The Dialectical Forge

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The Dialectical Forge identifies dialectical disputation (jadal) as a key dynamic in the evolution of pre-modern Islamic legal systems, elevating its significance in Islamic legal studies. The author presents a dialectics-based analytical method for examining pre-modern Islamic legal argumentation, exploring parallels and differences between Aristotelian dialectic and early juridical jadal theory. A multi-component paradigm, the Dialectical Forge Model, is proposed to illustrate the influence of jadal on Islamic law and legal theory. The work provides overviews of existing narratives on Islamic legal theory and dialectic, along with analyses of key texts. It reveals a sophisticated “proto-system” of juridical dialectical teaching and practice from Islam’s second century, predating the first comprehensive treatises on legal and dialectical theory. This proto-system is examined through dialectical sequences in the 2nd/8th century Kitāb Ikhtilāf al-ʿIrāqiyyīn/ʿIrāqiyyayn (the “subject-text”) using insights from 5th/11th century jadal-theory treatises (the “lens-texts”). The specific features uncovered contribute to the development of the Dialectical Forge Model, whose broader components and functions are explored in the concluding chapters.