there is no reason to assume that a dogmatic norm predominated over
lived visual culture.^50
The modernist theologian Muhammad‘Isa’s 1955 discussion of the image
exemplifies the method of reasoning through which legal judgments remain
open to reconsideration. By staging a discussion between jurists, he engages the
reader in a processual rather than static relationship with Islam. He argues that
far from demonstrating prohibition, the relative rarity of rulings concerning
images in the vast sea of Islamic jurisprudence suggests overarching lack of
interest:
The subject oftaswir[representation] is one whichisnotoftendealtwithin...Islamic
jurisprudence...I believe that Islam neglected this subject as unimportant. All that exist
are a fewHadithswhich Muslim jurisconsults have used by way of explanation or
comment in forbidding, disapproving, or permitting the making of representations (of
living creatures), or acquiring or looking at them...No one can say that the Quran has
either explicitly or implicitly provided for the prohibition oftaswir...If the question of
taswirhad been as important as other problems, such as those of strong drink, marriage,
divorce and inheritance, the Quran certainly would have dealt with it explicitly, as it did
with other problems of conduct and worship.^51
‘Isa underscores the fact that Quranic quotations andHadithemerge as law
through the disputation of previous interpreters. Rather than viewing their
arguments additively,‘Isa argues in relation to these commentators using
procedures of precedent (taqlid) and reason (ijtihad) as called for in the
procedures of Islamic jurisprudence. He thus conceives of himself as
partaking in a debate among commentators from any temporal or geo-
graphical context, ancient or modern.
Conversely, when scholars cite the Quran orHadithas a direct source for a
presumed ban on the image without recognizing this process, we construct a
normative Islam distinct from its historical evolution–in effect, we become
secular arbiters of Islamic dogma rejecting the lived diversity of practice.
Through this process, the secular scholarly premise of a universal image
prohibition has ironically become a defining feature of Islam for many con-
temporary Muslims.
The absolutism of an image prohibition emerges more from modern scho-
larship than from Islamic law.‘Isa points out that only Orientalist scholars have
used the following Quranic verse as instigating an image prohibition:“You who
believe, intoxicants and gambling, idolatrous practices (ansab) and [divining
with] arrows are repugnant acts–Satan’sdoing–shun them so you may(^50) Rabbat, 2006 : 103. (^51) ‘Isa, 1955 : 252.
48 The Islamic Image