Justice is considered the basic norm of human coexistence. Every legal order refers to the concept of justice, and Muslims also regard their religious norms (the Sharia) as offering just solutions to legal questions. But is the assumption that the Sharia is just merely an acceptance of a status quo correct? And is justice the necessary aim of the Sharia? In this volume, renowned scholars discuss these questions from different perspectives. In principle, the first normative source of Islam, the Qur'an, orders justice and fair conduct (Rohe). At the same time, an analysis of the concept of justice in the classical age of Islam (Ahmed and Poya) also shows that there existed ambivalent understandings of this concept. The relationship of the idea of justice in Islam to political questions (Ende), to war (Poya), and to modern reform (Mir-Hosseini) again confirms the importance of the concept for a critical reflection on traditional assumptions and existing circumstances. The discussion on the hijab in Western countries (Ladwig) shows paradigmatically how justice can regulate the relationship between the secular state and the Sharia. The essays in this volume endeavor to show that debates about justice, in Islam as well, express an underlying tension between the perception of an order as just on the one hand, and the feeling of injustice under the same order on the other. This discussion validates the idea that justice should be understood as a concept subject to a perpetual reexamination according to changing times and circumstances.

Starting with a survey of the sources of Islamic law, the book questions the capacity of Islamic law to develop and to adapt itself to the exigencies of time and place, since, although the rules of the holy Quran are eternal and immutable, yet they can well be interpreted to suit fresh situations. The author argues that, although private ownership of minerals is permissible under Islamic law, it is the consensus of the Muslim dilemma that state ownership of minerals is the best concept to be adopted by states in the public interest. He goes on to discuss state participation in mineral activities, types of agreements, methods of finance and how the Shari'a laws fit into a well organized subject like the modern mineral industry. In regard to the protection of investors - Muslims and non-Muslims - under Islamic law, the author illustrates that investors are well protected and that no Muslim ruler has the right to deprive them of their property as long as they are performing their obligations. Unlike international law, under Islamic law public interest alone does not justify the taking of private property. Settlement of disputes and the attitude of Shari'a towards modern international arbitration are examined.

Freedom of religion is an issue of universal interest and scope. However, in the last two centuries at least, the philosophical, religious and legal terms of the question have been largely defined in the West. In an increasingly global world, widening our knowledge of this right's roots in different cultural and legal systems becomes a priority. This Handbook seeks to attain this goal through a better understanding of the historical roots and expressions of the right to freedom of religion on the one hand and, on the other, of its theological background in different religious traditions. History and theology provide the setting for the analysis of the politics of freedom of religion, that is, how this right is used in the context of the dialogue/confrontation between countries placed in different cultural regions of the world, and of the legal strategies and tools that have been developed and are employed to protect and foster the right to freedom of religion. Behind these legal and political strategies, there is an ongoing debate about the nature of this right, whose main features are explored in the final section. Global, historical and interdisciplinary in approach, this book studies the new relevance of freedom of religion worldwide and develops suitable categories to analyze and understand the role that freedom of religion can play in managing religious and cultural diversity in our societies. Authored by experts, through the contributions collected in these chapters, scholars and students will be able to broaden and deepen their knowledge of the right to freedom of religion and to develop the ability to go beyond the borders of the different cultural environments in which this right took shape and developed.

This book, in its effort to formulate compatibility between Islamic law and the principles of international diplomatic law, argues that the need to harmonize the two legal systems and have a thorough cross-cultural understanding amongst nations generally with a view to enhancing unfettered diplomatic cooperation should be of paramount priority.

This book explores the legal dimension of the Islamic State, an aspect which has hitherto been neglected in the literature. ISIS' dystopian experience, intended as a short-lived territorial and political governance, has been analyzed from multiple points of view, including the geopolitical, social and religious ones. However, its legal dimension has never been properly dealt with in a comprehensive way, assuming as a point of reference both the Islamic and the Western legal tradition. This book analyzes ISIS as the expression of a potential though never fully realized legal order. The book does not describe ISIS' possible classifications according to the standards and the criteria of international law, such as its possible statehood or proto-statehood, issues that are however touched upon. Rather, it analyzes ISIS' own legal awareness, based on the group's literary materials, which show a considerable amount of juridical work. Such material, mainly propagandistic in its nature, is essential in understanding which kind of legal order ISIS aimed at establishing. The book will be of interest to students and academics in the fields of Law, International Relations, Political Sciences, Terrorism Studies, Religion and Middle Eastern Studies.

No corporation is enthusiastic about paying tax, yet Islamic banks in Indonesia voluntarily pay corporate zakat. Why? The book analyzes corporate zakat norms and practices in Indonesia by investigating how Muslim jurists have interpreted shari'a of zakat and how these have been imposed through the legislative and regulatory framework. It also presents original case studies based on sociolegal field research on the reception of the new obligations in the Islamic banks that choose to pay - and choose not to pay - what is effectively a new tax. The book argues that the dynamics of shari'a interpretation, imposition, and compliance in Indonesia are too complex to be defined using the binaries of the religious versus the secular, public versus private, or tradition versus modernity. The corporate zakat context has revitalized the existing governance strategy in Islamic legal tradition and created a shared Islamic law vision between Islam and the state. Consequently, this fusion generates a mixed legal and religious consciousness toward corporate zakat. Addressing broader discussions on Islamic law and modernity, the book will be of interest to academics working on Asian and Comparative Law, sociolegal studies, anthropology of Indonesia, business studies of the Islamic world, Islamic/shari'a economics, Islamic law and politics, Islamic legal studies, Muslim society and Islam in Southeast Asia.

This book examines the law and its practice in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The objective is to understand the logic of the legal system in the UAE through a rounded analysis of its laws in context. It thus presents an understanding of the system on its own terms beyond the accepted Western model. The book shows how the Emirati law differs from the conventional rule of law. The first section of the book deals with the imperial, international, and cultural background of the Emirati legal system and its influences on some of the elements of the legal system today. It maps the state's international legal obligations according to core human rights treaties showing how universal interpretations of rights may differ from Emirati interpretations of rights. This logic is further illustrated through an overview of the legal system, in federal, local, and free zones and how the UAE's diversity of legal sources from Islamic and colonial law provides legal adaptability. The second section of the book deals mainly with the contemporary system of the rule of law in the UAE but at times makes a detour to the British administration to show how imperial execution of power during the British administration created forerunners visible today. Finally, the debut of the UAE on the international scene contributed to an interest in human rights investigations, having manifestations in UAE law. The work will be a valuable resource for researchers and academics working in the areas of Comparative Constitutional Law, Legal Anthropology, Legal Pluralism, and Middle Eastern Studies.

* Translation of a prestigious and successful German publication;

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Waqf management and its impact on socio-economic development, specifically financial inclusion and sustainable development as well as of the legal issues in Waqf management in IsDB member countries and jurisdictions. It explores various aspects of Waqf management in IsDB member countries/jurisdictions as well as in non-Muslim majority countries such as Waqf regulation, its modernization, and relationship to Maqasid Al-Shari'ah; performance of Waqf activities; time and activity-wise distribution of Waqf resource management; the antecedents and consequences of Waqf assets (both physical and cash); the strategies and models to promote Waqf related activities for greater socio-economic development; good governance practices through the formulation of informed policies for Waqf projects, among others. Comprising different issues and perspectives adopted by various researchers, the work is specifically designed to meet the needs of academics and industry practitioners in the field of Islamic finance.

The growth of Islamic finance today is significant, making it timely to meet the market demand across the world and particularly for Muslim countries by producing a cryptocurrency model under the Shari'ah ethical principles. This book addresses core components of cryptocurrency within the Maqasid al-Shari'ah in enabling students, academics, users, traders, issuers, promoters, facilitators, managers, regulators, decision makers, blockchain technology providers, financial authorities, and other relevant professionals to understand Shari'ah cryptocurrency and its practical mechanisms. Among the issues covered are corporate understanding, global phenomena and world view, the Shari'ah model, SWOT analysis, innovation, conventional practices and the Halaldichotomy, regulatory standards, blockchain and its technological paradigm, practicality, establishment, and operational mechanisms, Zakat and Waqf through cryptocurrency, risk factors, and takaful solution. This book establishes a Halal alternative model of cryptocurrency management within the Maqasid al-Shari'ah to meet the contemporary global market demand.

This volume critically analyses Muslim Personal Law (MPL) in India and offers an alternative perspective to look at MPL and the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) debate. Tracing the historical origins of this legal mechanism and its subsequent political manifestations, it highlights the complex nature of MPL as a sociological phenomenon, driven by context-specific social norms and cultural values. With expert contributions, it discusses wide-ranging themes and issues including MPL reforms and human rights; decoding of UCC in India; the contentious Triple Talaq bill and MPL; the Shah Bano case; Sharia (Islamic jurisprudence) in postcolonial India; women's equality and family laws; and MPL in the media discourse in India. The volume highlights that although MPL is inextricably linked to Sharia, it does not necessarily determine the everyday customs and local practices of Muslim communities in India This topical book will greatly interest scholars and researchers of law and jurisprudence, political studies, Islamic studies, Muslim Personal Law, history, multiculturalism, South Asian studies, sociology of religion, sociology of law and family law. It will also be useful to practitioners, policymakers, law professionals and journalists.

The book ties together much of the existing work on the history of oil and gas regulation in Iran and builds on that foundation to propose a coherent and balanced approach within the framework of the NCC.

This volume critically analyses Muslim Personal Law (MPL) in India and offers an alternative perspective to look at MPL and the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) debate. Tracing the historical origins of this legal mechanism and its subsequent political manifestations, it highlights the complex nature of MPL as a sociological phenomenon, driven by context-specific social norms and cultural values. With expert contributions, it discusses wide-ranging themes and issues including MPL reforms and human rights; decoding of UCC in India; the contentious Triple Talaq bill and MPL; the Shah Bano case; Sharia (Islamic jurisprudence) in postcolonial India; women's equality and family laws; and MPL in the media discourse in India. The volume highlights that although MPL is inextricably linked to Sharia, it does not necessarily determine the everyday customs and local practices of Muslim communities in India This topical book will greatly interest scholars and researchers of law and jurisprudence, political studies, Islamic studies, Muslim Personal Law, history, multiculturalism, South Asian studies, sociology of religion, sociology of law and family law. It will also be useful to practitioners, policymakers, law professionals and journalists.

This book explores the various aspects of Waqf management in IsDB member countries/jurisdictions as well as in non-Muslim majority countries. Topics covered include Waqf regulation, its modernization and relationship to Maqasid Al-Shari'ah; performance of Waqf activities; time and activity-wise distribution of Waqf resource management; the antecedents and consequences of Waqf assets (both physical and cash); the strategies and models to promote Waqf-related activities for greater socio-economic development; good governance practices through the formulation of informed policies for Waqf projects; the confluence of Waqf, zakah, charity, and Islamic microfinance impacting socio-economic development and so on. Comprising different issues and perspectives adopted by various authors/researchers, the book is specifically designed to meet the needs of academics and industry practitioners in the field of Islamic finance to provide general and Shari'ah guidelines on the emerging issues within the subject.

This book explores how the unique historical development of Islamic Shari'a criminal law alongside English common law in northern Nigeria has created a hybridised criminal legal system through a pluralist dynamic of mutual accommodation. It studies how this system may potentially be accommodated by the International Criminal Court. The work examines how this could be accommodated through the current understanding and operation of complementarity, and that it could ultimately prove to be preferable in encouraging the Shari'a courts to exercise criminal justice over the radical insurgents in northern Nigeria. These courts would have the unprecedented ability to combine binding adjudicative judgments together with religious interpretation and guidance, which can directly combat the predominantly unchallenged domain of ideology by extremist actors. It is submitted that these pluralist perspectives are timely and welcome, given the undeniably Western European foundations of modern International Criminal Law. In exploring such potential avenues, our shared understanding of modern international criminal justice is widened to necessarily include other stakeholders beyond its Western founders. It is the aim and hope that such interactions and engagements with non-Western traditions and cultures will lead to a greater shared ownership of the international criminal justice project, which will only strengthen the global fight against impunity. The book will be essential reading for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of International Criminal Law, Legal Pluralism, Islamic Shari'a Law, Nigeria, and religiously-inspired violence.

This book examines the Santillana Codes, legal instruments which form a distinct class of uniquely African civil codes and which are still in force today in a legal arc that extends from the Maghreb to the Sahel. Stigall presents the history of Santillana's seminal legislative effort and provides a comparative analysis of the substance of those codes, illuminating commonalities between Islamic law and European legal systems.

This book provides a critique of current international law-making and draws on a set of principles from Persian philosophers to present an alternative to influence the development of international law-making procedure. The work conceptualizes a substantive notion of democracy in order to regulate international law-making mechanisms under a set of principles developed between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries in Persia. What the author here names 'democratic egalitarian multilateralism' is founded on: the idea of 'egalitarian law' by Suhrawardi, the account of 'substantial motion' by Mulla Sadra, and the ideal of 'intercultural dialectical democracy' developed by Rumi. Following a discussion of the conceptual flaws of the chartered and customary sources of international law, it is argued that 'democratic egalitarian multilateralism' could be a source for a set of principles to regulate the procedures through which international treaties are made as well as a criterion for customary international law-ascertainment. Presenting an alternative, drawn from a less dominant culture, to the established ideas of international law-making the book will be essential reading for researchers and academics working in public international law, history of law, legal theory, comparative legal theory, Islamic law, and history.

Much has been written on specific religious legal systems, yet substantial comparative studies that strive to compare systems, identifying their analogies and differences, have been relatively few. This absence undermines the capacity to understand religions and becomes particularly serious when the faithful of these religions live together in the same geographical space, as happens today with increasing frequency. Both interreligious dialogue and dialogue between States and religions presuppose a set of data and information that only comparative research can provide. This book seeks to address this gap in the literature by presenting a comparative analysis of Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Hindu laws and traditions. Divided into five parts, the first part of the book offers the historical background for the legal analysis that is developed in the subsequent parts. Part II deals with the sources of law in the four religions under discussion. Part III addresses the dynamics of belonging and status, and Part IV looks at issues relating to the conclusion of marriage and its dissolution. The fifth and final part discusses how each religion views the legal other. Each part concludes with exploring what we can learn from a comparative examination of the topic that is dealt with in that part. Written by leading experts in the field, this book presents a clear and comprehensive picture of key religious legal systems along with a substantial bibliography. It provides a state of the art overview of scholarship in this area accompanied by a critical evaluation. As such, it will be an invaluable resource for all those concerned with religious legal systems, multiculturalism and comparative law.

Islam encourages business and financial transactions as a way of securing the basic needs for all human beings, but these need to be conducted in accordance with the principles contained in the Qur'an and Sunnah. However, these legal concepts are not classified subject-wise, and the verses on commercial law, like all other topics, are scattered throughout the Qur'an, making it difficult for readers to gain a full understanding of the topic. This, therefore, is the first comprehensive book to demystify Islamic contract law and specifically Islamic financial contracts, and to examine its roots and history. The book is written in a clear style to allow for a greater understanding of the more challenging and misunderstood areas pertaining to Islamic business and financial contracts. It also contributes a series of chapters which address the market niche and need, concerning Shariah compliance for Islamic financial products and services. The book is divided into 16 chapters in order to provide a holistic and thorough overview of Islamic law of contract. It covers the objections and misconceptions surrounding Islamic business and financial contracts. It also includes the key features and guiding principles of Islamic law of contract and offers technical know-how, illustrating the concept of formation of a contract, as well as the essential elements of a valid contract. The authors also offer a discussion on the system of options under Islamic business and financial contracts and potential solutions to breach of contracts. The book will serve as a handy reference for scholars and students of Islamic business and finance and Islamic commercial law and will also be beneficial for practitioners as well as legal and judicial officers. It will open new doors for further research in the field of Islamic financial contracts.

This book explores the ways in which Muslim communities across the Indian Ocean world produced and shaped Islamic law and its texts, ideas and practices in their local, regional, imperial, national, and transregional contexts. With a focus on the production and transmission of Islamic law in the Indian Ocean, the chapters in this book draw from and add to recent discourses on the legal histories and legal anthropologies of the Indian Ocean rim as well as to the conversations on global Islamic circulations, legal history and anthropology of the Indian Ocean. This book will be of interest to scholars of Islamic Studies, Indian Ocean Studies, Legal History and Legal Anthropology, Area Studies of South and Southeast Asia and East Africa.

This book provides valuable insights into the practical challenges faced by the nascent Islamic finance industry and compares the Australian experience to developments in the UK. It contributes to a greater understanding of how Muslims living as a minority in Australia and the UK negotiate Islamic doctrine in secular societies by focusing on one aspect of this negotiation, namely the prohibition of riba. There is little debate in the Islamic tradition on the prohibition of riba. The differences, however, lie in the interpretation of riba and the question of how Muslims live in a society that is heavily reliant on interest and conventional banking, yet at the same time adhere to Islamic guidelines. Through the words of religious leaders, Muslim professionals and university students, Imran Lum provides real accounts of how Muslims in Australia and the UK practically deal with conventional banking and finance products such as home loans, savings accounts and credit cards. He also explores Muslim attitudes towards Islamic finance and queries whether religion is the sole determining factor when it comes to its uptake. Drawing on his own unique experience as a practitioner responsible for growing an Islamic business in a conventional bank, Lum provides a firsthand account of the complexities associated with structuring Islamic finance products that are not only sharia compliant but also competitive in a non-Muslim jurisdiction. Using sukuk bonds as a case study, he highlights the tangible and non-tangible barriers to product development, such as tax and regulatory requirements and the rise of Islamophobia. Combining academic and industry experience, Lum unpacks the relationship of Islamic finance with Muslim identity construction in the West and how certain modalities of religiosity can lead to an uptake of Islamic finance, while others can lead to its rejection.

In The Middle Path of Moderation in Islam, leading Islamic law expert Mohammad Hashim Kamali examines the concept of wasatiyyah, or moderation, arguing that scholars, religious communities, and policy circles alike must have access to this governing principle that drives the silent majority of Muslims, rather than focusing on the extremist fringe. Kamali explores wasatiyyah in both historical/conceptual terms and in contemporary/practical terms. Tracing the definition and scope of the concept from the foundational sources of Islam, the Qu'ran and Hadith, he demonstrates that wasatiyyah has a long and well-developed history in Islamic law and applies the concept to contemporary issues of global policy, such as justice, women's rights, environmental and financial balance, and globalization. Framing his work as an open dialogue against a now-decades long formulation of the arguably destructive Huntingtonian "clash of civilizations" thesis as well as the public rhetoric of fear of Muslim extremism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Kamali connects historical conceptions of wasatiyyah to the themes of state and international law, governance, and cultural maladies in the Muslim world and beyond. Both a descriptive and prescriptive meditation on a key but often neglected principle of Islam, The Middle Path of Moderation in Islam provides insight into an idea that is in the strategic interest of the West both to show and practice for themselves and to recognize in Muslim countries.

Presents a highly valuable approach to a severely under-researched area;

How can Muslims strike a balance between religious commitments and their civic identity as citizens in Western liberal states? Hassan examines the development of a contemporary internal Muslim debate on the production of a new form of Islamic jurisprudence, Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat, or the jurisprudence of Muslim minorities. Three key trends are identified in this debate: the puritan literalist trend, the traditionalist trend and the renewal trend. The literalists argue that Muslim minorities should disassociate themselves from non-Muslims and confine their loyalty to their fellow Muslims. The traditionalists maintain that Muslim minorities can live in non-Muslim lands but via exceptional rules and conditional fatwas. The renewal trend asserts the need for a new category of jurisprudence with a new methodological framework that normalizes and empowers Muslim minority life in non-Muslim society. The study delineates these trends in detail and investigates their background, development and current conditions with special focus on the renewal trend and the discourse of Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat.