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https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-sufis-and-shari-a.html
Back cover:
This book is not about Sufism. It is about the nature of the Sharīʿa. In the first three centuries of Islam, many scholars believed that juristic differences were rooted in the Sharīʿa’s inherent flexibility. As this pluralistic attitude began to disappear, a number of Sufis defended and developed this idea through the centuries. They aimed to preserve the leniency and simplicity of the Sharīʿa against the complications and restrictions created by many jurists.
This book focuses on four major Sufi figures whose contributions to legal theory were strongly shaped by their mystical thought: Ibn ʿArabī, al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, al-Shaʿrānī and Aḥmad ibn Idrīs. It gives a detailed analysis of their legal thought, revealing that they belonged to the same tradition and developed each other’s ideas, and also highlights their influence on other major Sufis all the way up to the 19th century. This is the first study to give a full picture of the role that Sufi thought played in the revivalist Islamic movements of the 18th, 19th and even 20th centuries.
Review:
Samer Dajani tackles one of the most controversial issues in Islamic intellectual history, the relationship between Sufism and Islamic law. Where others have found tension, he finds creative engagement over a period stretching from the formation of Islamic legal theory down to modern times. This learned and deeply researched book deserves a wide readership.–Adam Sabra, University of California
Basira Academy 