Uses and abuses of the past: An ethno-history of Islamic legal texts

Abstract

The past is the most important element in the meanings of Islam and its law, but the existing literature has rarely addressed the ways in which Muslims make sense of their past. How and why does the past matter so much for Muslims? Within their past, is it the seventh century that matters for them the most, once it comes to Islamic law, or is it some later period? If the latter, why is that so? This article addresses these questions through an ethno-historical study on the Shafi'ī Muslims of the Indian Ocean littoral. I argue that a textual longue-durée of Islamic law is what matters to the Muslims more than the scriptures from seventh-century Arabia, or even than the foundational texts of Islamic law from the eighth or ninth centuries. This textual longue-durée is a product of millennium-long legalistic engagements by Muslims not only from Arabia, but also from 'peripheral' places like India and Indonesia. Through juridical and ethical discourses and debates in religious spheres, a rich reservoir of premodern texts is constantly invoked in the mosques, madrasas, markets, and mass media in order to better sustain religious piety and the legal system.