Aron Zysow received his A.B. (Classics), Ph.D. (Islamic Studies), and J.D. from Harvard. Since 2007 he has been a member of the Princeton Institute of Advanced Study, worked as a visiting lecturer as well as an Associate Research Scholar in the Departement of Near Eastern Studies of Princeton University. From 2000 to 2005 he served as Research Associate for the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School, where he returned to as a Visiting Researcher in 2011. Before that he taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle and Washington University in St. Louis and commercial law at Baruch College, City University of New York. His main academic interests are Islamic law, particularly legal theory, and theology. Since 2012 he has worked as an independend scholar.

Curriculum Vitae

Introduction to Islamic Legal Theory

This course introduces the most important terms and concepts of classical Islamic legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) through the reading of several short works in their entirety. Further readings will treat a number of subjects in greater depth. Contemporary academic writings will be assigned to provide necessary background and perspective. The relation between legal theory and other Islamic disciplines including substantive law (furū` al-fiqh), theology (kalām), and grammar (naḥw) will be touched upon.

Prerequisites: No previous study of Islamic law is assumed.

  

Introductory Literature:

Hallaq, Wael B. A History of Islamic Legal Theories : An Introduction to Sunnī uṣūl al-fiqh . Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Kamali, Mohammad Hashim. Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence . 3rd rev. and enl. ed. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2003.

Weiss, Bernard G. The Spirit of Islamic Law. Athens : University of Georgia Press, 1998.

Weiss, Bernard G. The Search for God’s Law : Islamic Jurisprudence in the Writings of Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī . Rev. ed. Salt Lake City : University Of Utah Press ; Herndon, Va.: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2010.