Five Questions About Non-Muslim Meat: Toward a new Appreciation of ibn Qayyim al-Ǧawziyyah’s Contribution to Islamic Law

Abstract

Muhammad ibn Abl Bakr ibn Qayyim al-Gawziyyah's Ahkam ahi al-dim mah (herein: the Ahkam) is the most extensive and, arguably, the most incisive medieval study devoted to the status of non-Muslims in Islamic law.2 Scholars of Islamic attitudes toward adherents of other religions cite the Ahkam frequently because, as one observes, it provides a handy synthesis of material that is widely scattered through the earlier li terature.3 To approach the Ahkam as a compendium of existing Islamic law regarding non-Muslims, however, is to overlook the originality of Ibn al-Qayyim's work. Oversights of this nature char acterize the studies of Ibn al-Qayyim's legai treatises: scholars tend to portray Ibn al-Qayyim as little more than the dedicated pupil of Ahmad ibn cAbd al Hallm ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328).4 By highlighting several ways in which