Comparing Religions Through Law Judaism and Islam

Both Judaism and Islam define the character of the social order, morality and theology through law, reflecting the shared view that there is nothing in human life beyond the scope of divine concern. But the uniqueness of the two religions is apparent in the areas where they disagree: the idea of the Land of Israel has no counterpart in Islam, while Islam's jihad is nowhere to be found in Jewish law.

The authors compare the classical statements of the Torah and of classical Sunni Islamic law to present an innovative study that compares and contrasts the two religions, and offers an example of how comparative religious studies can provide the grounds for mutual understanding.

Comparing Religions Through Law offers a ground- breaking study which compares these two religions through shared dominant structures. In the case of Judaism and Islam the dominant structure is law.Comparing Religions Through Law presents an innovative and sometimes controversial study of the comparisons and contrasts between the two religions and offers an example of how comparative religious studies can provide grounds for mutual understanding.

Preface I. Comparing Islam and Judaism in Particular. A. Why Compare Religions and Why Compare their Laws? B. The Nonotheist Religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam C. Which Judaism, Which Islam, and Why? D. Category Formations: Comparing Incomparables 1. Shared Structure 2. Shared Disproportionate Categories a. Where They Say Much the Same Thing about the Same Topic b. Where They Say Different Things about the Same Topic 3. Unique Categories: Areas Where They Do Not Intersect II. The Authoritative Documents of Judaism and Islam A. Where Do We Look for the Law? B. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah: Scripture, the Mishnah and the Talmuds 1. Scripture: The Written Torah 2. Mishnah: The Oral Torah 3. The Talmuds C. Islamic Counterparts 1. Scripture: The Qur'an 2. Tradition: The Sunna 3. Fiqh D. Conclusions III. The Intellectual Sources of the Law A. How Do the Authorities of the Law Reason? B. Islam: Consensus, Reasoning, Exceptions 1. Consensus (Ijma') 2. Reasoning (ijtihad) 3. Exceptions C. Judaic Counterparts: Exegesis, Logic, Argument, Dialectics 1. Exegesis: Midrash Halakhah 2. The Mishnah's Applied Logic of Hierarchical Classification 3. The Argument of Analogy and Contrast 4. The Talmud's Dialectics D. Conclusions IV. The Working of the Law: Institutions A. Institutional Authority B. The Israelite Court in the Legal Narrative of Islam 1. Legitimacy 2. Courts' Jurisdiction 3. Evidence 4. Punishments D. Conclusions V. The Working of the Law: Personnel A. Bases of Authority B. Islam 1. Legal Scholars (Fuqaha') 2. Judges 3. Muftis C.Judaism: The sage D. Conclusions VI. Disproportions A. Temple Law and Sacrifice 1. Temple Law and Sacrifice in Judaism 2. Sacrifice in Islam B. Slave Laws in Islam and Judaism 1. Slave Laws in Islam 2. Slave Laws in Judaism C. Sacred Time/Sabbath in Judaism and Sacred Time/Pilgrimage Islam 1. Judaism: Sacred Time/Sabbath 2. Islam: Sacred Time/Pilgrimage D. Conclusions VII. Unique Categories A. The Unique Category B. Enlandisement (Judaism) C. Jihad (Islam) D. The Sage and Torah Study in Judaism E. Khilafah and the Legal Scholars in Islam F. History, Time, and Paradigm in Judaism G. History in Islam VIII. Epilogue A. Comparisons Up Close B. Judaism and Islam: Comparisons in the Context of World Religions Index

Tamara Sonn is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida, specialising in Islam. Her publications include Interpreting Islam: Bandali Jawzis Islamic Intellectual History. Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Research Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida and Professor of Religion at Bard College, New York. He is the author of numerous publications, the most recent being The Intellectual Foundations of Christian and Jewish Discourse.