Tafwid

'''Tafwid''' ({{langx|ar|تفويض}}) is an Arabic term meaning "relegation" or "delegation", with uses in theology and law.<ref name=ODOI/>

== In theology ==

In Islamic theology, ''tafwid'' (or ''tafwid al-amr li-llah'', relegation of matters to God) is a doctrine according to which the meanings of the ambiguous verses of the Qur'an should be consigned to God alone.<ref name=ODOI>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&pg=PA310|title=Tafwid|encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of Islam|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195125597|pages=310|language=en}}</ref><ref name="IT88">{{Cite book|title=Ibn Taymiyya and His Times|last=Rapoport|first=Yosef|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|isbn=9780199402069|location=Oxford|pages=88}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYzGAAAAQBAJ|title=Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism|last=Halverson|first=J.|date=2010-04-26|publisher=Springer|isbn=9780230106581|pages=36|language=en}}</ref> Those who follow this school do not utilize metaphorical interpretation. Rather, they leave problematic texts uninterpreted, believing that the reality of their meaning should be left to the one who said them,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htx8BAAAQBAJ|title=The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of al-Bajuri|last=Spevack|first=Aaron|date=2014-09-09|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9781438453712|page=36|language=en}}</ref> implying their unknowability.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0SePRbkpXvMC|title=Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Moment|last=Anjum|first=Ovamir|date=2012-03-19|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107014060|pages=154|language=en}}</ref>

The doctrine of ''tafwid'', which was held by a number of classical scholars such as al-Ghazali and whose origin they attributed to the ''salaf'' (exemplary early Muslims), states that the Quranic expressions such as 'God's hands' or 'face' do not carry the literal meanings their counterparts in human beings do. Rather, they are attributes or qualities of God and not organs like the face or hands of human beings.<ref name="Phd338">{{cite thesis |type=Ph.D. Dissertation|last=Shah |first=Zulfikar|date=March 1997 |title=A Study of Anthropomorphism and Transcendence in the Bible and Qur'an. Scripture and God in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic Traditions |url=http://www.muslim-library.com/dl/books/English_A_Study_of_Anthropomorphism_and_Transcendence_in_the_Bible_and_Quran.pdf|publisher=University of Wales, Lampeter|page=338}}</ref> Other classical figures who subscribed to this doctrine were Ibn Qudamah, Suyuti, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Kathir.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htx8BAAAQBAJ|title=The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of al-Bajuri|last=Spevack|first=Aaron|date=2014-09-09|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9781438453712|pages=129|language=en}}</ref> The latter discusses ''Tafwid'' as follows:<blockquote>''People have said a great deal on this topic and this is not the place to expound on what they have said. On this matter, we follow the early Muslims (salaf): Malik, Awza'i, Thawri, Layth ibn Sa'd, Shafi'i, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishaq Ibn Rahwayh, and others among the Imams of the Muslims, both ancient and modern that is, to let (the verse in question) pass as it has come, without saying how it is meant (min ghayr takyif), without likening it to created things (wa la tashbih), and without nullifying it (wa la ta'til): The literal meaning (zahir) that occurs to the minds of anthropomorphists (al-mushabbihin) is negated of Allah, for nothing from His creation resembles Him: '''"There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing"''' (Qur'an 42:11)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htx8BAAAQBAJ|title=The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of al-Bajuri|last=Spevack|first=Aaron|date=2014-09-09|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9781438453712|pages=129–130|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Azim|last=Ibn Kathir|first=Ismail|publisher=Maktabat Awlad al-Shaykh l'il Turath|year=2000|location=Cairo|pages=6:320}}</ref>''</blockquote>

The precise nature of ''tafwid'' has been subject to debate among Muslim scholars.<ref name=Lauziere>{{Cite book|first=Henri |last=Lauzière | year=2015 | title=The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Columbia University Press (Kindle edition)|page=6048 (Kindle location)}}</ref> The followers of Ibn Taymiyya, including contemporary Salafis, hold that only the modality of the attributes should be consigned to God (''tafwid al-kayfiyya''), while the literal sense of the attributes should be accepted according to their lexical meaning in the Arabic language.<ref name=Lauziere/> Thus they argue that the ''salaf'' accepted that God has a hand, because the meaning of the word "hand" (''yad'') was known, but without assuming that God's hand is comparable to a human hand, or asking how or why that is.<ref name=Lauziere/> In contrast, anti-Salafi scholars reject this distinction and accept ''tafwid'' without qualification.<ref name=Lauziere/>

== Divorce==

In Islamic personal status law, ''tafwid'' refers to a sub-type of divorce (''talaq al-tafwid'' or ''tafwid al-talaq'') in which the power of ''talaq'' (the type of divorce normally initiated by the husband) is delegated to the wife. This delegation can be made at the time of drawing up the marriage contract or during the marriage, with or without conditions.<ref name=ODOI/> Classical jurists differed as to the validity of different forms of delegation.<ref name=ODOI/> Most modern Muslim-majority countries permit this type of divorce in some form.<ref name=ODOI/>

== Other uses==

The term ''tafwid'' has also been used in law with various other meanings related to delegation of power, authorization of an act, or issuance of a warrant for arrest.<ref name=ODOI/>

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Islamic theology Category:Allah Category:Conceptions of God Category:Sharia terminology Category:Islamic jurisprudence Category:Divorce law Category:Divorce in Islam