Reviving the Balance

The debate on the “sources of Islam” is one of the intriguing questions in the Islamic intellectual tradition from the classical age. While the “four sources theory” (Qur’an, Sunnah, Ijma[, Qiyas) holds much sway, it has not remained immune to criticism. The relative importance of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, i.e. which of the two sources is subservient to and governed by the other, has been the focal point of overwhelming scholarly deliberations that have resulted in a hermeneutical diversity on the positive side and a polarization of the Muslim community, especially the Muslim intelligentsia and academia, on the negative side. The book under review is an important contribution to the same discourse. The English translation by Nancy Roberts has been taken from the abridged version of Alalwani’s Ishkaliyyat al-Ta[amul Ma[a al-Sunnah al-Nabawiyyah. It deals with the status of the Sunnah in Islam and its relationship with the Qur’an, thereby seeking, as aptly suggested by the title, a revival of the balance regarding the relative importance of the Qur’an and the Sunnah as the sources of Islam. With due regard to the emulation of the Prophetic Sunnah, the author is aggrieved by the negligence of the Qur’an on the part of the Muslim Ummah as a result of the canonization of the Sunnah on the assumption that the former is contained in the latter (p. xii).