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Ḥinth, birr, tabarrur, taḥannuth: an inquiry into the arabic vocabulary of vows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Norman Calder
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Extract

Professor M. J. Kister, in a justly celebrated article on the meaning of the word taḥannuth, takes notes only casually of the related word ḥinth, which, he implies, means sin. Montgomery Watt had previously noted that ‘ḥinth is properly the violation of or failure to perform an oath, and so more generally sin.’ These are of course correct reflections of the Muslim lexicographical tradition. But, I shall argue in this essay, they do not exhaust the connotations of the word ḥinth: indeed they are probably secondary developments from the meaning which I shall explore here. It is not the least benefit of my proposal that it may—after a lengthy exploration of juristic vocabulary—cast new light on the meaning of the word taḥannuth, for so long a crux in the academic study of the biography of the Muslim Prophet.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , June 1988 , pp. 214 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1988

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References

Major sources

(a)Kister, M. J. ‘ Al-tahannuth: an inquiry into the meaning of a term’, BSOAS, xxxi, 2, 1968, 223-236. (Repr. in Kister, Studies in Jāhiliyya and early Islam, London, 1980.)Google Scholar
(b)‘Abd al-Razzāq, al-Şan'ānī, Al-Musannaf, 11 vols., Beirut, 1390/1970.Google Scholar
Mālik b., Anas, Abū, ‘Abdallah, Al-Muwatta’, (ed., ‘Armūsh, Ahmad Rātib), Beirut, 1404/1984 (8th edition).Google Scholar
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Al-Shāfi'ī, Muḥammad b. Idrīs, Kitab al-Umm, 7 vols., Cairo, 1388/1968, (reprint of 1321 edition).Google Scholar
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Al-Shaybānī, Muḥammad b. ᚅasan, Kitāb al-Asl, 3 vols., (ed. al-Afghani, A.-W.), Hyderabad, 1386/1966.Google Scholar