The Concept of Authority in Islam - Prof. Aiyub Palmer, University of Kentucky:BaFID-Jul 5, 2023

 YouTube Video:

https://youtu.be/_xJjigL9ZBU?si=95x1zgys4q-QAPxF

In this lecture, Prof. Aiyub Palmer (University of Kentucky) explores the development, structure, and theological foundations of authority in Islam. Focusing on prophetic authority, legal-scholarly authority, and Sufi notions of walāya, the lecture situates Islamic concepts of authority within the wider late-antique, Judaic, and Christian ecumene. Prof. Palmer shows how interpretations of the Prophet Muhammad’s role, the Qur’anic hierarchy of obedience, and the emergence of jurists and saints shaped Islamic thought from the early centuries to the present. This lecture was part of the Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses (KCID) series, held from June 21–23, 2023, at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen–Nürnberg (FAU) and hosted by the Bavarian Research Center for Interreligious Discourses (BaFID). 🔍 In This Lecture: Historical development of authority in early Islam
The Prophet Muhammad as the central source of authority
Qur’anic hierarchies of obedience (ulū l-amr, parents, righteous individuals)
Formation of Islamic legal authority and the rise of the madhāhib
Sufi walāya and the negotiation of saintly authority
Modern tensions between Sufi traditionalism and Salafi reformism

Amazon Book: Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Hakim Al-Tirmidhi's Theory of Wilaya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunni Caliphate - Aiyub Palmer

https://www.amazon.com/Sainthood-Authority-Early-Islam-Reenvisioning/dp/9004408304

In Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam Aiyub Palmer looks at the political, religious and social structures that underlay notions of Islamic authority up through the 4th Islamic century.

Review:Dr. Palmer's thoughtful and well documented examination of the rise and development of the concept of "sainthood" in ascetic-mystical Islam is intimately relevant to the ongoing intellectual and theological debates in the Muslim world and in Muslim diaspora communities over normative notions of Islamic doctrine and practice.'Alexander Knysh, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Prof.Aiyub Palmer Biography: https://mcl.as.uky.edu/users/apa286

Sufism: Aiyub Palmer - St Andrews Encyclopedia if Theology- https://www.saet.ac.uk/Islam/Sufism

Table of contents

1What is Sufism?
1.1Origins, trajectory, and social aspects
2The path of Sufism
2.1Murīd versus murād
2.2Wilāya
2.3Futuwwa
2.4Love in Sufism
2.5Virtues
2.6States and stations
2.7Sufi terminology
3Sufism and theology
4Sufi reform
5Conclusion

Prof.Aiyub Palmer's Jumu'ah Khutbas at Masjid Bilal Ibn Rabah, Lexington, Kentucky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSVo345lLtk&list=PLD2-LYsRMl6M6ZBlJztAb_lRbJwFw9WUz