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From: jnawaz%skat.usc.edu@usc.edu (Jemshed Nawaz)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Some Questions...
Message-ID: <1990Sep24.063155.12118@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 24 Sep 90 06:31:55 GMT
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Asalam-U-Alekum Netters,

	I have a few questions that I would like to ask, and hopefully you
could provide me with the answers (this is also to initiate some activity
in this newsgroup):

	-What requirements does one have to meet in order to qualify for the
position of Rector of Al-Azhar University? What exactly does the Rector do?
Does he have to be an Egyptian? Could someone name all the Rectors of the
20th century and where they were from?

	-Are there any works of the great Doctors of Sunni Jurisprudence
(Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafi', Imam Malik, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal) which are 
accessible i.e. I could get hold of....if so what are they called and where 
can I get them?

	-Sunni jurists use Istidlal (inference) to make up laws for society
e.g. when something is prevalent in a culture (and maybe peculiar to that
culture) but does in no way contradict the Qur'an or the Sunnah, and proves 
beneficial to the society it applies to, then it has the force of law. But
Istidlal is also used for the laws of the People of the Book which donot
contradict the Qur'an and the Sunnah. I take it means all the laws mentioned
in the *present* Bibles and *present* Torahs which donot contradict the Qur'an
and the Sunnah. My question is: Is it safe for us to assume that the laws 
mentioned in the different vesions of the Bible and the Torah that were not
specifically rejected by the Qur'an or our Prophet, are the ones that were 
originally revealed and not later additions (in the latter case they would be
false and should not be applied to an Islamic society).

Any responses will be appreciated.

Jemshed Nawaz