Muhammad Iqbal onal-fiqh: towards a natural law jurisprudence

Abstract

The reformation of Islamic law (shari'a) and jurisprudence (al-fiqh) has been the vision of many reformers over the past century, and each reformer shares particular common emphases and unique connection in comparison with others. Like other reformers, the early 20th-century Muslim-Indian poet–philosopher, politician and ideological progenitor of Pakistan, Muhammad Iqbal, called for the reformation of Islamic theology, politics, and law through the assimilation of European thought. In his philosophical magnum opus, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, one finds reforming concepts like “tawhid” and “caliphate” into expressions more consistent with contemporary notions of metaphysics (i.e. Whitehead) and liberal democracy. In this, Iqbal seeks to express a reformed system of Islamic law and jurisprudence that seeks to capture the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of reality; contrary to the more stagnated nature of the law in his day. This paper, then, examines Iqbal's vision for a reformed syst...