Fatwas of condemnation: Islam and the limits of dissent

• Main Author: Nizamuddin Ahmad, Saiyad
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), IIUM 2009
• Subjects: BP1 Islam
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/261/1/Fatwas_of_condemnation-_Islam_and_the_limits_of_dissent.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/261/; http://www.iium.edu.my/istac/research-1

Fatwas of condemnation : Islam and the limits of dissent examines a particularly rich and relatively untapped source for Islamic intellectual history, namely the genre of legal writing represented by the compendia of Islamic legal response to examine the limits of dissent in Islam. Not confining himself to a particular period of history, but having chosen certain recurring issues as being particularly illustrative of the dynamics of dissent in Islam, the author has focused on fatwas that derived principally from an attempt by the ‘ulama’ to define and fix the limits of dissent and spare the Islamic community of what they viewed as the detrimental effects of actions, doctrines or movements that were seen not to be in its best interests (maslaha).