Ijazah

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Legal vocations and titles

An ijazah (Arabic: الإِجازَة, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ijazahs or ijazat) is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such authority. It is particularly associated with transmission of Islamic religious knowledge.[1] The license usually implies that the student has acquired this knowledge from the issuer of the ijaza through first-hand oral instruction, although this requirement came to be relaxed over time.[1] An ijaza providing a chain of authorized transmitters going back to the original author often accompanied texts of hadith, fiqh and tafsir; but also appeared in mystical, historical, and philological works, as well as literary collections.[1] While the ijaza is primarily associated with Sunni Islam, the concept also appears in the hadith traditions of Twelver Shia.[1]

George Makdisi, professor of oriental studies, theorized that the ijazah was the origin of the university academic degree as well as the doctorate.[2] Professor of Arabic, Alfred Guillaume (SOAS); Professor of Sociology, Syed Farid al-Attas (National University of Singapore)[3] Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Devin J. Stewart (Emory University) agree that there is a resemblance between the ijazah and the university degree.[4] However, Toby Huff and others reject Makdisi's theory.[5][6][7][8] Devin J. Stewart notes a difference in the granting authority (individual professor for the ijazah and a corporate entity in the case of the university).[4]

  1. ^ a b c d Vajda, G., Goldziher, I. and Bonebakker, S.A. (2012). "Id̲j̲āza". In P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3485.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Makdisi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Al-Attas, Syed Farid (1 January 2006). "From Jāmi' ah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue". Current Sociology. 54 (1): 112–132. doi:10.1177/0011392106058837. ISSN 0011-3921. S2CID 144509355. In the 1930s, the renowned Orientalist Alfred Guillaume noted strong resemblances between Muslim and Western Christian institutions of higher learning. An example he cited is the ijazah, which he recognized as being akin to the medieval licentia docendi, the precursor of the modern university degree.
  4. ^ a b Devin J. Stewart (2005). "Degrees, or Ijazah". In Josef W. Meri (ed.). Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 201–203. ISBN 9781135455965. The license to teach law and issue legal opinions [...] is the type of ijazah that resembles the medieval European university degree most closely [...] The main difference between the two is that the granting authority is an individual professor, in the Islamic case, rather than a corporate institution in the case of the university. Despite this point, Makdisi has likened the ijazat al-ifta' wa'l-tadris to the medieval Latin licentia docendi and suggests that it served as a model for that degree.
  5. ^ Huff, Toby E. (2007). The rise of early modern science: Islam, China, and the West (2. ed., repr. ed.). Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge University Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0521529945. It remains the case that no equivalent of the bachelor's degree, the licentia docendi, or higher degrees ever emerged in the medieval or early modern Islamic madrasas.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).