Religion Compass 10/6 (2016): 149–162, 10.1111/rec3.12202 Disability in the Islamic Tradition Mohammed Ghaly * Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) Abstract This article gives an overview of how disability, or more broadly the phenomenon of ‘physical/mental otherness’, was represented in the Islamic tradition. It is argued that the pre-modern Islamic tradition had a significantly different approach to this phenomenon than the approaches produced in the post-industrialization modern world. This study is divided into two main sections. The first section examines the question of terminology and its seminal role in framing both pre-modern and contemporary deliberations on Islam and disability. The second section reviews how people with disabilities were represented in a number of scholarly disciplines within the Islamic tradition. Besides giving the reader an overall idea about disability in the pre-modern Islamic tradition, the article also gives extensive refer- ences to modern studies on Islam and disability so that the reader gets acquainted with modern scholarship in this emerging field of study. Academic studies examining disability in Islam are still strikingly few in number and one can only speak of an emerging field of study in its embryonic phase. However, Islam and disability proved to be an attractive topic for early career researchers especially those working on their PhD dissertations in both Western and Middle Eastern Universities. Some of these dissertations found their way to the world of academic publications and, besides other studies conducted by senior researchers, compose now a substantial part of an increasingly distinct genre on disability in the Islamic tradition. These studies cover a wide range of scholarly disciplines including Islamic theology (ʿaqīda) jurisprudence ( fiqh), belles-lettres (adab), and history (Ḍumūr 1991; Kīlānī 1992; Ḥusayn 1999; Quḍāt 2002; Rispler-Chaim 2007, 2; Ghaly 2010, 11; Ghānī 2011; Richardson 2012; Scalenghe 2014). The bibliographic entry ‘Islam and Disabilities’ developed by Kristina Richardson and published in Oxford Bibliographies Online remains the most relevant and updated list of references for those interested to conduct research on Islam and disability (Richardson 2015). 1 Religio-ethical issues related to disability did not escape the attention of contemporary Muslim religious scholars. Some of them wrote monographs, contributed to edited volumes (Ibn Ḥamza 1993; ʿAwaḍī and Jundī 2001; Ḥawwā 2010; Zuḥaylī 2011) or even called for developing a distinct branch of Islamic jurisprudence entitled Fiqh al-iʿāqa wa al-muʿawwaqīn (Islamic Jurisprudence on disability and people with disabilities) (ʿAwaḍī and Jundī 2001, 1/ 276, 301). Additionally, a number of large scale symposia and conferences were held in the Arab world for addressing a host of issues related to disability from an Islamic perspective. Just as examples, one can mention the symposium held by the Kuwait-based Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences (IOMS) from 29 September to 2 October 1997 and the conference orga- nized by the Faculty of Sharia, Jerash University in Jordan from 29 to 31 October 2002. This study is divided into two main sections. The first section examines the question of terminology and its seminal role in framing both pre-modern and contemporary deliberations on Islam and disability. Thhe second section studies how people with disabilities were repre- sented in three main scholarly disciplines, namely Islamic theology (ʿaqīda), jurisprudence ( fiqh), © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd