See No Evil: Morality and Methodology in Ibn Al-qattān al-Fāsī's Ahkām al-nazar bi-Hāssat al-Basar

Abstract

Abstract This essay examines the worldviews underlying, and discursive techniques informing, the jurisprudence of a scholastically unaffiliated and highly original Muslim jurist. It attempts to elucidate the argumentation of a dense and often difficult work, specifically in connection with the twin Qurānic injunctions to "lower one's eyes" (ghadd al-basar) and "guard one's modesty" (hifz al-farj). At the same time, it uses this text as a test case for a preliminary theory of Islamic morality.