At this point, epistemology must be brought into the discussion. The great Indian scholastic Mawlānā Muḥammad Qāsim Nānawtawī ◌ؒ ◌ , a 19th-century I A n l d la i h an ’s Ḥanafī scholar, observed that many verses of the Qurʾān conclude with ﷻ names. If one were to scan all of the verses of aḥkām , the reader would invariably see that each verse is stamped with Allah’s ﷻ names and attributes. For Mawlānā Qāsim ◌ؒ ◌ , this encounter with divine speech was an instantiation of epistemology; namely, that aḥkām “come out” from the names. If the reader discovers names such as al-Ḥakīm (The All-Wise) , al-Baṣīr (The All-Seeing) , and as-Samīʿ (The All-Hearing), each name will have an effect on the ḥukm . Thus, the scholar in legal theory must create a bridge between the names of Allah ﷻ , which are divine, and the ḥukm of Allah ﷻ , which is applied in the mundane. From this we see that the aḥkām spring from Allah’s ﷻ name, which is a ṣūfī model of the cosmological order. Allah ﷻ is Just and that He ﷻ is not unjust is a theistic reality. In a Ḥadīth Qudsī , the Prophet ﷺ quotes Allah ﷻ : “O my servants! I have forbidden injustice on my Self ﷻ so I have then made it unlawful for you to be unjust. So do not be unjust towards one another.” 8 Here wdierescetelyafrmoumndHaisnenarmuleinTgh(eofJuthste prohibition of injustice) coming down ﷻ . Once this is established, we must develop a tohfemoeryrgwinhgicthhebinds the two together. That theory we have is called the theory takwīn (cosmos) with the Sharīʿah (law). Rules follow and are tethered to cosmological reality. 8 Imam Muslim al-Naysābūrī, Ṣ aḥīḥ Muslim, Ḥadīth #2577
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