Islamic Studies Seminar with Sh. Jihad Hashim Brown

A seminar presented by the Office of the Muslim Chaplain at Rutgers & New York University as well as the Gibraltar Educational Initiative.

WHEN:
Saturday August 11th from 10am - 5:30pm

WHERE:
The SERC building at Rutgers University
see: http://maps.rutgers.edu/building.aspx?id=289

Please confirm your attendance via Facebook or e-mail (info@omcru.org) and you will be provided with registration materials.

WHAT:
A Look into the World of the
Universal Maxims of Islamic Jurisprudence

Contact InfoPhone:
732.718.2554
Email:
info@omcru.org

al-Taj al-Subki tells us that a qa'idah fiqhiyyah (juristic maxim) is a universal [concept] that applies to manifold particular cases; and according to which the rulings of those particulars can be known. Examples of which are: "Certainty is not dispelled by doubt," "repelling harm is more important than securing benefit," or "the scope of a situation, if straitened, is widened".

A maxim therefore, illustrates a broad (universal) meaning that is common throughout all of the individual cases (particulars) that subsume under its universal heading. The overarching maxim threads this special meaning through all of the individual cases that are encompassed by it. This "special meaning" is very often an indicator of the ratio legis (or rationale = illah) of the legal judgment for the particular case. These rationales that are embedded in the particular cases denote higher purposes with which Islam is ultimately concerned.

We can look for those meanings in new phenomena as we encounter them and the maxims can often give us guidance on what directions to take in these new situations.

In this program we will learn about the field of Universal Juristic Maxims as a subfield of Islamic Jurisprudence; we will gain insight into an intriguing dimension of Islamic Legal Theory; we will also learn more about how these principles form an essential facet of our authentic Islamic world view.

Instructor's bio:

Jihad Hashim-Brown - is Director of Research at the Tabah Foundation in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. After receiving degrees in Psychology and Near East Studies from Rutgers University, New Jersey in 1994, he went on to study Arabic rhetoric, dialectic theology, and Islamic legal theory with prominent religious authorities in Damascus. In accordance with the criteria of traditional learning methods he studied privately with notable scholars like Muhammad Adib al-Kallas, Dr. Saeed Ramadan al-Buti, and Muhammad Ali al-Shuqayr receiving his scholarly liscences (ijazah) after ten years of intensive training. This included a year in the Minor Atlas of Morrocco reading the Comendium of Compendia of al-Taj al-Subki with the scholar and jurist Muhammad Ghali al-Dadisi in the "antique" madrasha of Tanalit. Mr. Hashim-Brown travels widely, teaching and lecturing in the service of engaging classical jurisprudence and theology with the contemporary age. He has also appeared frequently on numerous satellite television programs in the region.