This lecture explores imperial authority in Hanafi legal works from the Ottoman world of the 16th to 19th centuries CE, casting new light on the understudied late Hanafi jurists. Discussions will center on the probative value and authority that these jurists assigned to the orders and edicts of the Ottoman sultan. This authority is reflected in the sultan's ability to settle juristic disputes, to order specific opinions to be adopted in legal opinions (fatawa), and to establish his orders as authoritative and final reference points.
The incorporation of sultanic orders into authoritative Hanafi legal commentaries, treatises, and fatwa collections was made possible by a shift in Hanafi legal commitments that embraced sultanic authority as an indispensable element of the lawmaking process.
Speaker:
Dr. Samy Ayoub,
Assistant Professor of Law and Middle Eastern Studies,
The University of Texas at Austin
