6,;

"The S'1I .nnoo Jiiml!aIl.Pacm wi'tb the YathribJews, and the ~"1n of Yatbrlb: .A:naly is aad

U"ar.lsiation of the decurnents comprised In tIile 5O"CilIled,Constitution of Medina'.

, BSQAB, l.oud.c::ltI, 1978, XU, pp ...1-42 (&:Viuiorum reprlolc,1981). 'The Caliph'1Jmalj"s

Jl':tll':li"S to Abu Mi i . \'O i .aJ .. -JUh .~ar i and MuCliwiya' J S S . , Manchester" [984, XXIX. pp,65-'79 (&:

Vati()rum reprint" 1991). Comf:mdgeRis lo ry of A T t i I l i & Ukm;tuno'Eady Acahic Prose'. ]'9$3,

pp.1l22-151. 'MaterlalsfOl:South AmbiiUll history', . BSOAS , 1900,Xm. pan 2. pp. 589-:93.

~. The mall :<ah codes are :ill. tbe c-o .rpus ofVemenhe material eelleered by the late' EUOO"e

.Ros.y and. the Tarim }i[jJM al-Adab wa. . 7--law.mm fi ~ t U 4 I f . { J ; J i ' a : h upon which I am

woikin,g" B3 ~brayn's al-MaMhiin O"311scrip't1bavebepn to . translate and annotate.

See abo E. Ro$$i, ;11 diri1i:1QOOfi~iJerudi_n~o, delle tribu arabe del ¥emen'" RSO, Rome,

1948" XX_m, pp..]-26.

Elements sous droits d'auteur



34 HfM68

before him that has become iiiprecedent, a custom. One has to envisage a

long series:of arbiters before Islam. suchan office' being hereditary in

certain noble fuouses,.as noted in the literature? The Prophet Mu-

harnmad 'was an aibiter ~nthis continuity oftracl!ition and the theocraq

he founded succeeded. many others; it has been followed by numerous

Islamic sub-theocracies if one may use such a term. with.in and: without

the Arabian Peninsula. In fact, so far from regarding Mul)ammad asbent

upon a policy of :innovation, one has to conceive of him. as born Into a

society regulated by.a continuousseries of snnnahs stretching from a.

• emote past into the Islam of his day, and! even beyond. h~s supreme

lordship of that theocracy~A virtue of ahls system of case law is that a new sunnah IDay be

established to replacean existing sun nab aad in a.sense:the Prophet may

be reg-arded as ratifying some sunnahs andreplacing others, - the chan-

ges were probably relatively few. but 'of course they are of m'render

i.~po:rtance. It :may bea survisal of the possibiJ!ltyof the modification or

repeal of an earlier ruling in the practice continuing and inherited from

the pagan ag'e thatal~Dmm~ can eirea Tradition rem~l!lin:ting' to al-

Awzi\i,4 (88.[57 H.): .A,l~sunnah qii4iyah, cala 'Z-QuT'an 'wa-,[a'Jsa'l~Qur'an

q:J4iyah <ala:> l~sunnah. which I understand to mean tha,t~:nthe event of a

conflict of law between the Qpr'inand the Snnnah, the latter is decisive,

It.is to be remarked that the two oldest mad:l l lwbs (regarded by the Sunn'is

as, heretical). the Iba~l and the Zayd~.make the Sunnah overrule the

QuI'an where there is cO'f!.flkt. ParaUe~ to this•.in.jordan of thls c'entury

tribal law precedents are susceptible w nmdificartion. even replacement,

bya properly qua~lJned hereditary judge.

The F'ihristr) notes that Hisham b. Mul;tammad al-Kalbi (ob.206/821.2)

composed awriting/book (kitiih) on what the pagan age (ai:Jahiliyyah)

used to doand which accordswah the judgement (In..tkm) of Islam, A

~ Ibn ~Abd Rabbi-h] ..(J. l~' lqdal1afld, . CalrQ, 1359-12/19-lo.53." l,p.30 states that~Abdull!ah b.

°AhbMwrote 1[0al~ltIasan ib.~Aliwbelll Ibepe<Jple made bim. their ruler after"Ali. Wa:l l i ahl

aJ , . . l ,uy ii t i i l t4ttM.U~hi- i l im· ,uM' ' im-llum. , Put men oEnoble heuses ln c~a:rgeand.lh:rough

them you will mak.e their tribes w e n affected (to you)"

~ Stman. Dar :I~,yi.'a1-Sunnah al~Nabawiyyah, n.d., I , :p.l44. M·Awza'iwas the Imam of the

Syrians e~:pedaUy.

s Ibn al-Nadim,alFilIml,Oairo, n.d .. p. [417.Cf.IbnHabib, ai-M"f iablHn- , t ;laydar-lbad,.

136111942. p.236.

Elements sous drolts d'auteur



H£M68 .35

pre-Islamic poet cited! by Ibn Dtlrnyd's JShliqiil/, asjudging' lin the age of

paganism. ajudgement eonsistent with the Sunnahoflslam. is probably

quoted from Ibn al,.,Kalbi's,Kitab. not now extant, but draw1n.gno doubt

on his father's data, It is of CQUfSe tfue other way .fiound.- the Islamic

Sunnah is inherited from the pr1!-Isbmic era.

The Prophet M1il~lam,madwas the scion of an honourable fuouse.

,exen:ising a sort of theocratic control of the Haram of Mecca, but

himself of small political consequence. Falling out widl his tribe,

Q;uraysih" he found proteetion with the tribes ofYathrib/Med_jnm who

iso'llglata neutral arblser-leader to ~ut:an end to their quarrels ..Ai l" :Yathrib

he built up a politico-rellgioasascendancy and in the course of hisfirsa

year there he arranged two pacts that form part of the document inatptily

known inEurope as the "Constitution of'Medina", This is the first Islamic

documem that survives" elements of the Qur"an apart.

M y analysisofiit~ies before you, and I shall henceforth refer to ~tasthe

EIGHT DOCUM:liN7S, ofwhich: itcoasists, The first two ofth.e documents I

identifY as aM un TW h ,(1 ,f;.J iim fa h. the two first pacts, of Year I which form a.

united Muslimcommmnity. ummah. the nucleus around. which that eom-

munity developed. Th:e first documentestahllshes 3! tribal confedera-

tion,. basically security arraagemears, the second adds suppleme1!lita:ry

clauses te it.The signatories to them have notbeen preserved. bur since

the mu ~minunarndmuslimun of Quraysh andYathrib are cited ~n the

preamble it can be assumed that they were the Prophet's Quraysb

followers from Mecca who had taken protection. in Yathrib, and. the

,cbiefs" naqfbsand sflyyids Qg the Arab tribes of Yathrib.Evencertain

JeWish notables may have been ~nduded, but the jews may have been

l1epresenilecl! by the Arahcmefs to whom they wereallred in a secondacy

capacity as t i i ln" 'un..

Thesetwo documents, the SunnakJamfah. are so sophisci(;3ted and

weUdraftedthattheexistence of earlier models. may be postulated" and it

~. At.lsJltiq&J~ed, <AMal..sa~arn.Harlin, Cairo, 13781[958, p,p.SS9, 393 ...Aease in poj1!H).fa.

p.re-]slamic :runruzh reported by al-:SLlkhiiri on dl.eautho:r.ity of ~A·ishah.is 1 I i N l l. i ' a[..

~i.ibifii:,.a form of marriage which Beeston id,entifie,s 'with 'a.piece in [he Sabai.c tCX.t C.

581, wher~' a.surrogate famer is inY().lved.This also gives a dlff'erent aspect. to the maxim

a l - :walad l i -' I1i r ii .s l l . Th e i ns ti 1u ti !J !r ! o f ii:sti~ by t h e t h i! 1d ! l~Lam ic c (l nJ .u . tY .WQuJd d(lubt-

less be eondemned 'b y i.h.efo:qoMi~whatever mi.ghtin practice CK ist ,as : in.eo:n.sil tent with

the J:unnahof[slam ..See mJi ' Z i ' , o o ~ ,some forms of'marriage andalJied topics InWest.ern

Arabia.' in t!be forth.()orning WaIter Dostal 'felit!iChrifi~




36

so happens that Christian R.obinandJ..~Fmncois Breton' have discovered

a Sabeic inscription at jabalal-l.awdh ~n north-east Yem.en which they

describe as "le pacte de federation des trlbus". 'While there are uncertain",

ties about the exact.rendering of me inscription m.erecan be rnil ide doubt

about its genera] import, An approximate rendering into Arabic might

be: "'Yawn aqiima hull qawm dh(u/a) /lah wac, shaym wa dh(u/a) llahl 100-

~umT(lh".W'hen he (the 'm«1wrrib) organized (?)/j;oined toge:ther(?)

everycomenanuy group (Sabaic guf') of']] (God) and (possessed) of

honour, and which has iii pact and a writing in red . .Shaym in colloquial

Yemeni Arabic means "honour", wapi, .sharar etc., and the :Zaydi Imams

sprinlde red. powder on docuraents, and the Prophet weore on,lhe red

leather of KhawHin.

While the sense of dIe inscription is s u n speculative. the I }q .b l A l I iih

(pact of God) of the Qur'an, i~i.l!o.3"n the verse wa~'m#mU:l J i· fwh l i ' lJ a h i

jami""(l11Wa-ltl tafarraqii 'wa~dlzkum nr.maln:'lliihz'!'alay4unn.idh kuntum tfiJjj;

wa"allaja, hayna. qulubUw.m ~soovi(yllsly the pact, the SunnahJ i im i~ah , which

put an.end to tribal squabbles at yath.rih and. foundedthe Ummali. No

actual/wblon the nnes of the Sr.mnah.J i imi /ah . has yet come to ligbt from.pre-Islasrric Arabiabut one yetmay- just as the rules for the pilgrimage at

I twa t have been shown b y Ma~mudatl-Ghij19to resemble the man4s ik

al-fuzjj.But the establishment by Mubammad of a ii::onfederation- the

. $u " nnah J am i<ah , . under theocratic rule was dearly an Araibian practice.

well established.

Th,eSunwih]dmi"ah. A . rules thateach tribal group will deal ' W l .t h . the

IDa-jor issue in tribal law. thatof the responsibility for blood money (to

which ~tadds ransom) according to al~m(friij.recogBized custom. In this

area of law the Prophet hereby gave PQsitivesancdou to £urj;"'indeed bis

general policy appears to follow existlng custom. But m e mostsigniiciiifitproviso is,in.B,4..."Inwhatever thing you are atvarianee .•itsF(!fe:rence back

is to Allah" Great. and Glorious. and to Muhananad, Allah biess and

~anour him", It is this clause that sets up the theoeratie c-GnfeC:.enmon

fueadedby Mlll:tammad.Following the Qu.'ful verse quotedabove, .rUmhill" 1M, FUns: "And let

"Le SaN.ct,uaire·preislamique du Cabal il-Lawd (Nmd.yemen) '",ComptG- rm d u s, . A .~

.thllmmpntms d&lks,Letlrts, Paris, 1982, pp. 500-6.29, espeeiallypp, 616-7.

~ Shtflm'was thus defined to me by Sayyid~mada1-Sh.arn.i.

~ 'TIle Pilgrimage at Itwae' "PtvClltding .of 1M &milWTfOl 'A. r0h i4 l ' ! · Srndkt. London, 19M,.

XlV; {,p., 33-41.




HfM68 37

there be of you an Umman (~co:nfeder:ation)i:nvititng to good and. ordering

wbat liscustomary/recognized fa~mtfrnj) andprobibiting' whaj't,is unre-

cognized {munhar)", The question at once arises -with re~:rdl to both

verses ~ did the Qur'anic injuncti,Qn.s to"have recourse for protection to

the pact (habl) of Allah as a coIlectivegroup"and' "letthere be of you an

Uinman " follow or precade th e !Prophet's cO :l1lclu di!E 1lgf the tw o pacts

which are the Sunnahjami:~aM It may be argued eimer way. but lllbjnk

the Sunnah}amiCah, A . preceded the l~r'in veFses, because the I].ablAlliih

as quoted in them appears t' O be something already in existence and! they

are gMng ~t,sancrion,

The injunction toappeal indisputeaao the Prophet as ultimate arbiter

occur several times inthe 'Qpr'an, but to the passage containing one of

these inj1!1:_l1ctionsthatfigliliresin silrah i v,5a .. 60 . [ did ~notgtv:e fullcofi.side'r·

atiQn in myorigi.!1lal study. Tttis looks to reflect a developsnent f'oll:owing.

peti1l;aps quitesoon, m e eenclusion of Sunnahjami,cah. B,. to which it is

l'ernated. Ommi~!ting redundant phrases perhaps inserted at the Pro-

pnet"s: redaction" the passage runs: ,,.Allah commands, YGlil (p~ur.) Ii,ogive

backth ~~I~d"s( '·-:n-t)IOtotheirwners and- rhenvou '-l'-e 'b.·tweena:c_ .ep.e ge. ama a,.. ..o_,_we},_~Juug e .. ___._

the people to J:udge wi.th justice. . . 0 those who have trustedlbe~ieved

(amanti), obey ALllahand obey the Apo-stle and. those!of you in command,

and tfyou d~spute over something referitback

t o OAllah and the Afostile"'.The Qur'jiml, then rebukes clJlo.se:rnaintaining' they have tru$t,ed/beHeved

in what was r-evea~edto the Prophet but yet wish to take one another 1 1 0

the ' T 1 1 g 1 l i i . t though ordered to disbelieve in him. The ' l ' iighiit , called

(ll~ltiihinal- TaghUlby Ibn 1;Iablb[1 isthe pagan S()othsayerj1!i!,d:g:~.,Those oryou in command" win be the naqrbs and sayyidsof the Awsand.Khazraj

tribes.

rmust digress a little to discuss this passage on pledges on which I hope

to w.nte .a paiPer~In the legal procedure known as muna. jarrm or nifarlhe

two contending parues each deposited an article with ajudge. The loser

also lost hls plegde to thewlin:ner of the case. MUini i farancases as I'epor~ed

10 Muhammad's hrewell Speech at tbel:Jajjat a1·Wadi{. repeats file :injunction ®f(lur'an.

IV; . l 58 - -00 : ·With 'whomsoeveirmere is an am.(j'nah, let h im pay it bae'k to h im w ho

e.fi~red h im with it;, [ ~ dt:h e Speec;h as a d ..ram a.tisau Qu with .3 ,ebo.l:l .IS.om'Wblg

Jargelyon tiheQIilr"an.This Injunction. is,g,iv~na gener:aJ application. but d: Q,ur'an ...ii,

283 whi.ch relates 'coa differelll situau.on ..

II Ibn :e:abib oJ .Munantmaq; ~::ayda:dbad. 1.384/1964. p. 111.




38 lIf.M~68

by Ibn ljIabib12appear to have an air Qffantasy about them tin it is realised

t:h:at they ru-e honour (snafu/) cases .. Infringement of, or ehallenge to a

tribesman's honour is a serious matter then and now and might even

leadto a murder ..Soa munaJarak means much the same as a . mu~aka-

mah..]~Injlordan'" and Beersheba this cemurvthe loser's pledge went asa

fee to the arbiter. AYemeni Ms..on tribal law of nO E later than circa 500 H.

whie_h I am editi_ng states: ''''When t'W'O litigants plegde a pledge with a trust

worthy party (tkiqah) and the case (al-(w.qq) goes against one of them,. the

t1f1!l5twonhypany is allowed to retain the pledge until the party aga.inst

whomthe case has 'been decided acquits himselfofhisliaJoility". M y KJtab

a l ~A rMbwa - ' l- law ti z; i: "~ftaMQm a l- rr rm r l/a h (circa m 300 A.D.)! ofwhich more

below, expatiates on tais. theme in the same vein, Al-Qurtubi in al1ci7nic

l i:-a{tkiim. aJ:.Qul"an,!5 is only authority consulted by me who seemstointerpret the passage c.firrectly. He says the ( j . . m . a n a t are articles deposited(wadi:ah} , . pledges (mAn), etc,with governors (wuliihj and they are retnrn-

ed " 0 thei~ owners, the innocent ;and. the gui[ty;lli .

II I Ibid., p.94 passim. Cf. my 'The White Dune atAbyan: an ancient pl.ac~ qfpUgrLmage 'in

Somhe.m Arabia' . J S S , XIV;. 1971, PiP. 7<FaS, a 'case over anaecusatlen ofbasulJ:dy;

IS The Caliph "Umar use.s mu~Blu:!1MJI for Z.ubayr··smum/amh.

I. Ahmad 'U,;;;aj~i/Oweidi aPAbbadi,. Jkd'ouin. jWitice i~nJrml4tt, cambridge Ph.D. th.esls1982 (in press) & : <i\r.if al .-<Arld . aJ.Qa4ii ' baJnaUadw;JI.lttwiem, ]933.

I~Q..1ioo,. ]377/1958, V. p.256.

16 I recallhea:ring in South Arabia tharjudges with whom l it i_gants !lave placed a.deposit

are sometimes!'du4.;tafit torct:i.Ui) themto therr owners after d\e ease has. been sell.le,dL

Itm ay h ave been to a'l'oid.ti1is that the Qu _r 'a n,. I V, 6 S6O w a s revealed oralternauvely it

was t~)bolish. an. eKisdn,g custom 0 :£ the judge taking the loser's pl'e.dge asa fee. ~n an

honour C~ in 4 l -M~:nammaq~ p..l07, a pledge ,s deposited wIth anhir,dparty not the

.lWJlIirrjug:de. I found a.pledge-holder r a J a h , might be a pe$5(;lI) diffE'[~nt f:rom the

arbiters ('Two trlballaw cases' I1.}RAS,i.ondu[!, 1951, [p.I61). 'Ad,meanmg a . deposit

!X(:u~ in Qm;'in, U,4:1, Hl3,ilie former quodngthe StltlnahJamfah. DocB, Sa, Ehe

]atterilJ~ 1ln'ked with it, as:LsQ1;Ir'in. V]".70. These passages migh~ be dated to.year 1 og

2.We ap oU 5w er e U SE d.a s a plwge in.the Prophet's lime (Ibn Hlshim,.$im4. ed, Saqqaet

alii, '(:ajJO, [375/1955, n, p .SS . .I have Doted, 'Th.e \\?hite Dune at. Aib) 'an'. jSS, Man-chester, XVI, HIJ7E,in an. honour case,I!) muskets and lOOcamels pledged! before 3isort

of trial by ordeal; Perhaps honour cases come into Jslam as qa ii h !c aM . s • .Afterthe trial

!mom .moll.ey is paidl Q·ver.

In an hO!lour ease hnmediat'elypreceding lilam between the Bl!jilah and. Kalb ,tribes

.they made arbiter ( { U l J I A a m u J al-Aqra? b.l1iibi5 and placedpledges (rt.ihtin) in tht't hands

of "Uqbah b. Rabl"ah b. "Abd .Sham~aI~ among tb.e nobles (oshriij) of Qumysh'.

Each. part)' when as'led. fOf a guarantor ( 1 r o . j i 1 ) of fulfilment ( w a J a , orrn.ejudgement?)

:1' I .omina.tGd.~ral pagan gods whe.-e recent J:I:ac:iramidO(umentsiD. my h and s noms-




HfM68 39

To rerum to the EIGHT DOCUMENl'S-t!hl1ee shorter pacts dealwith the

client-ally I'el.ationsb~psof the Jewish, and probably Que ChFistian. tribes

tothe A ralb A w s and Kbazraj. With their disappearance from YarthrilJ.

Medinah these pacts have only historic interest and are tmrelated to

slllibsequent Islamic legislation on the status, of the Jews in the' M~slum

comm.tlinity.Document G of the EIGHT is the treaty of mutual pro1i.ection

concluded before the se called battle ofthe Trench by the Musllm

grroups inYathrib to which itheJews ofAws, subscribed, Two documenrs

thatdefine the regulations for cream.ng an.diregil i l lat ing the sacred enclave.

the Haram, orVa.thrih nownamed Madfnat al~Nabijl'j.are important and

valid, in prindple;.today~

To SUI1'ilUp •.the Sunrum1amir.rih, i.e, the KIGHT DOCUMENTS, A and B.

are the basis, the fuund.ing charter, of m e MusUmcommunity, the A.hl

al~tLnnahwa~ ~ 1 1 a : m f f{ J ,h " laying down the principles for its ulilIi'ty andmaking hpossible for others to joiuthe Ummah-man tam"!'a: /(J"Mftiqa

b i . : . J , · i m .Mu._hammladis In this the m . ' u j a m m ; l $ the uniter, probably like the

mWwmb s aDd others in Arabia before him.

It is astonishling that the ulema of the 2nd llijrah century onwards

should have relamvely neglected it - yet thereare two dear quotations

{rom it in the Qur"an. I think other passages in the Qur'aJil;, if studied

carefully"wou~dbe seen tor,etlect the Sunnahjdmi(,ah and possibly others

of the !EIGHT DOCUMENTS. For instance sum.h ll,.40-48 I hold. as adressed

to the Jewish Bani Qura~ah at the confrontation atal-Khaadaq, the

'Trench. the last verse clearly couched ill terms of the SU.'I l/nt1hjimi/(Jh B.&

A. Phrases fmm the Il.lGHT occur in the g,DeatTta;d~tion oolleeeens. If

collected and studied the alterarions or accretions 1 1 0 dle.m in the course

of transmission would. emerge. andwhail; isundeniably genuine would be

established. .. (TheEmHTar~ patently genuine in themselves and, in

contrast to the Q~r'an, show no sign of r,edacmon) , Thismjght pwve a

corrective 1i 0 wh.u is over-destructive in the work. of Goldzlher and

Schacht.

The Sunnahlami~ahremains a reference of central importance for atleast a century and. a half. The Prophet's deailh ..Ieft the MediJnan trfbesIn

nate Aruih as liaft1. The N~'i4 QfJarir lmd"lF~ ed,A..A.Bevan. Leiden, ]905" I.

p.BO.

X noted from the late Sayyid ~i~ b .. oAlI al-J,:Iamirl in J:lap:rama:w:c Tinq/nl 'adlJ'il

bayna-lu.!m j i .miijani,They put d own p le dg < e$ b elWe en ' th em ,o ve vw h a th ad !l: ak en pb.ce,Le ..<'vel' lUi. i:n(!ider(t ..




40 HfM68

a ,quandary over his successor, Apiece missing from m e published text of

Th A~·,1i,.", . E l - · h b d'"·' ... ' d 'b' 'M·"'"I' 'M· ' . 1 '7. . '· d valn." '.u~am·s..l'ut;u.', .Uit, iscovere . y . " I~_NOS..,uranYl.;· peovmes vam-

able new information about the eventful meeting at !he Saqifah of the

BaIIU. SaCidah at whk.n the problem was discussed, Ibn Ntll,am. reposts

that Thiibit. b.Qays, orator ofmeAn~r before and during the Prophet'S

time, stated that the Prophet "has gone out of the world without de-

signatinga. particular man as successor and. he entrusted the people to

on~y such of the Ql!.IJr'anand the SunnahJiimi!ahas Allah made (His)

agent/trusteelguardj3Jlj (wakil) and Nlah will net unite (yajmd) this

U m , m a J , . . on (the basis of) error", One bas toconsider the posslibili.ties

either that this statement w as invented to refute the Sh~ah doctrine that

tile Prophet made a 1ta,t,fdesignating CAll b. AbiT:a1ibas his SI I lCC:(, : ,SID:f, or

(:b'atthe Shi'ah historians such as al~Ya(q:iihiI8ddiberartely excised itmom

their account of th.e Saqifah, M y own view is that me fundamental

position of tlle Sunnahjam:i"ahwith regard to the Ummah meant that it

would be-In the mInds of all pr,eseD.t at the Saqifah meeting. Iegard the

statement as authentic, and the Prophet's inaction on the issue' of

succession to himself as deliberate and for good reason - I hope to

develop this theme in anosher paper.

The first major crisis in Mslamcame with the murder of the tihird

Caliph; cUthman. the conflict between "All h.Abi Taliband Mu"awiyah.

theroe.huionofCUmman, their confronsatiorr at Siffin 19' and the treaty of

arbitration concluded between them in 36/65fj.J5'7. This treaty consists of

three brIef and distinct agreements concluded at different times. The

first rules that the arbitration w m bemade in accordance with the Qur'an

alone. The second adds "Wa.-'z"sunnah.a(;.ftUlilah al1ami"r.ah ghayr al-muJam-

qan" , the just uniting snnnah, not the diwding sunnah, thus contradic-

ting the first agre,ement. Why? My soludenwould be that the political

leaders on either side would be more di[il~ctlyacquainted with the

SunnahJiimi<:ah with its clear cut provisos, than they would be with the

Q ._. .,',. '. ,·th s " . . . . . . . 'l""~ 'h .... . . '.... "-'11 ribal federalur-an -anyway, .eunnun, Janu '0: . IS e.ssenUAll_y a me ;, coareaerai

agreement thoughconduded under the aegis ofAlHm. Again,. following

I,' 'Ein neuerBericht iiber die Wahl desersten Kalifen.AbU.Bakr",A·rohifa, Leidcll, I978,

XXV, pp. 233-60..A sligh[emendation has to be made (p.239, line 17)" The second

intu:l -md sh.ould. read. ita m a .

lA AilNa"ql1bJJ,T i i r i J i h . Beir'ut, 1379/1960,11, p..123. alludes toThihit.b. Qays, theorator hun

stares only that he mentioned the fai!l of the AnAF.

Tabari , Taril1l.H,I , p..I D8 , Y ear 6 5" Q9r'in. TIl. ios, &; Sunnai'jtimtah B , 2a.

i!9 For my diseussiom of the ~imnarbitratioa documents see CHAt, .1,pp, l!42 seq.




HfM68

the slaying ofl:[usayn,. son of'Ali b. Ab! Talib. at Karbalia. ' , it is to the Kitab

Atliih and the SunnanofHis Prophet that alLMurrl appeals to avenge his,

death. T~js can only 'be,theSunnahJami"ah, not just a vag;ue body of

sunnahs, So the Sunnah Jami~ah seems to he btown variollslyas tile

Sunnat Rasiil Allah,; S iunna t N a b i y y i - - h i " sometimes as.the f:labl Allah. The

poet al,.,F:arazdaq2ll says of the Umayyad caliph Hisham; "fl'abl Alida

{tablu~. The pact bond of AlJah is your pact bond", By this is to be

understood the protecdcn afforded byAllah's pact, i.e, the SunnahJiimi·cah.

The SU'4nahjami€ahcol!l!tLnued ImportaEt in Shi~l eyes afll"dthe Imam

Ja.~faraJ.~a.diq defines mtas consisting of 30 dauses- this exactly fits the

len,gth of the first three documents of the EIGHT, but ~fidudesdocument

Cwhleh establishes, the dient.,aHy relation of theJewi.sh to the Arab ttibes

ofyathrib.

In li1;e'historical writing of the first Islamic century and a half it should

beauemptedtc distinguish when the runnat al~Nabi'YJ/Rtniilmeans the

Sunnah.J i imi<:al; the sunnah par excellence of m e Prophet" and when it

comes to mean, eady no doubt" Mul)a:mmaG!'s sunnahs in general. In this

connection I would draw attention to a study that has not received theattention it merits. M. M.Bra:vmann's Th e S p irUua ll xu :k g nm , n d a/earlJ '

Is.lam (1972}, notably the chapter "Sunnah and related concepts";m

concur in his refutation af Schacht's theory on the "Sunnah of the

Prophet", Bra:vmauD's diseusslon of the phra:sesunnat Rasiil.A.lllih.wa:-

S1~ratu~huuggests to me a possible distinetion between the Sunnah ]iimi~

°a h and decisions made by the Prophet in a relativdy routine wa.y- but

this requires further study_

Itis strain.ge that in the nine major works Om l i 'Traditio]Jl covered by the

Wensinc.k ConctJ1danaetImti~ the term S 'UnnahJami~ah,d .oes not appear

at all. altib.ough Muslim (:uliat 139) does quote: A .J am a ji tJ .., ku tn 4ul!ii-tan. . . t l l a - ' ' 1 1 t u t a f a r n q i _ 1 U l Jajanuffa-kum A.lliih i n " ? Dit I not find you in

error . . . and gpl~tapart. then Allih brought you together through me'~

C[ Qur'an.SU,,103,.supra. How could the Tr.adhionistsignor,e so impor»tanta document?'

The massive contingents of Arab tribesmen that moved Into SYria and

the cantonment cities of southern Iraq can. hardly have had recourse to

other than their existing arbiters and chiefs in legal marsers and the

:IQ AA~l8e'l'an.17leN~,ti4iifJirri,.a:ndAll'~Leiden.1905-08.1I, 1'1H3. Theversesare

an importan.tindi.catio.n. of the attitude of th.e lime to the sunnah,




HfM68

inherited tradition of the pagan age, The W4(at $iJjfn'l! indeed saysthat

at the: arne of the fit'nahbetween \~l and Mu~awiyah: "'theywere Arabians

rU TU ) .•• and in them were the vestiges of (tribal) honour (~ami:yyahJ"'.

This looks like an understatemelldfUifadmin~stered by the chiefs no

doubtvaried from tribe to tribe but illis likely to have been C u r ! ~a:w.given

in time an Islamic tag,.that formed the basis oHslalllIc ,s;unan. 'This is not,

of course, to deny that.ceruUl!l suanahs do remounr to the Prophet,An example of how little (slam might affect tribal customary law even

towards the dose of tfue 3rd cenlll.ryappears when the first Zayai Jmarm,

al-Nidi,22. arrived in the Jawf of north-east Yemen to find "immoral

women" at the SUrntafi 'S gale, One of them had received money from asoldier ,(i,e.a rribesmanj-wlah others present, but when she failed to go to

him the soldier took the case to the Sultan who punish:,ed her and!

compelled her to go to him.

Let me now turn to the celebrated letter which tile Caliph cUmar is

creditedto hav;esent 'toAbu Misa al~Asbcari.his;governor in Iraq. which Iha v -- -- - ined.i ,c d c , ,, . . . : ~ in theJ.'C'C' 19 ·.8 ·4 . 'When T iead 'I n c; it··':!t'"' ,,' ..d c " - - ,,' .- .3: e exaU Lfi .' lID _ e.....,~ ". _ _.. . ~ ._ _ ___ __ . g _ ".AU. unecgm

duates I had doubt about its authenticity like earlier ,sdlolars. [venttta:Uy

[ bappened upon a letter in Ibn Abi J:ladid's comm.entary te the Nahj

al4m/iighllh which. "Umar is, stated. to have written to Abu Musa. Stripped

of Its obviously much later preamble, it is identical both in content and

diction, given minor variations not mareriaUy :aHectingthe sense. wi!th a

leuer "Umar sent to Mu.cawi.yah. his governor of Syria ..Of the geni1!liine-.

ness ofthe ~etlle'rS am in no doubt, Letme quote the letter to MILIl~awiiya_h:

Stkk ! . .@f()urpra(lUCf;Sandy<iiurC 'Qndnct (d'tl)wUl be $Qund ;mdyoll willatta:in)'Qur most

a'boundillg fo:rtuue"

1. When two opposing parties pre&ec.1l1 tbemselves, you: are !:cspou_sibfe (Cor seeing to

the p!,ioou~lil)!lof) proof5, wiU'!e~ ofpoohi!.y and de~~ive' oath.£.

:2" Then :admit die man efin{~ri.or satus ( { J d F i J ) ' s o that: his tongue maybe loosened! and

:11s heartemboldened.

3. Lookafterthe stranger, forwhen lle is lOl1;gdetained! he will abandenbis suit and go

back tQ· his people.

4i.Take painll to arrlve at ,conciliation (~l~) soJong asjudgement is not dear.

Peace be upon 'you.

~I Al.Minqari,.mujal f J i J f i n . (:.ai_ro, 1382 (ed, "Abd al-Salam Haran).

~ See m .y 'The 1n.terplay between tribal! affinities and religious (Zaydil)auth.otity in the

Yemen.', al;Ab~m.h, Belrut, 1982, XXX, :pp. 1h50quoting the Siral aL·Hiidf.Beimt.

1392/1972, p.W,




HfM68 43

Tbe virtu.ally identical ~etter to Abu . Musi. aI~Ashl;;an I believe to be the

basis of the famous, letter ascribed. to orumar,e:xpand.e:d and. "i.mf.roved"

by Abu Miisa's descendants from the :simple concise me~ssag:eneglected

bye:a.rly Islamic scholars. Such evidence as. there is wouldmake the

"improved" letter not later than the first two decades of the second

century ofthe hijrah, But itwas not accepted by a n earl)" scholars and the

Spanish Ibn Hazm rej;ected the letteras not genuine ..I favour BiI3il h. Abi

BUI ' da h ,. A l b u M i sa .'. s grandson. as the l ikely "i ! lt l. f f il rover" ' .The "im.jpfoved"

version. inserts Instruction for which there b no basis in the origi.nal

leuersand it alters the general purpose of certain clauses in the genuine

letter. Iropens wit11 t he asser tion t lt at ".P ton .ounc i.ngJ;M dgem.ent (qaq,ii" isan eS'l'ab.lished.practice ",which from the scant evidence available se'ems

contrary to 9J:mar's ,comnaendation ofZuhayr's sta!tem"ent th.at the three

methods of deciding a case, are oath taking. summoning before ajudge

(nijar) or proof But the most significant ]primt;iple fathered on'Umar

reads: "Pay attention. to comprehending whal. ". has no Qur'an orpractice (sullnah) appbcabie to it, and become acqualnredwith .s~mil2lri.~

ties and analo,gies ..Then after tbat compare matrees, Then ha:ve recourse

to thacwhich is most preferablei» Allah and most ificOfi_fOUnityof them

to justice/right (!.laqq) as you see if", Though not ~Umar's letter and not to

b e reg arrded as reflecting actu al practice inth e fi rst c en tl!1 ry , it ! isa sound

basis: for au Islamic theory of law.

The formulatior» of Islamic laW'as we know ittook place in Iraq, the

Holy C~ties. even $ancii'. A sampling of theeleven volume .M.1.qo:nnaj

however. written by the 2nd century ~Abd :al-Razzaqal~an~an]. does not

seem to reveal material divergencies from 'the Mraqi 'sandJ;l:i jazJs. Thet.....-L.::·'f't'f-as-· CO " mtries ..di-·la~· a- 1\··u(1·i--zainst - number -fa·, ects~WKJ (L UL _C '.._u_~__ _sp _ y . . pe] ... ceg,sa,lL lHO 0 _spec_

of tribal custom. The "improved" letter of 'Umarv«y significantly

eelegatesconciliarion (~lb) to a secondaryplace>- .3 1 s'WJ,btlechange from

"Uraar's ruling. At this point m should Uketo quote in . exttmo from

Colonel AI).mad Oweidi's inaerpretaaion of the bedouin - [ would say

..triba]" ~. aLtffitude i.n Jordan to l aw . IDtseems to me Iloembody theprinciples lying behind the customary law-known as man"ah to which I

shall come later in this paper, bur 1th~nk ·~twould also reflect the tribal

outlook in 6th aill.d7ili cenmry Arabia. The importance of . r u l 1 . l . . concilia-

tion. inthescheme of tribal society, to which in asefiseqa4a'emerges as

secondary, is plain to see.




44 HfM68;

~Justice cannot prevail until any irnbalancecansedbya violation of the limit ofaccepta-

bilit)' (Oweidime;;wJ! by I:hj~,the IrimIl mQral!fedin...g)~sit'e~lved inmcb a way as to bring

all the parties back within :it. Hence the ventic.!'.!!of a BedouLn judge must, satisfy all

parties concerned, and restore tlm.em to Mereco~jzed lImit of ac€eplabillty - 1 W : U

min-hl . ln l ,u.fjd u"l!a8d-ttf l- cverye.oe should return to b i$ positio:.nwithLi"! the' limit of

accc£:ptibillty.Thisis so because th.e most importau t link. binding Bedouincemmunitles

togerher is that of extended kinship and the conc-ept of the limit of acceptability:

Conciliation, s , u f J . I ; and dle satisfactl.on ofall pardes cencerned.fs essential! 'to prel)e:rv<:

balaaeeand equilibrium. Since tIu:; limit of acceptabil' ity is fl~.ible:,. differl_ng aao,tdin,g

to time, place and the . individual Ulmmunity. Bedouln j~tioe wries likewise . .A sentence

is gradually :imp.leme.lltod and modified until. the line of .equilibrium is once ;again

reached to the satisfacj~ion of all, and 'only th.Clll is it cons.ideroo l! .bat justi~· has 'bGe:n

achieved. A Bed,Quill! judge would Knte!),c~' a culprit to the mo~t.severe punishment,

Theil medlators beg the injured party for for;giiven.ess _. in a sen.es, ·of mediatiOl1lsthe

judge"we head ofthe community ,andi. the ;injured. party. all gradually mi.tigate the

sentence until. the punishment becomes. minimal ..T he p .r oc eS 5 restores both. the culpd.t

and Ille ifijuted }lim)' to their previous positiQn~with the limit of acceptability and each

rijtf ti~lJ.add,U/l.

Let me just say that in 1947 a.ttiibesma:nwho had been indtinghis son to

fire at me, was brought before the Wa l )id I S l !: IIl ta fi and. ttJ.,eArab political

assistant advised me tn plead for m_i!tiga.tionof his sentence, and others

did,likewise. Though threatenii!l;gwi,tb arms isa serious, offence in tribal

law the man was let off with perhaps a day's imprisonment.

'The juqaM: 'clearly dislike qa samah . i ltheoa.dI taken by 50 men of the kin

of tile accused, but which I have shown is standard precedureamong the

south .Arabian tribes today.2$ Yet another issue on which the fuiaM"have

acted, modifying the milder alltitud.e taken by the Prophet, is the que&-

tion of ~irHi,fornications- Onwhich I have written a paper (in press).

T·b -24 lb· <Ab'b- ." . fthAr b · f t i E i l 'j-11'" . h'Tha._an quotes," n~, .as as saymgo __ e.·as O·i" e a;uyyac:_ ey

used! to forbid such aduitery (zinti? as appeared" but to allow what w as

hidden, saying,. 'concerning whatappears it is disgrace (lulm) but as for

what is hidden, that does not matter", The entirely different attitude of

tribes from what became sharfah law on. una' has been discussed in

Wah.er Dostal's excellent paper on. 'S exua l h os pita lity ' a nd th e pro ble m, o fm a tr ilin ea rity in S ou th er n A .r ab ia .25 ·

:!~ 'Oawlab •.tribal :S:haylhs. the Malllsab of th.t: Waliyyah Sa." idah, qasamahin t ihe' F:j.dli

Sultanate, South Arabian. Feederntlion'. A.Tabinn st:tuJWin honour of .Malmwud GAul,

Wiesbaden,.1989,1:1I1,147.

~i T~fnT,Cairo, 1321tV.I,t, .

% . . . ~ng:r oftlu!SeminM /nrA.mOian8Iudia. I.ondon, 199(),pp. 17-30..




HfM68 45

'I b n a I,. .M u j arw ir 26( 71D /1 3th c emu !I :"Y )reveals th e actu al law pvevailing

lIt western. Arabia ofhl_sday ina most wmpottantstatememl. "All the ' :Arab

of these proviaces, the mountains along w W t h the l'ihamahs up to the

borders (~udiidJ of the : l ::I iju - not one accepts the j1ildgement (~~uimJ'of

the sha~- and, they only assent to' the ,~ulmatman,rah ...There is lilad.ouibt

th ·· ..L . d . f t h · · · ]";;:LT b hi ht!h . d .tiltu.:lS uU;':Jugeme11i['o~_ ... e u.uuyya:' to W"_lC~c. Leyuse\·_ to gOWl' __o:ne

ancther to court (yatafuikamun) at the Mains". To judge by Golonel

Oweidi's study this is likely to have been the case also in the rest of

western Airabia as far, at [east. asJordan.

Mjznd:(l~means - to defend from injustice. tyrnnnY.aittack., naBS-

gression, and 1nan'ah.is theverbal noun derived. from it..The Prophet was

Ji snarq/tiu wa..vwn,~ah)onoured and prot:ected ,_,i.e, as a member of an

arlD:5i-bearln;g tribal bouse. Man "a h is that body ofc:ustomary law which

governs themainrenance of security. Itcovers amultimde of sides of

tribal life but not business or markes law" and non-arms-beaeers only In

their relation as protected persons to Ilrrihesmen. There is emphasis on

ano/iliing touching Gn ttlbal honour, $ul{l is sllated.to come beforeall

other judgements (a:fUtiim).

One of the MM.I fuaveedited but not yet published is attributed to Ibn

Zi_ f iba~whosena.me", but li(rle else, ~skfiown toYem.enis.'Much of the Ms.

is derived from whrut the illustrious qarji al~liIlil.saynh. "ooranb.., al~ra(Jil

(cOfrcctJy al-Fadl) .al-Yami wrote of the book of az;..M(J,n~.comprisllllg all

the categories of it and theaebirers of ma,n< before it. Sayyid A1;Imad

aI-Sh;i[ni pointed. Ollt to me that "Im.nln b. aLlFa41 was a well know:n.

supporter of dle $ulaylJids. The Yantis supported the .l;Iafi~ D.a.Wah 0 . 1 '

the Iater F'al;imids,. as CAbb r u ; al-Hamdanf informs me ..Al~1;Il i:Iosaynwould

have composed ~:is treatise ca. !500H. but drew on. earmier aribiters.

perhaps;. indeed probably, re·moullting to the age of pa,gan~sm ..2HMan e 31 t

any ratewas :foUowed byal-I:lusayn and pmbahty his Cadler in ~an.<;a ' ,

where he w as gover.llor,tnu it is not connected ~th brna9:lism.

Al-l;lusayn.'s dictum :maintaiins that'mejudgem.ustjudgeby t'hesnaf'

~nits relation to (min) theshat.and by man ( , '~ntbat to which tna:rlpertains. He should aJw Judgelrysiryiisah (shrewdness,. diplomacy?) in

fl O '77iri1h al_u.rMb,sir. ed ..O.Uifgr<en. uidcn, 195,]·54,p.99I•

'f,l' 1aj Cil~<arus.K uw ait, 1 4<l5 /[9 85 , X XJ 1,. pp. 2 1 S < 9 ' , 1Mr{ is ( J l~hayl ii lah ,bayna an.dal·

~fmiiJah; manda-Au nasun •... '_.ndul'UI.hu mina~m WQ- 'l-tdaddf':alaylland :wa-ma':a-

II", ,man ,amrn fac -ht l m i . ' ! · ~(Uhimti--hi .

~The tribal! rif i lU. may'haveconmined Man"a'h l a w _ Ha_mdful_ja1JudestQap.r;e-islamiOl: s if i lL




46 HEM . 6 8

accordancewith his ability to makean independencjudgement ~alijqadr

ijtihafU.hi) '.Like the later Shafi~ianther of a l~A .ddb , . , . ft al ,l k iim al~n'ah

(supra) he sees no inconsistency between marland shar. m do not indeed.

thillk there is a conflict in principle between the Sunndhjamitah of the

Prophet which federates the Ya:thrib-Medinah tribes •.and man~,yet,I w astold that when Imam Y a J : i y a came on treatises such as these he would

destroy tilem and. execuee the possessor,

It will be appreciated that mal1h.lh law bas Q w J y limited applicatio~s to

urban communities which in a , n . y case would faU wid1in tl1e' category of

protected persons of tribes resident and domloating ~nadty~Tarim fOF

example during last eenturywas ruled by three sepa:r;at€groups ,ofYafi,tribesmen who domineered over the town's artisans and others, wholllth .' d . d ~ A l . · ·, . - b 'T';::L' 2 9 ·,U 'f th CA - 7 d. - M · 'c ,1!.. - O ld '· . ,f 1!. .".ceyespise. "__aWl .r, ,,"<Ji!!:~lr le.s 0-, .ce "-"l!!!ru,U 1 ., asl~~a}'l.1 o· Ji.iIS

nadve Dawan that Allah ~as empowered. the tribes over them and. they

have become rofiyyah to the extent they earnnot marry any .o f their

daughters without their permission, They had other humiliating rights

(!mqiiq) also.

In tribal customary law, man'ah apart. practices dtametrically opposed

to sharl.~ahobtain .~Ido not deny of coune thae somema'R/cus~omlimay

not conform to Islam. The most commonly cited is that women may not

inherit land, etc ..In Tarim I even carneacross a treatise which allowed a

woman to make over to a male relative bynadhr the share she should

inherit under il.sla:miclaw,":, compliance being thus made witb . 'Shan7'ah

while mbal custom was preserved.

Certain of these' custOIlJlSM were severely censured b y the late m9th

century Hadramf wwiil:erBi. f,jabrayn. 'One of me most horrible things',

he says, 'is what is well known of tIle badiyan (Il'i.oosfolk of Da.\If\an

t9 }[J'tii/; al.,ShiimUfttariM . l:l( l(!ramawt, primed in Singapore In 1.940 but not published,

p.182.

~ Many uJli:lslamicpractices existed up to modern times in other parts ofArn'bia.l>ut tbe

Sa<udis have [<l!fowedJadelibernlc pqli(;),'o[ ~uppr¢~i_ng the.ID; other Arab stares seem tohave followed suit. H.R.P. Dkkson reports (19'20): 'Ibn Saud. assured me tba[ so

i,gnaran.t had. the Beduuiu ofNejd been In the past that" until the new reviVal! ninety per

cent of them had never heMd of relig;io!'!.man:iagt! had n:e~l:ooe.ll solemniz ......and

circumclsien had beenunknewn', 1'heArab Bulletin, Cairo, 1'919, lV, pd.IO, reprint with

notes br Robin. Bidwell" (;e:rrat"d!>Cross, 1'986. An . anaek on un-Islamic customs in the

Yemeni Tihamah was made by 'Abdullah b. Sulaymii!;! b.J:lamIdiaJ·N'!idi. N4po/lt

1l1,.Mw.l imm 'an a l-b id a' .•.. ed, Mu~a:mmad Salim al-BayJ;lanr, :lifth pcln~ng, Filtiit

al-ja!ZIrahPress,Aden, 1372/1935.




nfM68

psovince), thatthe fornicator (wm) comes to the wife of another man,

and such as the husband happens upon.the two of'them, but does not kill

them both, or does not kill him. On the contrary he s a y s to him:~rtabi~

cinda·lzii;ji miyah wa""ishTi-:nTiyal~ the sense being I shall not release you

until you umdeil"take to payme that amount (120 riylils) and I shall divorce

her, fo r example ~ andE'! :e ' does so', The adl1. l ! i terer, <=aUed tJ,(,.mariJi i~Jfuas to

pay the injured husband double the daf marriage present, but n01l: the

ma-hTdower (wh~t:,ha man does not normally pay over unlesshe divorces.)

and double all the marriage expenses, two thlrdsgofng to the Injlured

husband and a third to the woman's family (ahl a l-pu!f flU1.h). .

The Adiib 'warlaWthiflt al"77mncahint.erestingly enough also details regu-

lations governing marriage by capture.

Ba: ~)brayl1,attacks ]:[)anyother pTa~use current in J:laQ.~awt in hils

day, notably those relating to agriculture and t~e "takiil. on 'C[iOps. He

caregoricallr condemns the compromise between customary law and the

shat' which, I think, had evolved centuries before. "One of the most

disgraceful of forbidden thimgs,' he says,. 'is bd~efthat judgement by

reason, deriving from the means of eulrivarion (asbiibal-.!:titiithah\), corn-

merce (tijiirah). tribalism (qabwawh) and. the handicrafts (!.tiraf).contrary

w the judgem.ent/law of the SAAr , branches out from (rmif_am(~alii)me

judgemenr of the sha s" . Whataccordswith:ilie judgement of me shaY ' is

called flukm sharf or shaf"~and" what conflictawitfr itis caUed ftukmfartor

/a,ffand is recognized becauseof its being branching out, according to

belief about it (?), from shari. The truth and rightness (of the matter) is

that what accords with thejudgernent ofAllah. the Almighty Ruler, is the

judgement of the shar; anythlngcontrary to that isthejudgement of the

false Tiighilt.Calling falsity trush is forbidden like calling trudl falsity;So

take heed!' ijukmis to be understood as 'law'. and the ~ukmfatfis not the

Islamic juni.". Injorda» A.tlmad O : U w a y < ; l I (thesis. 21'9) has described the

qw.fiit alfurii~.de8il~ngwith cases related! to particular crafts, trades and

professions, e.g, land, cattle, horses ...These obviously had. no training in

shan~ah law and no doubt followed. the custom pervading tb.eir bedouin.ambience,

,C!~ 'Sa S-bravr conden S '·h '7).~ hii t iudaes , (h- ' Li:..• ') · · f - · J . , . D -.··· '.:JU ....• a __ yo. _ ....mns me ~ ~ g . _ J. '. ges .:~am (11 me a}'YIfi

(federation), the Ba m:Ian, . an" specielising inagricu~tural disputes, r'un-. -

niag tribal law courts as they were doing In 1967 and probably do today.

The Mariiqishah of the iFac,Uiultanaee told me in ]964 that •their own

procedure was preferable (to the shan~..a;hcourts) because iiiwas plea and

counter-plea in . one day and judgement linone day and payment setltle·




48 H£M68

went in one day' because of the inte~minable delay, tc, of shan ah.!!

For this and other reasons I think tribesfolk everywhere prefer customa-

ry lawcourts orindividealjudges, Nevertheless I do not think. shan a n law

is entirely disregarded in tribal districts and ~ l J : I , is certaialy common

procedure in towns - but then as the ancient proverb says: Al..f - u l ! £

khayr/sayyid al=a!zluim. Conciliation is the beso'lcrd of'judgements,

" I 'Dawlah" tribal, shaykhs., " .", p.142.


Serjeant_Sunnah Quran Urf

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