These new scholarly translations of Shah Wali Allah’s two important treatises on Islamic law provide access to important debates on authority and reform in Islamic legal reasoning.
The question of ijtihad (independent critical reasoning) vs. taqlid (adherence to the classical schools and rulings of Islamic law) continues to inform contemporary discussions of how Muslims as individuals and in their institutions and practice, can maintain fidelity and authenticity, while addressing the compelling issues of the present age.
 
Shah Wali Allah’s balanced approach to questions of juristic disagreement, utilizes historical context and critical interpretive method to model an approach to questions of Islamic law and practice that is simultaneously traditional and skillfully adaptive.

About Author:

Dr. Marcia Hermansen is Director of the Islamic World Studies Program and Professor in the Theology Department at Loyola University Chicago where she teaches courses in Islamic Studies and the academic study of religion. She received her Ph. D. from the University of Chicago in Arabic and Islamic Studies. In the course of her research and language training she lived for extended periods in Egypt, Jordan, India, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan and she conducts research in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu as well as the major European languages.

Her books include Muslima Theology: The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians (forthcoming), Shah Wali Allah’s Treatises on Islamic Law (Fons Vitae 2010) and The Conclusive Argument from God, a study and translation (from Arabic) of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi’s, Hujjat Allah al-Baligha (Brill 1996).  She was an associate editor of the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (2003). Dr. Hermansen has also contributed numerous academic articles in the fields of Islamic Thought, Sufism, Islam and Muslims in South Asia, Muslims in America, and Women in Islam.