Preserving Local cultures in the Age of Globalization: The Concept of ‘urf (Local Culture) in Islamic Legal Philosophy

Alparslan Açıkgenç

ABSTRACT

Social harmony endows society with peace and tolerance. For this reason, it is essential, especially in our world today with global influences and the swift movement of people with different cultures. This paper attempts to elucidate the concept of “social harmony” and then see how this was achieved in Asian communities with an example chosen from the Islamic legal doctrine based on the idea of ‘urf. I want to translate this concept as “local culture”. I want to argue that because Islamic legal philosophy developed a concept of local culture as a source for legal pronouncements beyond the primary sources of Islamic legal doctrine, it could preserve local cultures through establishing social harmony. The concept of local culture provides legal and conceptual background for social harmony both culturally and philosophically. Through such a background, Islamic legal philosophy was able to develop a paradigm of social harmony for all Muslim communities, which may be a new model in the glocal world of ours today.