Philosophy of Language in Islamic Legal Theory

In The Philosophy of Language in Islamic Legal Theory Nora Kalbarczyk examines the influential jurisprudential work al-Maḥṣūl fī ʿilm uṣūl al-fiqh (d. 1210). By means of a detailed analysis of the linguistic treatise of this work she highlights the impact of the philosophical tradition on Islamic legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) in the so-called post-Avicennian era (11th-14th c.). Her main focus lies on a classification of signification (dalāla) that can be traced back to Ibn Sīnā (lat. Avicenna, d. 1037): a word may signify a meaning by way of congruence (muṭābaqa), containment (taḍammun) or implication (iltizām). The author shows how Faḫr ad-dīn ar-Rāzī develops – on the basis of the Avicennian theory of signification – a hermeneutic toolbox which is not only relevant in the context of Arabic philosophy but also useful for different questions of Islamic legal theory.