Wael B. Hallaq is currently the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 and is currently acting as the Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. After a Ph.D. from the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

, he joined The McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies

McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies

The McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies and the Islamic Studies Library were established in 1952 by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, and since 1983 both have been housed in Morrice Hall on McGill's campus in downtown Montreal...

 in 1985, to become an assistant professor in Islamic law. In 1994, he earned full professorship, and in 2005 became a James McGill

James McGill

James McGill was a Scottish-Canadian businessman, military commander and philanthropist known for being the founder of McGill University...

 Professor in Islamic law

Sharia

Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...

. A prolific author and lecturer, he is a world-renowned scholar of Islamic law, with numerous contributions to the field of Islamic legal studies. His work has been translated into several languages, including Arabic, Indonesian, Hebrew, Japanese, Persian, and Turkish.

Hallaq’s publications, lectures and course offerings reveal several dominant areas of interest and expertise. Primary among these have been: 1) a concern with the markedly problematic (yet often overlooked) epistemic institutional ruptures generated by the onset of modernity

Modernity

Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...

 and the many socio-politico-historical forces subsumed by it (including Colonialism and its many projects), especially in the overlapping areas of law and morality; 2) a related concern with intellectual history and development of Orientalism

Orientalism

Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...

, and the many repercussions of Orientalist paradigms in later scholarship and in Islamic legal studies as a whole; and 3) a thorough explication of the synchronic and diachronic development of Islamic traditions of logic, legal theory, and substantive law along with an elucidation of the particulars of interdependent systems within these traditions.
Hallaq’s writings have explicated the structural dynamics of legal change in pre-modern law, and have recently been moving in the direction of asserting the centrality of moral theory to understanding the history of Islamic law. His latest work, Shari‘a: Theory, Practice, Transformations (2009), also represents a pioneering attempt at introducing theory into the field of Shari‘a study.

Publications

Authored Volumes

• An introduction to Islamic law (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009).

• Shari'a: theory, practice, transformations (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009).

• The origins and evolution of Islamic law (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).

• Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed? The Early Essays on the History of Islamic Legal Theories by Wael B. Hallaq / ed. and trans. Atsushi Okuda (Tokyo: Keio University Press, 2003; in Japanese, containing translations of a number of the below articles).

• Authority, continuity, and change in Islamic law (Cambridge, U.K.; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).

• A history of Islamic legal theories : an introduction to Sunnī uṣūl al-fiqh (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

• Law and legal theory in classical and medieval Islam (Aldershot, UK; Brookfield, VT: Variorum, 1995; containing reprints of twelve articles published between 1984 and 1993).

• Ibn Taymiyya against the Greek logicians / translated with an introduction and notes by Wael B. Hallaq (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993; a translation of Jahd al-qarīḥah fī tajrīd al-Naṣīḥah, an abridgement by al-Suyūṭī of Ibn Taymīyah’s work Naṣīḥat ahl al-bayān fī al-radd ʻalá manṭiq al- Yūnān).

Series Editor

• Themes in Islamic Law, 7 vols. (Cambridge University Press; two volumes published to date).

Edited Anthologies

• The formation of Islamic law (Aldershot, UK; Burlington, VT: Ashgate/Variorum, 2004).

• Islamic studies presented to Charles J. Adams / edited by Wael B. Hallaq and Donald P. Little. (Leiden; New York: Brill, 1991).

Articles

• "Groundwork of the Moral Law: A New Look at the Qur’ān and the Genesis of Sharī‘a" (forthcoming in Islamic Law and Society, 17, 1 [2010])

• "Islamic Law: History and Practice," The New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 4, ed. R. Irwing (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

• "What is Sharia?" Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, 2005–2006, vol. 12 (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2007): 151-80.

• "Juristic Authority vs. State Power: The Legal Crises of Modern Islam," Journal of Law and Religion, 19, 2 (2003–04), 101-116.

• "Can the Shari‘a be Restored?" in Yvonne Y. Haddad and Barbara F. Stowasser, eds., Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity (Walnut Creek: Altamira Press, 2004), 21-53.

• "’Muslim Rage’ and Islamic Law," Hastings Law Journal, 54 (August, 2003), 1-17.

• "The Quest for Origins or Doctrine? Islamic Legal Studies as Colonialist Discourse," UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law, 2, 1 (2002–03), 1-31.

• "A Prelude to Ottoman Reform: Ibn ‘Abidîn on Custom and Legal Change," Histories of the Modern Middle East: New Directions, eds. I. Gershoni et al. (Boulder & London: Lynne Rienner, 2002), 37-61.

• "Takhrij and the Construction of Juristic Authority," Studies in Islamic Legal Theory, ed. Bernard G. Weiss (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 317-35.

• "On Dating Mâlik’s Muwatta’," UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law, 1, 1 (2001-02), 47-65.

• "From Geographical to Personal Schools?: A Reevaluation," Islamic Law and Society, 8,1 (2001), 1-26.

• "The Author-Jurist and Legal Change in Traditional Islamic Law," RIMO (Maastricht), 18 (2000), 31-75.

• "The Authenticity of Prophetic Hâdith: A Pseudo-Problem," Studia Islamica 89 (1999), 75-90.

• "Qadis Communicating: Legal Change and the Law of Documentary Evidence," al-Qantara, XX (1999), 437-66.

• "The Qadi's Diwan (Sijill) before the Ottomans," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 61, 3 (1998), 415-36.

• "Introduction: Issues and Problems," (as Guest Editor) Islamic Law and Society, 3, 2 (1996), 127-36.

• "Ifta' and Ijtihad in Sunni Legal Theory: A Developmental Account," in Kh. Masud, Brink Messick, and David Powers, eds., Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftîs and their Fatwas (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996), 33-43.

• "Model Shurut Works and the Dialectic of Doctrine and Practice," Islamic Law and Society, 2, 2 (1995), 109-34.

• "Murder in Cordoba: Ijtihad, Ifta' and the Evolution of Substantive Law in Medieval Islam" Acta Orientalia (Oslo), 55 (1994), 55-83.

• "From Fatwas to Furu‘: Growth and Change in Islamic Substantive Law" Islamic Law and Society, 1 (February 1994), 17-56.

• Co-author. Symposium on Religious Law: Roman Catholic, Islamic, and Jewish Treatment of Familial Issues, Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Journal, 1, 16 (1993), 41f, 53f, 79f.

• "Was al-Shafi‘i the Master Architect of Islamic Jurisprudence?," International Journal of Middle East Studies, 4 (November 1993), 587-605.

• "Usul al-Fiqh: Beyond Tradition," Journal of Islamic Studies, 3, 2 (1992), 172-202.

• "Ibn Taymiyya on the Existence of God," Acta Orientalia (Copenhagen), 52 (1991), 49-69. (Translated into Turkish by Bilal Kuspinar, "Ibn Teymiyye'ye Göre Allah'in Varligi," Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 3 (April, 1993), 135-153).

• "The Primacy of the Qur'an in Shatibi's Legal Theory," in Wael B. Hallaq and D. Little, eds., Islamic Studies Presented to Charles J. Adams (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991), 65-86.

• "On Inductive Corroboration, Probability and Certainty in Sunni Legal Thought," in Nicholas L. Heer, ed., Islamic Law and Jurisprudence: Studies in Honor of Farhat J. Ziadeh (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1990), 3-31.

• "Logic, Formal Arguments and Formalization of Arguments in Sunni Jurisprudence," Arabica, 37, 3 (1990), 315-358.

• "The Use and Abuse of Evidence: The Question of Provincial and Roman Influences on Early Islamic Law," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 110, 1 (1990), 79-91.

• "Non-Analogical Arguments in Sunni Juridical Qiyas," Arabica, 36, 3 (1989), 286-306.

• "Notes on the Term Qarina in Islamic Legal Discourse," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 108, 3 (1988), 475-80.

• "A Tenth-Eleventh Century Treatise on Juridical Dialectic," Muslim World, 77, 2-3 (1987), 198-227.

• "The Development of Logical Structure in Islamic Legal Theory," Der Islam, 64, 1 (1987),42-67. Reprinted in Islamic Law and Legal Theory, ed. Ian Edge (The International Library of Essays in Law and Legal Theory, series editor Tom D. Campbell) (Hampshire: Dartmouth Publishing Co., 1993).

• "On the Origins of the Controversy about the Existence of Mujtahids and the Gate of Ijtihad," Studia Islamica, 63 (1986),129-41. Persian translation by A. Kazemi-Moussavi, "Rishaha-yi Bahth dar Bara-yi Vujud-i Mujtahid va Bab-i Ijtihad," Tahqiqat-i Islami, 5, 1-2 (1369/1990-1),123-34. Translated into Bahasa Indonesia by Nurul Agustini in Hikmat, 7 (1992), 43-54.

• "On the Authoritativeness of Sunni Consensus," The International Journal of Middle East Studies, 18, 4 (1986),427-54.

• "The Logic of Legal Reasoning in Religious and Non-Religious Cultures: The Case of Islamic Law and Common Law," The Cleveland State Law Review, 34, 1 (1985-6), 79-96. Reprinted in Comparative Legal Cultures, ed. Csaba Varga (The International Library of Essays in Law and Legal Theory, series editor T. D. Campbell) (Hampshire: Dartmouth Publishing Co., 1992), 401-418.

• "Considerations on the Function and Character of Sunni Legal Theory," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 104, 4 (1984), 679-89.

• "Caliphs, Jurists and the Saljuqs in the Political Thought of Juwayni," Muslim World, 74, 1 (1984), 26-41.

• "Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?" International Journal of Middle East Studies, 16, 1 (1984), 3-41. Reprinted in Islamic Law and Legal Theory, ed. Ian Edge (The International Library of Essays in Law and Legal Theory, series editor Tom D. Campbell (Hampshire: Dartmouth Publishing Co., 1993); Translated into Turkish by Bilal Kuspinar, "Içtihad kapisi kapalimidir?," Islami Arastirmalar Dergisi (October, 1993). Translated into Hebrew in Al-Jama‘a, the Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies, 8 (2001),118-68, with an introduction by Nimrod Hurvitz.

Encyclopedia Entries

• The Encyclopedia of the Qurân. (Leiden: E.J. Brill):
  • 1. "Apostasy," vol. I (2001), 119-22.
  • 2. "Contracts and Alliances," vol. I, 431-35.
  • 3. "Forbidden,” vol. II (2002), 223-226.
  • 4. "Innovation," vol. II, 536-37.
  • 5. "Law and the Quran,” vol. III (2003), 149-72.

• "Gazali as Faqih," Encyclopædia Iranica, ed. E. Yarshater, vol. 10, facs. 4 (2000), 372-74.

• The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition. (Leiden: E.J. Brill):
  • 1. "Shart" (1997)
  • 2. "Talfik" (1997)
  • 3. "Zahir" (2002).

• Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1996):
  • 1. "Fatwa," vol. II, 649.
  • 2. "Fiqh," vol. II, 666.
  • 3. "Hadith," vol. II, 752.
  • 4. "Hanafi Law School," vol. II, 771.
  • 5. "Hanbali Law School," vol. II, 772.
  • 6. "Maliki Law School," vol. III, 1157-58.
  • 7. "Shafi‘i Law School," vol. IV, 1629.
  • 8. "Shari‘a," vol. IV, 1638-39.

• Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, 4 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995):
  • 1."Ahl al-Hall wal-‘Aqd," vol. 1, 53-4.
  • 2."Consensus," vol. 1, 312-4.
  • 3."Faqih," vol. 2, 1.
  • 4."Ijtihad," vol. 2, 178-81.

• "Al-Mantiq al-Usuli," ("Legal Logic"), al-Mawsu‘a al-Falsafiyya al-‘Arabiyya (The Arabic Encyclopaedia of Philosophy) (Beirut, 1988), vol. II, pt. ii, 1289-95.