Forms and Functions of Legal Discourse Intertextuality in Works of Jewish and Islamic Law and Literature – Quotations, Allusions, References, and Plagiarism

It is hardly surprising that fatwas as expert opinions under Islamic law generally show a high degree of intertextuality, since Islamic law itself can be described as a system of interrelated texts and references. Thus, these references are a fundamental aspect of establishing authority. However, modernity brings some essential changes to the field of iftāʾ (fatwa-giving), including reformist voices in 20th century Egypt disapproving of the traditional scholar’s fatwa creation through persistent application of existing interpretations and explanations of earlier scholars (taqlīd). One famous representative of this movement is Muḥammad Rašīd Riḍā (1865-1935) who himself gave fatwas for years through his magazine al-Manār. In theory and based on the reformer’s demand for an independent derivation of norms in keeping with the present day based on the principles of Islam and free of later influences (iǧtihād) one would expect that quotations and references in Riḍā’s fatwas are limited to the Qurʾān and Hadīṯ (reports about the sayings and doings of the prophet Muḥammad), while references to the canons of the law schools hardly exist or are only mentioned in order to be criticized. The question, however, is whether such a lack of references proves the practice of an own iǧtihād or whether it is a deliberate omission and thus more of a rhetorical choice. Is it possible for a modern mufti to give fatwas without the typical, what I call ‘classic-systemic intertextuality’ of Islamic jurisprudence and how does he then produce an authoritative fatwa? Through an exemplary analysis of the text, I will be examining these questions and show how certain references are used while others are avoided or blurred in the reformer’s fatwa, how even a certain positioning of a quote within the text can change the significance that is assigned to their originators as authoritative sources and the purpose that such references fulfil and how the reformer establishes his own authority by gradually weaving a web of intertextuality around himself and his Islamic legal and intellectual output.