CONTENTS

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS iii
3. Acknowledgements vi
4. Introduction: The Sufis and Legal Theory 1
5. Part 1 Mysticism, Traditionalism and the School of Mercy
6. 1 The Schools of Law 11
7. 2 Sufis and Traditionalism 39
8. 3 Al-Tirmidhī’s Critique of Rationalism 68
9. 4 Ibn ʿArabī’s Traditionalism 100
10. 5 The Akbarī Madhhab: Ibn ʿArabī’s School of Mercy 129
11. 6 Loyalty to the Akbarī Way: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī 167
12. Part 2 Mercy in Flexibility: A Pat h for All Mankind
13. 7 The All-Comprehensive Nature of the Sharīʿa: From Tirmidhī to Suyūṭī 187
14. 8 The ‘Scale’ of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī 213
15. Part 3 The Akbarī Madhhab in Practice and its Influence on the Modern World
16. 9 Aḥmad ibn Idrīs and the Implementation of Ibn ʿArabī’s Jurisprudence in the Nineteenth Century 253
17. 10 The Teachings and Influence of Aḥmad ibn Idrīs 280
18. 11 From Ibn ʿArabī to the Salafīs 301
19. Conclusion: The Spirit of the Law – Competing Visions 332
20. Appendix: The Classical Juristic Debate on Whether Every Mujtahid Was Correct 343
21. References 352
22. Index 372