In February 2008, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, delivered a public lecture in which he stated that it "seem ed] unavoidable" that certain aspects of Islamic law (Shari'a) would be recognized and incorporated into British law. The comments provoked outrage from sections of the public who viewed any recognition of Shari'a law in Britain with alarm. In July 2008 Lord Phillips, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, weighed into the fray. He praised the Archbishop's speech and gave qualified support for Shari'a principles to govern certain family and civil disputes.
Responding to the polarized debate that followed these lectures, this is a collection of short essays written by distinguished and prominent scholars addressing the question of the accommodation of Shari'a within the legal systems of the liberal-democratic West. The matters raised in the two 2008 lectures provide a springboard for lively discussion, criticism and debate on both the specific question of religious/cultural accommodation by the law and the wider issues of multiculturalism, equality before the law and the desirability of parallel jurisdictions for particular faith communities.
Leading scholars from a range of countries and academic disciplines, and representing different political viewpoints and faith traditions explore the complex issues surrounding the legal recognition of religious faith in a multicultural society.
The volume aims to stimulate further thought on a complex issue, and to open up new pathways for policymakers and civil society institutions grappling with the relationship between Shari'a and Western legal systems.

Written from an ethnographic perspective, this book investigates the socio-legal aspects of Islamic jurisprudence in Gaza-Palestine. It examines the way judges, lawyers and litigants operate with respect to the law and with each other, particularly given their different positions in the power structure within the court and within society at large. The book aims at elucidating ambivalences in the codified statutes that allow the actors to find practical solutions to their (often) legally unresolved problems and to manipulate the law. The book demonstrates that present-day judges are not only confronted with novel questions they have to find an answer to, but, perhaps more importantly, they are confronted with contradictions between the letter of codified law and their own notions of justice. The author reminds us that these notions of justice should not be set a priori; they are socially constructed in particular time and space. Making a substantial contribution to a number of theoretical debates on family law and gender, the book will appeal to both academic and non-academic readers alike.

How can Muslims be both good citizens of liberal democracies and good Muslims? This is among the most pressing questions of our time, particularly in contemporary Europe. Some argue that Muslims have no tradition of separation of church and state and therefore can't participate in secular, pluralist society. At the other extreme, some Muslims argue that it is the duty of all believers to resist Western forms of government and to impose Islamic law. Andrew F. March is seeking to find a middle way between these poles. Is there, he asks, a tradition that is both consistent with orthodox Sunni Islam that is also compatible with modern liberal democracy? He begins with Rawls's theory that liberal societies rely for stability on an ''overlapping consensus'' between a public conception of justice and popular religious doctrines and asks what kinds of demands liberal societies place on citizens, and particularly on Muslims. March then offers a thorough examination of Islamic sources and current trends in Islamic thought to see whether there can indeed be a consensus. March finds that the answer is an emphatic ''yes.'' He demonstrates that there are very strong and authentically Islamic arguments for accepting the demands of citizenship in a liberal democracy, many of them found even in medieval works of Islamic jurisprudence. In fact, he shows, it is precisely the fact that Rawlsian political liberalism makes no claims to metaphysical truth that makes it appealing to Muslims.

The creation of a national school of Islamic law in Indonesia has been on the legal agenda for the past fifty years. This book is a summary of what has been achieved. The material shows us a complex range of references for syariah. These include the formal structures of a "new fiqh," philosophies of law, transmissions of syariah through tertiary curricula and the Friday sermon in mosques, a bureaucratic form for conducting the Hajj, and contemporary debates on syariah values as expressions of public morality. Together these references indicate just how elusive the meaning of syariah has become in contemporary Indonesia.

This book examines the intersection between contemporary International Commercial Arbitration and Shari'a law in order to determine possible tensions that may arise between the two systems. It develops evidentiary and procedural rules under Shari'a, as well as examining the consequences of stipulating qualifications of arbitrators based on gender and/or religion. The author extensively analyses the prohibition against interest (riba) and uncertainty (gharar) under Shari'a and its impact on arbitration agreements, arbitral awards and public policy. The book also explores the prohibition against riba in light of international conventions, such as the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Case studies in the book include the Asian International Arbitration Centre, formerly the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration, and the International Islamic Centre for Reconciliation and Arbitration, as well as the 'Shari'a Standards' developed by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions. The book will be a valuable resource for academics, students and practitioners working in the areas of Islamic law and the Islamic finance industry.

This multidisciplinary volume explores the role of Islamic law within the dynamic processes of postcolonial transformation, nation building, and social reform. Here, eleven international scholars examine Islamic law in several contemporary sociopolitical contexts, focusing specifically on Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, China, Tunisia, Nigeria, the United States, and the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The contributors also address the entanglement of Islamic law and ethics with the history of Muslim religious discourses, shifts toward modernity, gender relations, and efforts to construct exclusive or plural national communities. Sharia Dynamics, at once enchanting and enlightening, is a must-read for scholars of contemporary Islam.

The current rise of Islamism throughout the Muslim world, Islamists' demand for the establishment of Islamic states, and their destabilizing impact on regional and global orders have raised important questions about the origins of Islamism and the nature of an Islamic state. Beginning with the Iranian revolution of the late 1970s and the establishment of the Islamic Republic to today's rise of ISIS to prominence, it has become increasingly apparent that Islamism is a major global force in the twenty-first century that demands acknowledgment and answers. As a highly-integrated belief system, the Islamic worldview rejects secularism and accounts for a prominent role for religion in the politics and laws of Muslim societies. Islam is primarily a legal framework that covers all aspects of Muslims' individual and communal lives. In this sense, the Islamic state is a logical instrument for managing Muslim societies. Even moderate Muslims who genuinely, but not necessarily vociferously, challenge the extremists' strategies are not dismissive of the political role of Islam and the viability of an Islamic state. However, sectarian and scholastic schisms within Islam that date back to the prophet's demise do undermine any possibility of consensus about the legal, institutional, and policy parameters of the Islamic state. Within its Shi'a sectarian limitations, this book attempts to offer some answers to questions about the nature of the Islamic state. Nearly four decades of experience with the Islamic Republic of Iran offers us some insights into such a state's accomplishments, potentials, and challenges. While the Islamic worldview offers a general framework for governance, this framework is in dire need of modification to be applicable to modern societies. As Iranians have learned, in the realm of practical politics, transcending the restrictive precepts of Islam is the most viable strategy for building a functional Islamic state. Indeed, Islam does provide both doctrinal and practical instruments for transcending these restrictions. This pursuit of pragmatism could potentially offer impressive strategies for governance as long as sectarian, scholastic, and autocratic proclivities of authorities do not derail the rights of the public and their demand for an orderly management of their societies.

Offering a detailed analysis of the structure of authority in Islamic law, this book focuses on the figure of Yahya b. Sharaf al-Nawawi, who is regarded as the chief contributor to the legal tradition known as the Shafi'i madhhab in traditional Muslim sources, named after Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi'i (d. 204/820), the supposed founder of the school of law. Al-Nawawi's legal authority is situated in a context where Muslims demanded to stabilize legal disposition that is consistent with the authority of the madhhab, since in premodern Islamic society, the ruling powers did not produce or promulgate law, as was the case in other, monarchic civilizations. Al-Nawawi's place in the long-term formation of the madhhab is significant for many reasons but for one in particular: his effort in reconciling the two major interpretive communities among the Shafi'ites, i.e., the tariqas of the Iraqians and Khurasanians. This book revisits the history of the Shafi'i school in the pre-Nawawic era and explores its later development in the post-Nawawic period. Presenting a comprehensive picture of the structure of authority in Islamic law, specifically within the Shafi'ite legal tradition, this book is an essential resource for students and scholars of Islamic Studies, History and Law.

During the 20th century many countries embarked on a process of constitutional secularization by which the role of religion gradually became limited. Yet, by the late 20th century, and increasingly following the end of the Cold War, this development began to be challenged. This book examines the return of religion in constitutions through the concept of constitutional de-secularization. It places this phenomenon in the context of the constitutional memory of the countries in which it has taken place and critically examines it against the development and standards of constitutionalism, as the prevailing constitutional legal and political theory. Central to this analysis is the impact of constitutional de-secularization on the regulation of equality in liberty, that is, both the regulation of constitutional rights and the scope for equality of those who are granted such rights. The book argues that equal liberty forms an essential part of constitutionalism as a theory, and that constitutionalism therefore entails a continuous development towards expanding it. The first and second part of the book presents a conceptual framework for the study of constitutional de-secularization. The third part presents and analyses three cases of constitutional de-secularization in Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. The book will be of interest to researchers and policy-makers interested in constitutional history and theory, and the role of religion in law and its compatibility with human rights.

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.

At the time of his death in 1998, at the age of 47, Norman Calder had become the most widely-discussed scholar in his field. This was largely focused on his monograph, Studies in Early Muslim Jurisprudence (Oxford, 1993), which boldly challenged existing theories about the origins of Islamic Law. The present volume of twenty-one of his articles and book chapters represents the full richness and diversity of Calder's oeuvre, from his initial doctoral research on Shii Islam to his later more philosophical writings on Sunni hermeneutics, in addition to his numerous studies on early Islamic history and jurisprudence. Calder's pioneering research, which was based on a sensitive reading of medieval texts fully informed by contemporary critical theory, often challenged the established assumptions of the day. He is known in particular for urging a reassessment of widely-held prejudices which underestimated the degree of creativity in medieval Islamic scholarship. Many of the articles in this volume have already become classics for the fields of Muslim jurisprudence and hermeneutics.

Passed into law over a decade before the Revolution, the Family Protection Law quickly drew the ire of the conservative clergy and the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. In fact, it was one of the first laws to be rescinded following the revolution. The law was hardly a surprising target, however, since women's status in Iran was then - and continues now to be - a central concern of Iranian political leaders, media commentators, and international observers alike. Taking up the issue of women's status in a modern context, Marianne Boe offers a nuanced view of how women's rights activists assert their rights within an Islamic context by weaving together religious and historical texts and narratives. Through Her substantial fieldwork and novel analysis, Boe undermines both the traditional view of 'Islamic Feminism' as monolithic and clears a path to a new understanding of the role of women's rights activists in shaping and synthesizing debates on the shari'a, women's rights and family law. As such, this book is essential for anyone studying family law and the role of women in contemporary Iran.

Understanding Islamic law is crucial not only for Muslims, but for non-Muslims who work with Muslims in legal contexts as well as for anyone wanting to understand the role of Islam in the world today. For unlike western legal systems where religious and legal spheres are kept separate, Islamic law is all-encompassing, directing all human actions. Legal scholar Hisham Ramadan brings together articles to give an excellent overview of the formation of Islamic law and its role in contemporary Islamic and Non-Islamic states. Following an overview of Islamic Law, chapters cover Islamic criminal law, International Humanitarian Law, contract law, & family law. A concluding essay offers an explanation of the legal value of Islam and appendices include original Islamic legal documents from Muhammad's time until today.

Understanding Islamic law is crucial not only for Muslims, but for non-Muslims who work with Muslims in legal contexts as well as for anyone wanting to understand the role of Islam in the world today. For unlike western legal systems where religious and legal spheres are kept separate, Islamic law is all-encompassing, directing all human actions. Legal scholar Hisham Ramadan brings together articles to give an excellent overview of the formation of Islamic law and its role in contemporary Islamic and Non-Islamic states. Following an overview of Islamic Law, chapters cover Islamic criminal law, International Humanitarian Law, contract law, & family law. A concluding essay offers an explanation of the legal value of Islam and appendices include original Islamic legal documents from Muhammad's time until today.

In the post-9/11 environment, the figure of the Muslim woman is at the forefront of global politics. Her representation is often articulated within a rights discourse owing much to liberal-secular sensibilities-notions of freedom, equality, rational thinking, individualism, and modernization. Muslim Women's Rights explores how these liberal-secular sensibilities inform, shape, and foreclose public discussion on questions of Islam and gender. The book draws on postcolonial, antiracist, and transnational feminist studies in order to analyze public and legal debates surrounding proposed shari'ah tribunals in Canada. It examines the cultural and epistemological suppositions underlying common assumptions about Islamic laws; explores how these assumptions are informed by the Western progress narrative and women's rights debates; and asks what forms of politics these enable and foreclose. The book assesses the influence of secularism on the ontology, epistemology, and ethics afforded to Islam in the West, and begins to trace possibilities by which Islamic family law might be productively addressed on its own terms. Muslim Women's Rights is a significant contribution to the fields of both Islam and gender and the critical study of secularism.

The family is where legal rules presented as part of the Islamic shari`a are most widely applied in the Muslim world. This connection, often differently elaborated by particular social constituencies, can present difficulties to the advocates of law reform. At the same time, the resonance of the issues at which advocacy is targeted creates an opportunity for creative exchange in addressing practical strategies for change. This volume explores the present-day realities of Islamic family law, with particular emphasis on the rights of women, and focusing on law in its living social context as reflected in public opinion and personal experience. A concluding study ranges further afield in order to explore the challenges and potential of 'principles of shari`a' in advocacy on the question of violence against women. This book makes possible a detailed examination of possibilities of, and constraints on, legal reform in the area of Islamic family law in specific contemporary contexts.

This book sets forth the concepts relating to viewpoints concerning life. It identifies the principle behind these concepts and traces each such concept back to its source and origin, whether it emanates from the capitalist-democratic, communist-socialist, or Islamic principle. At the same time, it calls on people to establish bonds with one another, that is, intellectual bonds based on common principles. It also calls on them to distinguish one concept from another so that they can achieve the correct type of advancement and attain the exemplary ideology. First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The book contributes to understanding the role of religion in the development of democracy in Indonesia - the world's largest Muslim nation.

This book examines the life of women in the Indonesian province of Aceh, where Islamic law was introduced in 1999. It outlines how women have had to face the formalisation of conservative understandings of sharia law in regulations and new state institutions over the last decade or so, how they have responded to this, forming non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that have shaped local discourse on women's rights, equality and status in Islam, and how these NGOs have strategised, demanded reform, and enabled Acehnese women to take active roles in influencing the processes of democratisation and Islamisation that are shaping the province. The book shows that although the formal introduction of Islamic law in Aceh has placed restrictions on women's freedom, paradoxically it has not prevented them from engaging in public life. It argues that the democratisation of Indonesia, which allowed Islamisation to occur, continues to act as an important factor shaping Islamisation's current trajectory; that the introduction of Islamic law has motivated women's NGOs and other elements of civil society to become more involved in wider discussions about the future of sharia in Aceh; and that Indonesia's recent decentralisation policy and growing local Islamism have enabled the emergence of different religious and local adat practices, which do not necessarily correspond to overall national trends.

This book presents an invaluable contribution to the debate on the compatibility of Islam and modernity. It is full of arguments and examples showing how Islam can be understood in line with modern life, human rights, democracy, the rule of law, civil society and pluralism. The three authors come from different countries, represent different gender perspectives and have a Shia, a Sunni and a non-Muslim background respectively which makes the book a unique source of information and inspiration.' - Irmgard Marboe, University of Vienna, AustriaThis well-informed book explains, reflects on and analyzes Islamic law, not only in the classical legal tradition of Sharia, but also its modern, contemporary context. The book explores the role of Islamic law in secular Western nations and reflects on the legal system of Islam in its classical context as applied in its traditional homeland of the Middle East and also in South East Asia. Written by three leading scholars from three different backgrounds: a Muslim in the Sunni tradition, a Muslim in the Shia tradition, and a non-Muslim woman - the book is not only unique, but also enriched by differing insights into Islamic law. Sir William Blair provides the foreword to a book which acknowledges that Islam continues to play a vital role not just in the Middle East but across the wider world, the discussion on which the authors embark is a crucial one. The book starts with an analysis of the nature of Islamic law, its concepts, meaning and sources, as well as its development in different stages of Islamic history. This is followed by accounts of how Islamic law is being practised today. Key modern institutions are discussed, such as the parliament, judiciary, dar al-ifta, political parties, and other important organizations. It continues by analysing some key concepts in our modern times: nation-state, citizenship, ummah, dhimmah (recognition of the status of certain non-Muslims in Islamic states), and the rule of law. The book investigates how in recent times, more and more fatwas are issued collectively rather than emanating from an individual scholar. The authors then evaluate how Islamic law deals with family matters, economics, crime, property and alternative dispute resolution. Lastly, the book revisits certain contemporary issues of debate in Islamic law such as the burqa, halal food, riba (interest) and apostasy. Modern Perspectives on Islamic Law will become a standard scholarly text on Islamic law. Its wide-ranging coverage will appeal to researchers and students of Islamic law, or Islamic studies in general. Legal practitioners will also be interested in the comparative aspects of Islamic law presented in this book. Contents: Foreword by The Honorable Sir William Blair Preface Prologue 1. The Nature of Law, and its Relationship with Religion, in Islam 2. Islamic Law and Institutions 3. Seeing a Western Nation through Muslim Eyes: Citizenship and the Sharia in Modern Nation-states 4. Fatwa and Muftis 5. Islamic Family Law 6. Mediation, Arbitration and Islamic Alternative Dispute Resolution 7. Islamic Law and Economics 8. Property Rights, Inheritance Law and Trusts (waqf) 9. Islamic Criminal Law 10. Contemporary Debates On and Within Islam Epilogue Index

The author explores the interplay between scriptural exegesis and mystical doctrine in a twelfth-century Sufi commentary on the Qur'an. Previously little-known outside the Persian-speaking world, it is increasingly recognized as a key work in the development of Sufi Qur'anic interpretation. Dr Keeler provides invaluable background for anyone wanting to gain a deeper understanding of Persian mystical poetry and prose, and other major works of Sufi literature.

This volume presents ten leading scholars' writings on contemporary Islamic law and Muslim thought. The essays examine a range of issues, from modern Muslim discourses on justice, natural law, and the common good, to democracy, the social contract, and "the authority of the preeminent jurist." Changes in how Shari'a has been understood over the centuries are explored, as well as how it has been applied in both Sunni and Shi'i Islam.
Debates on the nature, interpretation, reform, and application of Shari'a lie at the core of all Islamist revivalist ideologies and movements of the past two centuries. The demand for the implementation of Shari'a is one of the hallmarks of Islamic fundamentalism, and Shari'a has become one of the most controversial and politicized concepts in Muslim-majority countries today. This will be one of the first books to examine how Muslims understand and apply Shari'a in contemporary societies.

Lawyers, according to Edmund Burke, are bad historians. He was referring to an unwillingness, rather than an inaptitude, on the part of early nineteenth-century English lawyers to concern themselves with the past: for contemporary jurisprudence was a pure and isolated science wherein law appeared as a body of rules, based upon objective criteria, whose nature and very existence were independent of considerations of time and place. Despite the influence of the historical school of Western jurisprudence, Burke's observation is generally valid for Middle East studies. Muslim jurisprudence in its traditional form provides an extreme example of a legal science divorced from historical considerations. Law, in classical Islamic theory, is the revealed will of God, a divinely ordained system preceding, and not preceded by, the Muslim state controlling, but not controlled by, Muslim society. There can thus be no relativistic notion of the law itself evolving as an historical phenomenon closely tied with the progress of society. The increasing number of nations that are largely Muslim or have a Muslim head of state, emphasizes the growing political importance of the Islamic world, and, as a result, the desirability of extending and expanding the understanding and appreciation of their culture and belief systems. Since history counts for much among Muslims and what happened in 632 or 656 is still a live issue, a journalistic familiarity with present conditions is not enough; there must also be some awareness of how the past has molded the present. This book is designed to give the reader a clear picture. But where there are gaps, obscurities, and differences of opinion, these are also indicated.

Many Muslim societies are in the throes of tumultuous political transitions, and common to all has been heightened debate over the place of sharia law in modern politics and ethical life. Bringing together leading scholars of Islamic politics, ethics, and law, this book examines the varied meanings and uses of Islamic law, so as to assess the prospects for democratic, plural, and gender-equitable Islamic ethics today. These essays show that, contrary to the claims of some radicals, Muslim understandings of Islamic law and ethics have always been varied and emerge, not from unchanging texts but from real and active engagement with Islamic traditions and everyday life. The ethical debates that rage in contemporary Muslim societies reveal much about the prospects for democratic societies and a pluralist Islamic ethics in the future. They also suggest that despite the tragic violence wrought in recent years by Boko Haram and the Islamic State in Iraq, we may yet see an age of ethical renewal across the Muslim world.

This book examines the interrelationship between law, culture, patriarchy and religion in the context of contemporary Bangladesh. It explores the role of Islam in society and politics generally, and its influence on gender equality in particular. The work focuses on the situation of married women. Taking a socio-legal approach, it analyses the changing nature of the dowry practice and its relation to women's increasing paid labour force activity. Despite anti-dowry legislation, it is argued here that the dowry system continues in the form of the appropriation of wives' income. The work calls for legal recognition of this action and the amendment of the Dowry Prohibition Act 1980 as a result of the changing social realities that are taking place in the lives of Bangladeshi women. An Islamic approach is applied to equality between men and women in addressing and analysing these issues. The book includes international comparisons on gender equality and discusses the role of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Descrimination Against Women (CEDAW), as well as the dowry system in South Asia. The book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of law and religion, gender studies and international development.