University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2018 Collective Duties (farḍ Kifāya) In Islamic Law: The Moral Community, State Authority And Ethical Speculation In The Premodern Period Adnan Zulfiqar University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Islamic Studies Commons, Law Commons, and the Near Eastern Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Zulfiqar, Adnan, "Collective Duties (farḍ Kifāya) In Islamic Law: The Moral Community, State Authority And Ethical Speculation In The Premodern Period" (2018). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 3212. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3212 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3212 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Collective Duties (farḍ Kifāya) In Islamic Law: The Moral Community, State Authority And Ethical Speculation In The Premodern Period Abstract This dissertation studies a unique subset of legal obligations in Islamic law known as “collective duties” (farḍ kifāya) and focuses on juristic writing in the premodern period between the 9th and 14th centuries C.E. Together with the more widely recognized “individual obligations” (farḍ ʿayn), these duties encompass the complete range of mandated behavior in Islamic law. Individual obligations follow a simple pattern: one person is assigned responsibility for performing a particular act and is solely held responsible if they fail to do so. Collective duties are premised on a different concept involving shared responsibility for required acts. They are based on a formula consisting of two clauses, which loosely draws from a Qurʾānic prooftext. The first clause states that as long as some people perform the duty, then the obligation is suspended for everyone else. While everyone initially carries the burden, they are not all required to perform. However, the second clause adds an important warning: if no one performs the duty, then everyone is held accountable. This study explores the juristic discourse on collective duties in order to better understand how they function, what purpose they serve and why they might have been created. As premodern jurists explored the implications of collective duties as a whole, they developed the theoretical outlines of a kifāya- doctrine, one that asked questions of whether collective duties were preferred to individual obligations, who in the collective was required to perform and when an obligation was suspended. Beyond the general doctrine, the dissertation also examines legal rules developed for three specific collective duties: jihād, funerary rites and duties to rescue. The discourse on these duties demonstrates how jurists not only provided practical guidance for performance of the obligation, but also thought more broadly about the theoretical implications for law. In the process, they began to determine who belongs in the moral community, defined a obustr role for the state in law’s implementation and speculated on what should constitute ethical behavior. As a result, they made clear that the normative universe of obligation is essential to understanding the Islamic legal tradition. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations First Advisor Joseph E. Lowry Keywords Collective Duties, Islamic Law, Jihad, Legal Obligation, Moral community, Premodern Subject Categories Islamic Studies | Law | Near Eastern Languages and Societies This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3212 COLLECTIVE DUTIES (FARḌ KIFĀYA) IN ISLAMIC LAW: THE MORAL COMMUNITY, STATE AUTHORITY AND ETHICAL SPECULATION IN THE PREMODERN PERIOD Adnan Ahmad Zulfiqar A DISSERTATION in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2018 Supervisor of Dissertation Joseph E. Lowry, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Graduate Group Chairperson Joseph E. Lowry, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Dissertation Committee: Paul M. Cobb, Professor and Chair of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Jamal J. Elias, Walter H. Annenberg Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies COLLECTIVE DUTIES (FARḌ KIFĀYA) IN ISLAMIC LAW: THE MORAL COMMUNITY, STATE AUTHORITY AND ETHICAL SPECULATION IN THE PREMODERN PERIOD COPYRIGHT 2018 Adnan Ahmad Zulfiqar This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- sa/3.0/us/ For my Dada jaan and Nana jaan, for all the conversations this life did not afford us. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is arguably the most important section of my dissertation. A chance to remember and thank the many actors that played a role in this doctoral drama. Space does not allow me to name them all, but each is an integral part of this work and to each I owe a debt of gratitude. Zikomo kwambiri. To begin, I am deeply grateful to the members of my dissertation committee: Joseph E. Lowry, Paul M. Cobb and Jamal J. Elias. Not only did their advice make this dissertation better, but they remained constant sources of support throughout my graduate studies. I can only hope to follow their scholarly footsteps in some small measure. In particular, my advisor, Joseph Lowry, saw every part of this journey. He challenged me to be a more meticulous scholar, to appreciate the sophistication in premodern texts and to ask questions about both the forest and the trees. He did this all with kindness and boundless generosity. I endeavor to be a scholar worthy of being known as his student. I am also grateful to Roger Allen, who taught me to appreciate literature in ways I had not known and opened doors I did not know existed. Ryan Rittenberg, Carolyn Baugh, Nicholas Harris and other graduate colleagues brought their brilliance to the classroom and our conversations, leaving me with an embarrassment of riches for many years. Linda Greene, Diane Moderski and Peggy Guinan deftly guided me through excruciating administrative hurdles and were a joyful refuge from the tribulations of graduate life. At the law school, Bruce Mann, Regina Austin, Sarah Barringer Gordon, Paul Robinson and Bill Burke-White helped me think about Islamic law with a broader lens and were consistent founts of sage advice. As an undergraduate student, I first learned what it meant to be a serious scholar from people like Johnnetta B. Cole, Gordon Newby and Richard Martin, while Peggy Barlett and Abdullahi An-Naim encouraged me to make my scholarship meaningful. In more recent years, Sherman Jackson has modelled for me how to be both serious and impactful. Finally, there is no person who has had a greater influence on my academic path than Intisar Rabb, who first convinced me that my project on farḍ kifāya was the one worth pursuing. She has been a patient mentor, selfless friend, incisive interlocutor and scholarly role model in every sense. iv This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of various fellowships from the University of Pennsylvania, the Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation and the Foreign Language and Assistance Program. They afforded me the possibility of unencumbered learning, the freedom to explore and the space to think. In the final years of the dissertation, I was truly fortunate that the George Sharswood Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and my current faculty home at Rutgers Law School allowed me to think and write in an environment of dynamic legal thinkers. In addition to American academia, my studies in other parts of the world, specifically in Syria, Pakistan, Yemen and Jordan, proved indispensable for my growth as a scholar. In particular, instructors and colleagues during the CASA program in Damascus gave permanency to my Arabic, solidifying my ability to navigate primary sources. Alongside formal programs, arguably the richest part of my overseas experience was the opportunity to pursue personalized textual study in a more traditional context. I am especially indebted to Sajid Hameed, Saad Abu Saleh, Rafi Mufti, Ali Mothana, Talib Mohsin, Issam Eido, Shehzad Saleem, Ali Hani, Hamza Karamali and Sami Mufti. I owe much to Asif Iftikhar for graciously facilitating my studies when they were just directionless passions. He is not only my family but a kindred spirit in pursuit of answers to the same questions. Most of all, my profound gratitude to Javed sb. for helping me discover new worlds by appreciating the stylistics of language, the depth of scriptural texts, and the virtues of simplicity in law. Every interaction with him has been inspiration for new avenues of discovery. Many friends have encouraged, supported, pushed and prodded me to completion of this project. Some played pivotal roles at the start, others towards the end and a few have been there throughout. To name everyone is too daunting a task. Suffice to say, my life is richer because of them all. My family has been the essential ingredient for anything I have ever accomplished. None of my grandparents saw the completion of this doctorate, but each served as inspiration for it in some way or another. My uncles, aunts, cousins and in-laws opened their homes to me, enthusiastically encouraged my pursuits, feigned interest at my tales and consistently reminded me the journey was worthwhile. My siblings and their families are my north star: they guide me through the storms of life and center me when I veer off course. Without them I am lost. My mother and father were my first v teachers, first friends and first champions; they still remain the most important ones. They modelled for me love of knowledge, regard for humanity, the value of hard work and the necessity of humility. They are who I wish I can one day become. My little ones, Inaya, Amani and Isa, are my life’s most precious treasures.