The critical Analysis of Taha Jabir al-Alwani’s Concept of Fiqh al-Aqalliyyāt

Abstract

The issues concerning the legality of residing in non-Muslim territories have direct and indirect ramifications for many Muslims who live in non-Muslim countries including American Muslims. The term non-Muslim country refers to places where Islam is neither the dominant religion nor the determiner of the legal system or the political power. The applicability of Islamic law in non-Muslim countries, the territoriality of Islamic law, the obligations of Muslim residents in non-Muslim societies, and the obedience to non-Muslim territories' laws can be regarded as the dimensions related to the status of Muslim minorities. All of these are evaluated to provide detailed legal opinions and interpretations that govern the conduct of Muslim minorities.

From the twentieth century onward, the incremental appearance of Muslims in the non-Muslim environments, particularly in Europe and North America, reinvigorated the discussion and evaluation of issues related to Muslim minorities. Within the North American and European contexts, many Muslim scholars have intended to provide practicable and applicable Islamic legal opinions (fatwas) to exigencies and problems that Muslim residents encounter in these continents. In this regard, the primary religious question that American and European Muslims face is conceivable whether they can live their lives pursuant to relevant Islamic legal provisions in these continents. Potential answers to this question presumably result in Muslim scholars, notably American and European ones, in germinating the concept of Islamic jurisprudence of Muslim minorities (fiqh al-aqalliyyat). It is therefore possible to assert that the concept of fiqh al-aqalliyyat is a response of Muslim scholars to the immigration flow of Muslims to the West. The scholars have started to pay more attention to the problems of Muslim minorities and Taha Jabir al-Alwani obtained reputation among them regarding his fiqh al-aqalliyyat concept.

Taha Alwani became well cognisant of the current divergence between the modern world and the traditional representation of Islamic law in the United States. Alwani's fiqh al-aqalliyyat concept can be identified as to envisage an integrative method in which scientific discoveries, technological developments, economic systems, and social transformations are addressed through adopting an originative approach towards fiqh. He calls for a collective ijtihad in formulating new Islamic legal opinions and invites experts from various fields of social, physical, medical, and technological sciences to reach his purpose. Alwani's method, therefore, takes into consideration present challenges, exigencies, and constraints that Muslim minorities encounter.

The article specifically focuses upon Alwani's life and his concept of fiqh al-aqalliyyat intending to provide insight into his contributions to Islamic law in the twentieth century. In the first instance, his biography is succinctly presented to demonstrate how the turning points in his life exerted influences upon his concept of fiqh al-aqalliyyat. In the second instance, attention turns to his theory and opinions regarding the concept of fiqh al-aqalliyyat. Some of his Islamic legal opinions that address controversial issues are engaged and analysed with the intention of evidencing how Alwani operated the concept of fiqh al-aqalliyyat in solving problems that arise from the minority status of Muslims. His opinions related to the depiction of the Prophet's picture on the United States Supreme Court's wall and the prescribed punishment for apostasy provide insight into the concept of fiqh al-aqalliyyat. By applying descriptive, analytical, and critical content analysis methods, the article sheds light on his evaluation of the sunna as a source of legislation and clarifies the place of sunna in his methodology. The article aims to examine the questionable status of sunna in Alwani's fiqh al-aqalliyyat concept with his own interpretations.