Commonplaces from Caesarean Moon Births: Calculations, Moon Sighting, and the Prophetic Way by Hamza Yusuf
Posted on March 7th, 2017
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Last annotated on March 6, 2017
The earliest and one of the most authoritative lexicons in the Islamic tradition is that of the linguist, al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad of Oman. His book, al-ʿAyn, is the first scientific lexicon in human history.Read more at location 359 • Delete this highlight
Clearly, the crescent moon is something that is seen. It is a physical phenomenon, upon seeing which people tend "to cry for joy." Indeed, according to the American lexicographer Noah Webster, whose landmark dictionary of 1828 set a new standard for American scholarship and is the eponym for all Webster dictionaries, the English word "hallelujah" comes from the Hebrew meaning "to praise God" and the Arabic, halla, which means "to appear; to begin to shine, as the new moon; to exclaim; to exult; to sing; to rejoice; to praise or worship God." Webster also surmises that it is related to the English word "howl."25 Of note is our idiom, "howling at the moon"!Read more at location 379 • Delete this highlight
The foundation of any legal ruling in Islam is the Qur’an and the verified Sunnah of the Prophet . All of the Qur’an and the Sunnah fall into four juristic categories: 1) Evidence that is decisive in its authentic transmission and unequivocal in its meaning; 2) Evidence that is decisive in its authenticity but equivocal in its meaning; 3) Evidence that is of probable authenticity but unequivocal in its meaning; and 4) Evidence that is of probable authenticity and equivocal in its meaning. Ijtihād is not permissible in the first category.Read more at location 385 • Delete this highlight
we deny our existential experience of phenomena in favor of theories that, while true, deny our experience of the world.Read more at location 586 • Delete this highlight
the scholars who argue for calculation seem not to understand the limits of modern astronomy vis-à-vis actual sighting predictability, and the astronomers who argue for calculation appear to have little knowledge of jurisprudence.Read more at location 613 • Delete this highlight
while they are often used interchangeably, a legal cause is more general than a ratio legis (ʿillah).Read more at location 735 • Delete this highlight
that legal rationales and the rulings associated with them are inextricably bound, and that the latter is contingent upon the former in its application and suspension, while largely an accepted principle, is far from absolute in its application.Read more at location 804 • Delete this highlight