RLG204H5 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Khalid Duran, Ipso Facto
Document Summary
The distinction between traditional islam and islamism (fundamentalist or radical islam) can be seen in many specifics. Tradition says that islamic jurisprudence can today be practiced according to four legal schools, all of which are legitimate and authoritative; islamists, by contrast, see the existence of these schools as an obstacle to their concept of islamic unity. Tradition attributes to the ruler the right to appoint competent scholars as authorized interpreters of the. Islamic law; islamists do not recognize any authority apart from the leaders of their own groups. Tradition makes the authority of a scholar dependent on the possession of written documents of appointment (ijaza) signed by his predecessor; islamists regularly install people bereft of any theological or legal education into positions of islamic authority. In most cases, then, islamist leaders are lay persons with little background in islamic studies.
