Navigating the "Legal" and the "Ethical": Discourses on Qāḍī in Ibn Abī al-Dam's Manual on Adab al-Qaḍāʾ

Abstract

This study examines a medieval Adab al-Qaḍāʾ manual, that of Ibn Abī al-Dam, in an attempt to understand the normative language that marks the text and the genre in general. It seeks to examine the interrelations between the normative languages of fiqh and adab, and, further on, the nature of fiqhī normativity in particular. It begins by situating the manuals on Adab al-Qaḍāʾ at the intersection of different textual traditions and complicates the prevailing notion of concentrating merely on the ‘differences’ that characterized these traditions. It argues, instead, that the normative traditions of fiqh and adab can also be understood in terms of performing a ‘thickening function.’ Concentrating on the manual of Ibn Abī al-Dam, it complicates the understanding that scholars of fiqh always distinguished the spheres of law and ethics, relegating the realm of ethical to the individual conscience. However, it further argues, it could be possible to draw a distinction between the two, in terms of governance, without essentialising the realm of ethical. This drawing of distinction, nevertheless, should be done with the complications of language in mind.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Islamic Studies