Textual Foundations of Fatimid Law: The Contributions of al-Qadi al-Nu’man (10th of June)

Please join us online next Wednesday (10th of June) at 5 pm (London, UK time), for the next session of the Islamic History and Thought Lecture Series organised by the Institute of Ismaili Studies.

Dr Kumail Rajani’s talk is titled  “Textual Foundations of Fatimid Law: The Contributions of al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān”, with Dr Aslisho Qurboniev as convenor and discussant.

The Fatimid Caliphate is often regarded as a formative period in the development of Ismaili thought and legal literature. This intellectual project was shaped above all by al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān, whose prolific writings established the foundations of the Fatimid legal tradition and served as authoritative references for jurists, judges, and administrators across the expanding Ismaili empire. This lecture will examine the textual foundations of Fatimid law through a close analysis of al-Nuʿmān’s engagement with earlier Shiʿi materials. Drawing on Medinese and Kufan sources, many of which are no longer extant, al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān assembled, transmitted, and reworked inherited traditions into a coherent legal framework. Rather than merely preserving earlier hadith, his works demonstrate a process of selection, reinterpretation, and systematisation shaped by the doctrinal and institutional needs of the Fatimid polity. By situating al-Nuʿmān within a broader network of scholars, including al-Malūsī, Ibn al-Haytham, al-Marwadhī, we will explore the transmission of knowledge from Medina to Kufa to North Africa via Yemen and Egypt and the mechanisms through which these materials were integrated into Fatimid legal discourse. I will argue that al-Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān’s contribution lies not only in codification but in the transformation of early Shiʿi textual traditions into a structured, state-oriented legal system.

To join, please register for in-person or online attendance at  https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/textual-foundations-fatimid-law/