Beyond Schools: Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Wazīrʼs (d. 840/1436) Epistemology of Ambiguity

Damaris Wilmers, Ph.D. (2015), Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, works at the National Records and Archives Authority in Muscat. Her research and publication has focused on theological and legal diversity in Yemen. She has recently developed an interest in Oman´s intellectual history.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1 Life and Intellectual Environment of Ibn al-Wazīr and Ibn al-Murtaḍā1 Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm b. al-Wazīr’s (d. 840/1436) Biography2 Aḥmad b. Yaḥyā b. al-Murtaḍā (d. 840/1436) as a Scholar3 Conclusion2 Ibn al-Wazīr’s Works1 Al-Amr bi-l-ʿuzla2 Al-ʿAwāṣim wa-l-awāṣim3 Al-Āyāt al-mubīnāt4 Āyāt al-aḥkām al-sharʿiyya5 Al-Burhān al-qāṭiʿ fī ithbāt al-ṣāniʿ6 Al-Ḥusām al-mashhūr7 Al-Istiẓhār bi-l-dalīl al-samʿī fī ʿadam wuqūʿ al-ṭalāq al-bidʿī8 Īthār al-ḥaqq ʿalā l-khalq9 Kitāb al-Qawāʿid10 Kitāb fī l-tafsīr11 Majmaʿ al-ḥaqāʾiq wa-l-raqāʾiq fī mamādiḥ rabb al-khalāʾiq12 Manẓūma shiʿriyya fī uṣūl al-fiqh13 Masāʾil arbaʿa tataʿallaq bi-l-muqallad wa-l-mustaftī14 Masʾalat ikhtilāf al-Muʿtazila wa-l-Ashʿariyya fī ḥamd Allāh ʿalā l-īmān15 Masāʾil mustakhrajāt16 Masāʾil shāfiyāt17 Masāʾil sharīfa18 Mukhtaṣar mufīd fī ʿulūm al-ḥadīth19 Muthīr al-aḥzān fī wadāʿ shahr Ramaḍān20 Nuṣrat al-aʿyān21 Qubūl al-bushrā bi-l-taysīr lil-yusrā22 Al-Rawḍ al-bāsim23 Al-Taʾdīb al-malakūtī24 Taḥrīr al-kalām fī masʾalat al-ruʾya25 Takhṣīṣ āyāt al-jumʿa26 Tanqīḥ al-anẓār fī maʿrifat ʿulūm al-āthār27 Tarjīḥ asālīb al-Qurʾān ʿalā asālīb al-Yūnān28 Additional Works Ascribed to Ibn al-Wazīr3 Central Concepts of Ibn al-Wazīr’s Epistemological Thought1 Definitions of Knowledge2 Definitions of the Means to Possess Knowledge3 The Proof of God’s Existence (ithbāt al-ṣāniʿ)4 The Argument from the Absence of Evidence (al-istidlāl bi-l-ʿadam)5 Conclusion4 Central Concepts of Ibn al-Wazīr’s Theological Thought1 God’s Wisdom (ḥikma) as the Key to Harmonization2 Harmonized Doctrine: God’s Names (asmāʾ) and Attributes (ṣifāt)3 Harmonized Doctrine: God’s Will (irāda)4 Harmonized Doctrine: Human Actions (afʿāl al-ʿibād) and Free Will (ikhtiyār)5 Conclusion5 The Structure of Legal Authority in Ibn al-Wazīr’s Thought1 The Theory of Infallibilism and the Probability of Ijtihād2 The Possibility of Ijtihād and the Existence of Mujtahids3 Taqlīd and Concepts of Following4 The Requirements (shurūṭ) for Ijtihād5 Divisibility (tajazzuʾ) of Ijtihād and the Discerning Student (al-ṭālib al-mumayyiz)6 Extrapolation of Principles (takhrīj)7 The Muqallid’s Commitment to a Legal School (iltizām)8 Conclusion6 ConclusionBibliographyIndex of Pre-Modern AuthorsIndex of Geographical NamesIndex of Pre-Modern BooksIndex of Quran CitationsIndex of Arabic Terms