The Use of Jadal in the Science of Fiqh in the Context of Objection Between al-Quduri and Abu al-Tayyib al-Tabari

Abstract

From an early period on, debates over matters of Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) were performed in accordance with a certain methodology. In fact, when performing these debates, certain types of questions and answers were selected, and the questions were arranged carefully, all in accordance with this methodology. This enabled parties involved to demonstrate both validity of their own, and invalidity of their opponents, in their arguments without running into contradiction. The present work deals with first the science of Jadal and its application to Islamic Jurisprudence and then analyzes a debate over divorce narrated to be taken place between two prominent scholars well-known for their abilities to perform debate well, namely, the Hanafite scholar Quduri and the Shafiite scholar Abu al-Tayyib al-Tabari. This debate includes both the ways in which both scholars deduce their legal opinions and objections one has over the other's opinion. Quduri argues that a woman divorced by way of mukhala'a can be subject to riji divorce during her. idda while Tabari argues that a divorce in such a case would be invalid. At the core of this debate lies the fact that Quduri syllogizes woman divorced by way of mukhala'a to one who is divorced by way of riji divorce Tabari makes use of such ways of questioning as mutalaba, i'tirad and mu. ara.a while Quduri tries to establish the validity of the. illa of the two cases that he comes up with. When examining this debate, which is important also thanks to the references it makes here and there to the rules of debating, the present work shows how the information provided in the section on the application of Jadal to Islamic Jurisprudence was put into practice.