An Introduction to Islamic Law (48 page)

softa:
an Ottoman term meaning a law student.
See also
legist
.

solitary:
a Prophetic
hadith
(q.v.) transmitted through fewer channels than recurrent reports (
see
recurrence
). Knowledge engendered by this report is considered probable.

stare decisis:
a doctrine of British, American and other Western courts to the effect that judges should stand by precedents and established
principles and apply them to all future cases where facts are substantially the same.

study circle:
literally referring to the form in which a group
sat down
to study with a professor; a study session with a particular specialization (mostly in law), usually held in mosques (but also in private homes). The circle was the medium of Islamic education.

substantive law:
the body of rules and general principles of which the law manuals of Shari
a consist. As there is no technical distinction in the Shari
a between procedural and other laws, the expression “substantive law” may be used to cover procedural law as well.
See
pp. 29–30 above, for a list of topics making up substantive law.

suitability:
a rational method of inferring the
ratio legis
(q.v.) in
qiyas
(q.v.). S
ee also istislah
.

Sunna:
the second, but most substantial, source of Islamic law; the exemplary biography of the Prophet. The
hadith
s (q.v.) are the literary expressions and context-specific accounts of the Sunna.

takhayyur:
literally, picking, selecting or choosing; a reforming method – prohibited by traditional Shari
a – of selecting opinions from various schools in order to create a modernized body of law. It is mostly applied in regard to the law of personal status.

talaq:
see
divorce
.

talfiq:
literally, patching, fabricating, amalgamating or concocting; a reforming method of bringing together different parts of a doctrine/opinion from various schools so as to create, on a specific point of law, a modernized doctrine.

tawatur:
see
recurrence
.

ta
zir:
discretionary punishments; determined and meted out by a
qadi
(q.v.), these punishments cannot reach or exceed
hudud
penalties (q.v.).

traditionist:
one who studies and transmits
hadith
(q.v.).

Twelver-Shi
i:
follower of the infallible Imam (q.v.), also known as Ja
fari; a theological and political group that believes Imam
Ali and his descendants to be the legitimate successors to the Prophet; a layperson belonging to the Twlever-Shi
i community, or a jurist who is a member of the Twelver-Shi
i legal school. This community and its jurists are now predominant in Iran, southern Iraq and Southern Lebanon. There are substantial populations of Shi
is in Bahrain and Azerbaijan as well.

ulama:
referring to the learned class, especially the legists (q.v.); in this technical sense, the word is of later provenance, probably dating to the twelfth century or thereabouts.