0021-1818_islam_98-1-2-i-259

The The Lure of a Controversial Prayer 147
(sukun) and with a submissive and humble presence (khushu^). It should be noted
here that al-Sulam\ was one of the most important jurists of the Ayyubid era.
Moreover, he made a significant contribution to the theoretical framework of the
legal debate about innovation: it was al-Sulam\, who expanded the binary categorization
of bida^ and applied the five categories of law (al-ahkam al-khamsa)– obligatory,
forbidden, commendable, reprehensible and permitted – to all types of
innovations, thereby creating space for new practices within the corpus of legal
acts. 34
In response to al-Sulam\’s „Call,“ Ibn al-Sala1 al-Shahrazur\, known primarily
as an expert on hadith, composed a treatise presenting the prayer in a
favorable light, based on the general desirability of supererogatory devotions.
Among other points, he claims that popular attachment to a devotional practice
should be given legal weight, hence allowing political authorities to resign from
the unpopular role of obstructing the prayer. 35 Al-Sulam\ answered with a second
epistle, 36 rebuking al-Shahrazur\ for his leniency towards innovations based on
fabricated hadith and for giving legal weight to popular practice. However, being
in principle open to the possibility of a favorable innovation in the field of devotional
practice, he does not end the debate here. Rather, he emphasizes that the
legally problematic aspects of the prayer are inherent to the practice and render
it unlawful. If these may seem as minor misdemeanors to us, and indeed al-
Sulam\’s attitude was designated as „exaggerated vehemence“ by his rival Ibn al-
Sala1 al-Shahrazur\, they were obviously taken very seriously by scholars who
saw themselves as the sole guardians of the Prophet’s sunna and unique arbiters
of the Islamic normative tradition. 37
Al-Sulam\’s uncompromising stand was upheld in the fatwas of another
Damascene expert on hadith and Islamic law – Abu Zakariyya# al-Nawaw\. 38 Al-
Nawaw\ generally accepts al-Sulam\’s typology, at least regarding civil innovations,
but he is more inclined to use the term bid^a in a clearly negative sense. 39
In this case, he vehemently stresses the patent inauthenticity of the hadith supporting
the prayer of great rewards, and dismisses the popularity of the prayer as
irrelevant. 40
34 Ukeles, Innovation, 102; 121–129.
35 See text # 24. On Ibn al-Sala1, see Lucas, Constructive Critics, 26–40.
36 See text # 24.
37 Ukeles, Innovation, 281–2; and see text # 23 and 24.
38 See text # 21. On al-Nawaw\, see W. Heffening, “al-Nawaw\,” EI 2 7: 104.
39 Ukeles, Innovation, 104.
40 See texts # 12, 21.