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Fatwa Concerning the United States Supreme Courtroom Frieze

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2015

Taha Jaber al-Alwani
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Extract

I have received your letter and the accompanying photograph, which you identified as that of a section of the frieze in the Supreme Courtroom, located in the capital, Washington, D.C. The frieze (tunf) portrays images of eighteen of the greatest leaders in human history who played a role in either establishing or enforcing laws or Shara'i. One of these images purports to represent the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS). The artist placed the Qur'an in one hand of this image, thus symbolically recognizing it as the source of Islamic legislation. In his other hand, the figure holds a sword symbolizing the power of the state. This second symbol is in recognition of the fact that the Prophet was also a leader of his community.

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Articles
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 15 , 2001 , pp. 1 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2000

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References

‡ [Editor's note: This fatwa (legal opinion) opens with a salutation to the person who has requested the opinion (Azizah Y. al-Hibri) from the author (Taha Jabar al-Alwani).]

1. The frieze is a band of engraved images or decoration round the top of a wall or building. In Arabic, this form of art is referred to as tunf.

2. Shara‘i’ (plural of Shari'ah) are legal systems, Islamic and otherwise.

3. Translator's Note: SAAS: Salla Allahu 'Alayhi wa ala Allihi wa Sallam (May the peace and blessings of God be upon him and upon his household members). This prayer is said by Muslims whenever the name of the Prophet Muhammad is mentioned or whenever he is referred to as the Prophet of God.

4. The Prophet was selected by Muslims to lead the first Muslim community, which was formed in Madinah. The symbolism of the sword was used throughout the frieze and the Supreme Court building to depict historical figures who exercised worldly authority.

5. Usuli Principles are basic principles employed for the interpretation of texts (the Qur'an and Sunnah).

6. Muslims in the United States have debated at length whether it is possible to confirm the birth of the new moon, and hence the end of Ramadan (the month of fasting) through astronomical calculations, or whether seeing the moon with the naked eye is required. They have similar debates about whether Muslims are required in the United States to eat only hallal meat, i.e. meat prepared in accordance with Islamic rules.

7. Sunnah: The sayings and example of the Prophet Muhammad (SAAS), including what he acquiesced or objected to.

8. Hadith (pl. ahadith): A saying of the Prophet Muhammad. Sometimes this word appears with the prefex “al”; this means simply “the”.

9. Khabar (pl. Akhbar): Whatever is transmitted about the Prophet (SAAS), and by or about the Companions, the Successors, and their successors.

10. Athaar. Traditions reported by the Companions of the Prophet (SAAS).

11. Note that other Semitic cultures, such as the Hebraic one, held similar attitudes. This is clear from the Biblical passage which prohibits the making of graven images.

12. There are scholars who discussed this issue like al-Jahiz. See al-Jahiz, Amro bin Bahr, Al Bayan Wa Tabyeen vol. 1 (Haroun, Abdussalam Muhammad ed. & commentator, Cairo: Al-Khanjee Institute n.d.)Google Scholar.

13. Mu'allaqat: Prior to Islam, Arabs used to hang poetic masterpieces on the curtains of the Ka'bahh to honor the poet. The mu'allaqat were the actual poems hanging on the curtains.

14. These were markets in pre-Islamic Arabia, each taking place at a certain place and specific time of year. For more detailed description of each place read al-Hamawi, Shaikh Imam Shahabuddin Bin Abduallah, Mu'jam Al-Buldan vols. 7-8, of 10 vols. (Egypt: Assa'adah Printing House 1906)Google Scholar.

15. See al-Shafi', Imam Muhammad Ibn Idriss, Risalat al-Shafi' (10th Cent., Cairo: Matba'at Mustafa al-Baabi al-Halabi 1940)Google Scholar; al-Shafi', Imam Muihammad Ibn Idriss, Kitab al-Um (10th Cent, repr., Beirut: Dar al-Ma'rifah wa al'Nashr 1973)Google Scholar.

16. Tawhidi: (monotheistic) the reference here is to the principle that there is no god but God.

17. See e.g. the discussion of al-Jawziyyah, Ibn Qayyim in Subhi al-Saleh 666–669 (al-Thimmah, Ahkam Ahl ed., 14th Cent. Damascus: Matba'at Jami'at Dimashq 1961)Google Scholar in which he surveys the views of various jurists on this matter.

18. Subhanahu wa Ta'ala (SWT): May He be praised and may His transcendence be affirmed.

19. [Editor's Note: Translation of all Qur'anic cites herein were provided by the author.]

20. Kathir, Imad ad-Deen Ibn, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Athim vol. 3, 506–507 (15th Cent, repr., Riyhad: Mu'assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyyah 1997)Google Scholar; al-Jami', Abu Abd-Allah al-Qurtubi, Ahkam al-Qur'an 271–272 (Cairo: Dar al-Kitab al-'Arabi, repr. 1967)Google Scholar.

21. Ahadith Ahad: Ahadith for which the chain of transmission does not reach the “level of genuineness (lawatur).”

22. Ratios (illah): The underlying cause of a hukm, (legal ruling) its ratio decidendi, on the basis of which the accompanying hukm is extended to or applied in other cases.

23. Mujtahid: The scholar who makes a creative but disciplined intellectual effort to derive legal rulings from the accepted juridical sources of Islam while taking into consideration the variables imposed by the fluctuating circumstances of Muslim society.

24. See Sahih Al-Bukhari bi Sharh al-Sindi, at 276. “Baab Al-Hajj,” the Pilgrimage Section. This hadith has been quoted in different ways from ‘A’ishah, the mother of the believers: First among them is what Muslim and the Nasa'i compiled:

Had the people not been unbelievers in the recent past and had I funds to use to reinforce the construction of the building (Ka'bah), I would have added to it five azera (a specific measurement) of stone and made for it a door where people would enter and another where they would exit.

Second: “Had your people not been close to the period of jahiliyah, I would have demolished the Ka'bah and made for it two doors” (from Al-Termathi and Al-Nasa'i). Third: “Had your people not been close to the days of jahiliyah, I would have spent the treasury of the Ka'bah in the way of God, and I would have put its door by the floor and entered into it through the stones (which have been knocked down)” (from Sahih Muslim). Fourth:

Had your people not been unbelievers in the recent past (had they not quite recently accepted Islam), I would have demolished the Ka'bah and would have rebuilt it on the foundation (laid) by Abraham; for when the Quraish had built the Ka'bah, they reduced its (area), and I would also have built (a door) in the rear.

(Compiled by Ahmad in his Musnad (the book of ahadith) and in Nasa'i.) All these narrations are in the Al-Fath Al-Kabir (the Big Victory).

25. Children of 'allat means that their mothers are different and their religion is one, or else that they belong to different nations, but their religion is the same in faith, purpose and goal (as explained in Lisan al-Arab and al-Qamus). al-Masri, Imam Abi al-fadl Jamalluddin Muhammad bin Mukrram bin Manzour, Lisan al-Arab vol. 11, 470 (Beirut: Dar Sader n.d.)Google Scholar; al-Fairouzabadi, Majdduddin Muhammad bin Ya'quob, al-Qamus Al-Muhit 1338 (Arrissalah Inst. n.d.)Google Scholar. Muhammad bin al-Atheer, Imam Mujduddin Abi Assa'addat bin, Annihayah ft Gharib al-Hadith wa al-athar vol. 3, 291 (Taher Ahmad Azzawi & Mahmoud Muhammad Attanahi revisors, Dar al-Fikr 1979)Google Scholar.

26. Qur'an 20:85-88; 2:51. See also al-Shafi', Fakhr al-Din, Al-Tafsir al-Kabir vol. 11, 87 (13th Cent, repr., Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah 1990)Google Scholar (explaining who the Sumarian was); see also Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Athim vol. 3, supra n. 19, at 159.

27. Al-Hafiz (the “Memorizer): A title given to a person who knows most narrators of each category; and the person who occupies himself with the study of hadith. Among his contributions is Fath al-Bari (14th Cent, repr., Riyadh: Dar al-Buhuth al-'Ilmiyyah 1982)Google Scholar.

28. Ijtihaad: The effort of the jurist to derive the law on an issue by expending all available means of interpretation at his disposal and by taking into account all legal proofs related to the issue.

29. Sahih Muslim, Baab Al-Hajj Section, Hadith No. 1297.

30. Baab (Gate): a main chapter compiling ahadith around a specific topic.

31. Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 1687.

32. Qiyas: Analogy, syllogism. The extension of the established hukm (legal ruling) of a specific case to a new case through reasoning by analogy.

33. Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 1666. Also in Sahih Al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 5610, Baab al-Libas.

34. Asi. Origin; root; foundation. Source of law. The established case that forms the basis of the extension of the hukm in qiyas. A principle of law.

35. “Sadd al dhari'ah”: means blocking a lawful justification to block an unlawful end.

36. Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2106 Baab Al-Libas.

37. Abu ai-Hussein al-Nawawi, Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi voi. 7, 86 (13th Cent, repr., Beirut: Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-'Arabi n.d).

38. Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi v. 4, p. 818 (Cairo: Dar al-Sha'b n.d.)Google Scholar.

39. Id.

40. Al-Nawawi, supra n. 37, at 81.

41. Mussnad Ahmad No. 847 in the “Baab The Ten promised with Paradise.”

42. Sahih al-Bukhari, Al Maghazi Section, Hadith No. 3780, supported also by Hadith No. 4155 in Sunan Abi Dawood in “Baab Al-Libas,” within the wording of: “Angels do not enter a house in which there is an image.”

43. They ask you what is lawful to them (as food). Say:

Lawful unto you are (all) things good and pure: and what you have taught your trained hunting animals (to catch) in the manner directed to you by God: eat what they catch for you, but pronounce the name of God over it: and fear God; for God is swift in taking account.

Surat al-Ma'idah 5:4. There are also two other references to a dog in the story of the young men in the cavé in Surat Kahf 18: 18, 22.

44. al-Sindi, Abu al-Hassan, Al-Bukhari bi Hashiat al-Sindi vol. 4, 45 (9th Cent, repr., Beirut: Dar al-Ma'rifah n.d.)Google Scholar.

45. Dawood, Sunan Abi, ed., Muhammad Abdul Hamid v. 4, p. 73–4, Kitab al-Libas, Hadith No. 4155 (Beirut: al-Maktabah al-'Asriyyah n.d.)Google Scholar.

46. Mawquf: a hadith traced back to a Companion of the Prophet (Sahabi) whether its chain of transmission is connected or not. See the ahadiths of Abdullah bin Mas'oud and Ibn Abbas, Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi, supra n. 37, at 92-93.

47. This hadith is among those compiled by al-Bukhari in the Book of Good Manners, Hadith No. 5665. (See 20:5 al-Manar, § 1 (n.p. 1917) (infra full cite in n. 48); Sahih Muslim Hadith No. (1666). Also in Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 5610, Baab al-Libas.

48. Ridha, Sheikh Rashid, The Fatawa of Al-Manar, 20:5 Al-Manar 228 (1917)Google Scholar.

49. For the definition of mawqaf, see supra n. 46.

50. Azirikli, Khairuddin, Al-'Alam: Qamus Trajem, vol. 6 (Beirut: Dar Al-'ilm lil Malayeen n.d.)Google Scholar.

51. Supra n. 45.

52. Ibn Hajar, supra n. 26.

53. See also the summary of his fatwa, supra n. 45.

54. Sahih: (authentic). Hadith whose chain of narrators is carried by truly pious persons who have been distinguished by uprightness and exactitude and whose reports and character have been free from blemish.

55. Sirah (pi. Siyar): the Arabic term for biography, and it is also used to refer to books written about the life of the Prophet (SAAS).

56. al-Suyuti, Jalal ad-Din, al-Jami'al-Saghir vol. 2, 306–307 (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, repr. 1981)Google Scholar referring to al-termadhi in al-Shama'l, al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Imam by Hind bin Abi-Halah.

57. al-Hibri, Azizah, Islamic Constitutionalism and the Concept of Democracy, 24 Case W. Res.J. Intl. L. 1–27 (Winter 1992)Google Scholar.

58. Ashibani, Shaikh Izuddin Abi al Hassan Ali Bin Abi al-Karam (known as Ibn al-Athir), Al-Kamel Fi Attarikh, vol. 2, 204 (Beirut: Dar Sader 1965)Google Scholar.

59. Kathir, Ibn, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Athim, vol. 2, 241–243 (15th Cent, repr., Riyadh: Mu'assasat al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyyah 1997)Google Scholar.