International Fund of al-Imam al-Bukhari Friedrich Ebert Foundation

particularly – as collections of such judgments attest – on the Muslim way
of life. Until the early 11
th
 century scholars considered that practice too
risky an endeavor, fearing that one day they would be called to justice by
God for mistakes they had made. Al-Juwayni whose father had been active
in this field, had a different view on the matter. In an attempt to justify the
passing of fatwas in one of his manuscripts he argued that God would
forgive a mufti his errors and wrong judgments if the former had passed a
subjectively honest judgment and himself observed his own
recommendations. Moreover, in his work on the art of governance
dedicated to Nizam al-Mulk, al-Juwayni suggests that the Sultan should
pay the mufti salaries, for in doing so he would step up the Islamization of
public everyday life and thinking in the interests of the state.
7
The ‘ulama’, as the guarantors of the Islamic goal of governance and
comprehensive islamization, are the sole agents at the first, official, level
of providing support for the rulers. Thus al-Imam Taj al-Din al-Subki (d.
1369), authored a book on the tasks of various contemporary social levels
and professions in which the academics and experts on the shari‘a were
naturally the most worthy and noble, requiring the Sultan constantly to
look after their interests.
8
 Al-Ghazzi (d. about 1610), the author of a
well-known biographical reference book embracing the period from the
10
th
 to 16
th
 centuries, took his competitors to task, denouncing them for
having included in reference books of their own such lowly people as
merchants and craftsmen alongside the mandatory rulers and academics.
Al-Ghazzi believed that the only possible reason for such a flaw was the
desire of these biographers to have an entry for each letter of the alphabet,
necessitating the inclusion of lowly and unimportant people when there
was a lack of suitably eminent figures.
9
Now let us look at the informal level, occupied by the Friends of God
(awliya’). The social ideals they embody and express are concentrated in
the following two oft-quoted texts, as in the two focal points of an ellipse.
The first one, Qur’an, 29: 45, says that the fulfillment of the ritual prayer
prevents shameful acts
1 0
, as at this very moment a Muslim faces God –
but that of even greater importance is to think constantly of God, also as