Ingeneral,Islamiccommerciallawsuffersfromaninterestingpovertyand richnessofscholarship.Ontheonehand,itspovertyreflectsageneraldisinterestamong
contemporaryWesternscholarsofIslamforthestudyofcommerciallaw.Tobesure, scholarslikeBaberJohansen,AbrahamUdovitch,andHiroyukiYanagihashihave producedanumberofexcellentandthoughtfulstudiesonaspectsofIslamiccommercial law.However,thequantitativeinterestinthestudyofIslamiccommerciallawpalesin comparisontothequantityofscholarshipdevotedtotopicsliketheoriginsofIslamic law,ḥadīth,uṣūlal-fiqh,issuesofritualpurity,andprayer. Thecurrentpatternsof secondaryscholarshipreflect—eitherimplicitlyorexplicitly—notionsaboutthe essence(s)ofIslamandIslamiclaw.22
22Forexample,JosephSchachtremarks,“IslamiclawistheepitomeofIslamicthought, themosttypicalmanifestationoftheIslamicwayoflifethecoreandkernelofIslamitself.The verytermfiqh,“knowledge,”showsthatearlyIslamregardedknowledgeofthesacredLawasthe knowledgeparexcellence…itisimpossibletounderstandIslamwithoutunderstandingIslamic law.”Admittedly,SchachtacknowledgesthatSufismhaschallengedthedominanceofIslamic lawatvariouspoints,butheclaimsthatallotherIslamicdiscoursesareultimatelygroundedand decipheredthroughlaw.Schacht,“Introduction,”1.Hallaqemploysthisquotationtonotonly essentializethelinkbetweenIslamiclawandIslam,buttoalsoessentializetheWest,
Christianity,modernity,and“Semitic”piety.Hallaq,“‘MuslimRage’andIslamicLaw,”
HastingsLawJournal54(2003),1706-1708,1715-1716.Similarly,RichardBullietremarksthat, “Itcannotbesaidtoooftenthatthelaw,thesharī‘a,isthefullestexpressionofIslam.Theheart ofIslamistheQur’ān,God’sword,andthemessengerthroughwhomitwastransmittedto mankind,Muḥammad.Thesharī ‘aistheinterpretationoftheQur’ānandMuḥammad’spersonal statements.”HethenstatesthattheSharī‘acorrespondstotheWesternnotionoflawwiththe additionofreligiousritual.ExplicitlythispassagearguesforthesupremacyofIslamiclawonthe basisofthesourcesitemploys.However,thatreasonisinsufficientinitselfsinceanumberof otherdiscoursesemploythesamesources.Implicitinthisstatement,however,isthenotionthat lawhaspoliticalauthority,whichensuresitssupremacy.Furthermore,thepassagedivideslaw intoaWesternanalog,whichimplicitlyWesternscholarsofIslamiclawcanignore,andritual whereonefindstheessenceofIslamandIslamiclaw.RichardBulliet,ThePatriciansof Nishapur:AStudyinMedievalIslamicSocialHistory(Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress, 1972),28-29.ForcritiquesofthisirenicconstructionandstudyofIslamandIslamiclaw,see LamaAbu-Odeh,“ThePoliticsof(Mis)recognition:IslamicLawPedagogyinAmerican Academy,”TheAmericanJournalofComparativeLaw52,no.4(2004),789-824;Lena Salaymeh,“Commodifying“IslamicLaw”intheU.S.LegalAcademy,”JournalofLegal Education(May2014).Inanintroductiontohisrecentstudy,Hallaqhasattemptedtocritique discourseonIslamiclaw,buttherestoftheworkisreflectiveofhisearlierscholarshipthat revealsanessentializingunderstandingofIslamandIslamiclaw.Hallaq,Sharī‘a:Theory, Practice,Transformations (NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2009),1-23.
Ontheotherhand,Islamiccommerciallawhasattractedanabundanceofinterest fromanothergroup—bankers,economists,lawyers,andcontemporaryMuslimscholars whoareconcernedwithfinance,commercialethics,apologetics,andpolemics.Overthe pastseveraldecades,thisheterogeneousgroupofscholarsandfinancialprofessionalshas producedalargeamountofscholarshipaboutIslamiccommerciallaw,regularlyholds conferences,andhasanumberoftradegroups.Theyhaveevenproducedseveralvery thoughtprovokingstudiesongharar.
Notwithstandingtheinterestandimportanceofthisgroup’scontributiontothe studyofIslamiccommerciallaw,mystudysidestepstheircontributionsdueto
methodologicalconsiderations.Inlargemeasure,thesearepractitionersengagedin regulatoryarbitrage,whichengineerspre-modernIslamiccommercialcontractsto conformtocurrentlyacceptedfinancialcontractsandinvestmentvehicles.23This scholarshipthuscreatesanewdiscursiveformationthatsubsumesIslamiccommercial lawtocontemporaryconceptionsandinstitutionsofconventionalfinance.The
reconfigurationofIslamiccommerciallawmeritsattentionduetotheinterestingways thatitrelatestotheeconomicdevelopmentoftheMiddleEast,riseofamiddleclassof Musliminvestors,andcontemporarydiscoursesaboutmodernity,religiousidentity,and economics.24However,thoseprojectsfalloutsideofthescopeoftheresearchquestions elaboratedforthisstudy.
23 Mahmoudel-Gamalhasanalyzedandcritiquedthisphenomenon.Forfurtherdetails, Mahmoudel-Gamal,IslamicFinancepp.35-45.
24Forexamplesofdiscussionsofghararwithinthediscursiveframeworkof contemporaryfinance,seeHennieVanGreuningandZamirIqbal,RiskAnalysisforIslamic Banks(WashingtonD.C.:TheWorldBank,2008);Muhammadal-BashirMuhammadal-Amine,
Inthisstudy,Iavoidateleologicalanalysisofgharar,whichwoulddissipatethe
differencesbetweendiscoursesthroughavarietyofblackboxes.Gharardoesnotconvey
thesecretintentionsoftheearliestjuristsoraWeltanschauungthatanimatesthem.Atthe
sametime,gharardoesnotconformtocontemporarynotionsoffinancialriskor
converselyrevealafundamentalgapbetweenmodernandpre-modernlegalandfinancial systems.AlthoughIdiscusscontemporarynotionsoffinancialriskandtheirrelationto
ghararatvariouspointsinthisstudy,ghararandcontemporarynotionsoffinancialrisk
aretwoextremelydifferentdiscourses.
Finally,mygeneralizationaboutthelackofacademicscholarshiponghararhas
oneimportantexceptionthatstillconformstomanyofmyprecedinggeneralizations aboutresearchonIslamiccommerciallaw.Recently,SiddīqMuḥammadal-Amīnal- Ḍarīr,theformerHeadoftheIslamicSharī‘aDepartmentattheUniversityofKhartoum andformerChairmanoftheSharī‘aBoardoftheal-BarakaBankofSudan,translatedand publishedhis1967dissertationentitled,Gharar:ImpactonContractinIslamicFiqh.
Theworksituatesitselfataninterestingintersectionbetweenacademicresearchand modernIslamicfinance.Itpresentspre-modernandmoderndiscussionsofghararacross
alloftheschoolsoflawwithextensivetranslationsofrelevantprimarysources.The prefacetothebookstatesthatitwastranslatedandpublishedtobeareferenceworkfor Muslimandnon-MuslimresearchersofIslamicfinance.25Althoughitshighlysystematic organizationandsurveyofawidenumberofsourcesmakeitaninvaluablestartingpoint
Markets(Boston:Leiden,2008);SimonArcher,RifaatAhmedandAbdelKarim,Islamic FinanceandtheNewRegulatoryChallenge,2nded.(Singapore:JohnWileyandSons,2013).
forresearchongharar,thisworkdoesnotrelateghararanduncertaintytothelarger
issuesofrepresentationthatinterestme.Infact,thework’sstylealongwiththefactthat theauthoroccasionallyindicateshislegalpreferencesmakesthisworkseemmore
reminiscentofworkoffurū‘al-fiqh,ahandbookofpositivelaw,thananacademicstudy.