Traces of the Idea of Politics in the Literature of Furu Fiqh: Issues Related to the Head of State in Nawawi’s Minhaj
This study aims to justify the claim that the texts of furū fiqh are the source of Islamic political thought in the context of Minhāj al-tālibīn and ‘umdat al-muftīn by al-Nawawī (d. 676/1277), one of the most important classics of the fiqh literature of the Shāfi‘ī madhhab. The fact that Minhāj refers to the head of state in many subheadings of fiqh, including ibādāt, as well as the presence of a separate subheading on the imamate in the work, provide important clues to the justification of this claim.
It is known that furū fiqh was the source of works with titles such as ahkām al-sultāniyya, siyar, siyāset-i shar’iyya, etc., which emerged as a sub-discipline of fiqh and included topics related to state administration. However, the fact that the works of furū fiqh are among the main sources of Islamic political thought is a subject that has not been sufficiently emphasised and researched. Therefore, the issue of jurisprudential literature as a source of Islamic political thought is a claim that deserves to be justified and requires in-depth research.
Within the framework of this study, the issues addressed in the Minhāj, which is a furū fiqh text, with regard to the head of state will be analysed in terms of content, and thus an attempt will be made to reveal the concept of the head of state on the basis of the text. The literature of commentaries and glosses that developed around Minhāj is also important for the accurate analysis of the subject. In fact, these works, written in different periods, clearly reflect the development and change of Islamic political thought in different periods and provide important data about the political structure of the period in which they were written. Another point that this study will reveal is the traces of the continuous interaction between politics and fiqh through the texts in question. In the course of this research, the texts will be subjected to a contextual and temporal reading and an attempt will be made to trace these traces.
Enes Furkan ÖMEROĞLU
