Scholarship an Act of Discovery

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All scholarship is an act of discovery. One may read, read, and read cases and statutes and legal literature to generate one's own piece of scholarship. But research, though necessary, does not produce durable scholarship. Lasting scholarship is like discovering penicillin. It is like capturing a fleeting revelation. It is an experience reported in language. True legal scholarship is researched poetry of the highest order. Rumi, Frost, Keats would have been great legal scholars. Legal schoalrship as an act of discovery is also compatible with Islamic law, that is, the law of the Quran and the Prophet's Sunnah. "Quran is the Scripture that We have revealed unto thee, full of blessing, that they may ponder its revelations, and that persons of understanding may reflect." This invitation to understanding through reflection is an act of dicovery.

(Click and download this article that might benefit new professors who are striving to make their scholarship float in the ocean of words.)

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