Detailed Study of Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik by Professor Yasin Dutton

Description

Course Overview
In this course, Professor Yasin Dutton will teach the Muwatta through various levels, uncovering the distinct features of Imam Malik’s narrations and their relation to the Practice of the People of Madina (‘amal ahl al-Madina). This will lead to a study that highlights the contrast with other methods of hadith narration and derivations of Law and principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh). Selective chapters have been chosen to be studied in detail, analysed and evaluating the methodological framework and the different forms
of transmission used in this text.

Duration

Dates: Starting Saturday 19th February 2022 and every Saturdays
Duration: 20 weeks
Onsite and LIVE Online
Time: 6pm – 8pm UK time (including break)

20 week (5 months course), Every Saturdays, 2 hours starting from 19th February 2022
All sessions will be recorded live and available later to those who may miss lessons
or to review and catch up.

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Understand the significance, history, and development of the hadith science
• Gain familiarity with the earliest generation of Muhaddithin and later hadith specialists
• Understand the methodological framework used by Imam Malik
• Develop a detailed understanding of the different Isnads through which al-Muwatta is transmitted.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to:

• Analyse and critically evaluate hadith commentaries
• Relate the level of authenticity of a hadith to its social, theological and spiritual application
• Demonstrate in-depth understanding of the criteria for hadith preference in legal applications
• Investigate the primary source of hadith material in the analysis of religious issues
• Understand how these same narrations can be understood and applied in our time to modern questions that the community faces.

Structure – Chapters in brackets

Week 1: Background

• Malik and his sources
• Intention: actions rather than words (2:255)
• Seeking knowledge (2:261)

Week 2: Chapter Prayer

• The prayer being the best thing (1:144)
• The best time to do the prayer (1:25)
• Joining prayers when travelling (1:126)

Weeks 3-8: Chapter Qur’an (1:157-169)

• Benefits of Qul huwa llahu ahad (1:163)
• Being in wudu’ to touch the Qur’an (1:157)
• Dividing the Qur’an into sections (1:159)
• Not rushing the Qur’an (1:159)
• The seven ahruf (1:159 ff.)
• Revelation of the Qur’an (1:160)
• Dhikr (1:164-6)
• Du’a’ (1:166-70)

Week 9: Chapter Zakat

• The nisab; the things on which zakat is due (1:188) fiqh

Week 10: Chapter Fasting

• Jami’ al-siyam (1:235; fasting six days in Shawwal)

Week 11: Chapter Hajj

• Al-ihsar (by an enemy / other than an enemy) (1:260-1)

Week 12: Chapter Slaughtering animals

• Kitab al-sayd (1:324-328)
• Kitab al-‘aqiqa (1:327; one sheep or two?)

Week 13: Chapter Jihad

• Kitab al-jihad; effects of actions (1:305)

Weeks 14-20: Selections from the miscellaneous chapters (2:200-264)

• Honesty and keeping one’s word (2:204)
• Greeting people (2:238) أه
• Giving sadaqa (2:257-60)
• General picture of (Muslim) society (1:143-4)

Audience:
Advanced seminary (Dar Ulum/Islamic University) students
Those in academia

Pre-requisite:
Intermediate Arabic
Reasonable understanding of hadith sciences and Islamic law

Pricing

Onsite LIVE:

• £500 professionals/academics (full payment upfront)
  • £100 monthly
• £350 students
  • or £70 per month

Online LIVE:

• £450 professionals/academics (full payment upfront)
  • £90 monthly
• £300 students
  • or £60 per month

About the teacher – Professor Yasin Dutton [Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies]

Senior Research Fellow in the Study of the Islamic World pursuing research interests in early, classical, and modern Islamic law. He gained his DPhil in Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford, specialising in early Islamic law. He taught Arabic language and the Qur’an in the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford (part-time, 1993-5), after which he lectured on Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh (1995-2006), and then on Arabic at the University of Cape Town (2006-2018). Professor Yasin Dutton is the author of The Origins of Islamic Law: The Qur’an, the Muwatta’ and Madinan ‘Amal (Curzon Press, 1999) and Original Islam: Malik and the Madhhab of Madina (Routledge, 2007), as well as numerous articles on early Islamic law, early Qur’anic manuscripts, and the application of Islamic law in the modern world, particularly in relation to economic and environmental issues.