Academic Bio
Professor Yasin Dutton is Emeritus Professor of Arabic Studies at the School of Languages and Literatures, University of Cape Town, South Africa. His specialist interests are the early development of Islamic law (particularly the school of Imam Malik), and the early development of the various readings (qir’a’at) of the Qur’an. His publications include The Origins of Islamic Law: The Qur’an, the Muwatta’ and Madinan ‘Amal (Curzon Press, 1999), Original Islam: Malik and the Madhhab of Madina (Routledge, 2007), and Early Islam in Medina: Malik and His Muwatta’ (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), as well as numerous articles on early Islamic law, early Qur’anic manuscripts, and the application of Islamic law in the modern world, particularly in relation to economic and environmental issues. He is currently researching on the Diwan (collected poems) of the 9th/15th century Egyptian Sufi master, Ali Wafa al-Iskandari, as well as certain other early Shadhili texts.
Education
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D.Phil, Oriental Studies (thesis, on early Islamic law, entitled “Malik’s Use of the Qur’an in the Muwatta’”) (1993), Jesus College, Oxford, 1987-92
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BA, MA, Oriental Studies (Arabic with Urdu) (1975), Jesus College, Oxford, 1971-75
Research Interest
- Early Development of Islamic Law
- Qur’anic Studies and Readings
- Integration of Islamic Law in Modern Contexts
- Sufi Literature and Early Shadhili Texts
Select Publications
Dutton, Yasin. “The Origins of Islamic Law: The Qur’an, the Muwatta’ and Madinan ‘Amal,” Curzon Press (1999); 2nd edition, RoutledgeCurzon (2002).Access here
Dutton, Yasin. “Original Islam: Malik and the Madhhab of Madina,” Routledge (2007).Access here
Dutton, Yasin. “Early Islam in Medina: Studies in Malik and His Muwatta’,” Bloomsbury Academic Press (2022).Access here
“‘Amal v. Hadith in Islamic Law: The Case of Sadl al-yadayn (Holding One’s Hands by One’s Sides) When Doing the Prayer”, Islamic Law and Society, vol. 3 (1996), pp. 13-40.
“Orality, Literacy and the ‘Seven Aḥruf’ Ḥadīth”, Journal of Islamic Studies, vol. 23, no. 1.Access here