JURISPRUDENTIAL RULINGS PERTAINING TO THE BEDOUIN AND RURAL DWELLERS: A COMPARATIVE FIQH STUDY

Abstract

This research provides a comparative jurisprudential study defining the Bedouin and the Badiyah (nomadic desert regions), and examines the specific jurisprudential rulings (Aḥkām Fiqhiyyah) pertaining to them in matters of worship and other domains, as documented by Islamic jurists. The study is structured into an introduction, a preliminary section, two main sections, and a conclusion. The preliminary section defines the Bedouin and the Badiyah, explores related terminology, and discusses the ruling on residing in the Badiyah. The first section examines rulings related to Bedouins and the Badiyah concerning acts of worship. These include the rulings on the call to prayer (Adhan), Friday and Eid prayers in the Badiyah, the leadership (Imamah) of a Bedouin in prayer, and the time of sacrificial slaughter (Uḍḥiya) for nomadic inhabitants. The second section addresses non-worship rulings, including the rulings on: a townsman selling on behalf of a nomad (bay' al-hadir li'l-badi, a Bedouin woman in her waiting period ('iddah) traveling with her family, a Bedouin taking in a foundling (Laqi:tˤ), and the validity of a Bedouin's testimony against a town-dweller (Ḥaḍarī). The study concludes with several key findings, most notably: establishing that Bedouins and the inhabitants of the Badiyah are governed by distinct Sharia rulings; the undesirability of residing in the Badiyah, their exemption from Friday and Eid prayers, the prohibition of a town-dweller selling on behalf of a nomad (Bedouin), the permissibility of a Bedouin woman in her 'Iddah traveling with her family, and the legal admissibility of a Bedouin's testimony against a town-dweller.