Preserving Islamic Tradition: Abū Naṣr Qūrṣāwi and the Beginnings of Modern Reformism By Nathan Spannaus

Annotatsiya

Nathan Spannaus’ monograph, based on his 2012 dissertation, examines and contextualizes the Arabic-language writings of Abū Naṣr al-Qūrṣāwī (1776–1812), a Tatar scholar of Russia’s Middle Volga/Kama (‘Bulghār’) region. Qūrṣāwī gained notoriety for his rejection of taqlīd and his call for ijtihād in issues of Islamic law, as well as for his theological treatises and commentaries in which he disputed some mainstream assertions of Māturīdī kalām. The central legal issue of the time centred on the night prayer (), which is traditionally performed at the start of complete darkness; but if there is no darkness, such as in Russia’s northern regions in summer time, must Muslims then drop the night prayer? Qūrṣāwī defended the in the summer nights by arguing that God’s general prescription of five daily prayers stands above secondary regulations as to when exactly this fifth prayer has to be performed; as he argued, the determination of...