Series Information:
Culture and Civilization in the Middle East

Islamic law has traditionally prohibited women from being prayer leaders and heads of state. A small number of Muslims today are beginning to challenge this stance, but they face considerable opposition from the broader Muslim community. 'Women and Leadership in Islamic Law' examines the assumption within much existing feminist scholarship that the patriarchal nature of pre-Islamic and early Muslim Near Eastern Society is the primary reason for the development of Islamic legal rulings prohibiting women from leadership positions. It claims that the evolution of Islamic law was a complex process, shaped by numerous cultural, historical, political and social factors, as well as scriptural sources whose importance cannot be dismissed. Therefore, the book critically examines a broad survey of legal works from the four canonical Sunni schools of law to determine the factors that influenced the development of the legal rulings prohibiting women from assuming various leadership roles. The passages that elaborate rulings about women's leadership are presented in translation as an appendix to the research, and are then subjected to a variety of critical analyses to identify the reasons, influences, and assumptions underlying those rulings. This is the first time works of all four schools of law have been subjected to this kind of analysis for the express purpose of determining the extent to which gender attitudes have influenced and determined the rulings. This book will therefore be a vital resource for students and scholars of Islamic Studies, Religious Studies and Gender Studies.

A Muslim Reformist in Communist Yugoslavia examines the Islamic modernist thought of Husein Dozo, a prominent Balkan scholar. Born at a time when the external challenges to the Muslim world were many, and its internal problems both complex and overwhelming, Dozo made it his goal to reinterpret the teachings of the Qur'an and hadith (prophetic tradition) to a generation for whom the truths and realities of Islam had fallen into disuse. As a Muslim scholar who lived and worked in a European, communist, multi-cultural and multi-religious society, Husein Dozo and his work present us with a particularly exciting account through which to examine the innovative interpretations of Islam. For example, through a critical analysis of Dozo's most significant fatwas and other relevant materials, this book examines the extent of the inherent flexibility of the Islamic law and its ability to respond to Muslim interests in different socio-political conditions. Since Dozo's writings in general and his fatwas in particular have continued to be published in the Balkan lands up to the present, this monograph should help shed some light on certain assumptions underlying modern Islamic thought and consciousness found in the region.

In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the events of 9/11, 7/7, the War on Terror and the Caliphate and atrocities of the so-called Islamic State have dominated Western consciousness and wreaked havoc in parts of the Muslim-majority world. In their wake, a spate of books has been written explaining the phenomenon of Islamist radicalisation and Jihadism. Nevertheless, for normal citizens, as well as scholars of religion and legal professionals, the crucial question remains unanswered: how is mainstream Islam different from both Islamism and the Islamist Extremism that is used to justify terrorist violence? In this highly original book, which draws upon the author's experience as an expert witness in Islamic theology in 27 counter-terrorism trials, the author uses the idea of the Worldview, as well as traditional Islamic theology, to answer this question. The book explains not only what Mainstream Islam, Ideological Islamism and Islamist Extremism are in their broad philosophical characteristics and theological particulars, but also explains comprehensively how and why they are both superficially related and yet essentially and fundamentally different. In so doing, the book also illuminates the cast of characters and the development of their ideas that constitute Mainstream Islam, Ideological Islamism and the Non-Violent and Violent Islamist Extremists who constitute the Genealogy of Terror.

One of the primary aims of the book is to explore and formulate several Muslim legal theorists' pragmatic theories, communicative principles and linguistic views, construct them in the form of models and set them within a general uniform framework.

Questions the accepted classical Muslim view and current revisionist western view on the development of Islamic law. The first study in English to deal with the early development of the Maliki school of jurisprudence, and to demonstrate the methods used, linguistic and otherwise, in interpreting the Qu'ran.

Jurisdictional Exceptionalisms examines the legal issues associated with a parent's forced removal of their children to reside in another country following relationship dissolution or divorce. Through an analysis of Public and Private International Laws, and Islamic law - historical and as implemented in contemporary Muslim Family Law States - the authors uncover distinct legal lexicons that centre children's interests in premodern Islamic legal doctrines, modern State practice, and multilateral conventions on children. While legal advocates and policy makers pursue global solutions to parental child abduction, this volume identifies fundamental obstacles, including the absence of shared understandings of jurisdiction. By examining the relevant law and practice, the study exposes the polarised politics embedded in the technical legal rules on jurisdiction. Presenting a new, innovative method in comparative legal history, the book examines the beliefs, values, histories, doctrines, institutions and practices of legal systems presumed to be in conflict with one another.

The relationship between Islamic law and society is an important issue in Iran under the Islamic Republic. Although Islamic law was a pivotal element in the traditional Iranian society, no comprehensive research has been made until today. This is because modern reformers emphasized the lack of rule of law in nineteenth-century Iran. However, a legal system did exist, and Islamic law was a substantial part of it. This is the first book on the relationship between Islamic law and the Iranian society during the nineteenth century. The author explores the legal aspects of urban society in Iran and provides the social context in which political process occurred and examines how authorities applied law in society, how people utilized the law, and how the law regulated society. Based on rich archival sources including court records and private deeds from Qajar Tehran, this book explores how Islamic law functioned in Iranian society. The judicial system, sharia court, and religious endowments (vaqf) are fully discussed, and the role of 'ulama as legal experts is highlighted throughout the book. It challenges nationalist and modernist views on nineteenth-century Iran and provides a unique model in terms of the relationship between Islamic law and society, which is rather different from the Ottoman case. Providing an understanding of this legal system in Iran and its role in society, this book offers a basis for assessing the motives and results of modern reforms as well as the modernist discourse. This book will be of interest to students of Middle Eastern and Iranian Studies.

This volume shows how and why legal empowerment is important for those exercising their religious rights under various jurisdictions, in conditions of legal pluralism. At the same time, it also questions the thesis that as societies become more modern, they also become less religious. The authors look beyond the rule of law orthodoxy in their consideration of the freedom of religion as a human right and place this discussion in a more plurality-sensitive context. The book sheds more light on the informal and/or customary mechanisms that explain the limited impact of law on individuals and groups, especially in non-Western societies. The focus is on discussing how religion and the exercise of religious rights may or may not empower individuals and social groups and improve access to human rights in general. This book is important reading for academics and practitioners of law and religion, religious rights, religious diversity and cultural difference, as well as NGOs, policy makers, lawyers and advocates at multicultural jurisdictions. It offers a contemporary take on comparative legal studies, with a distinct focus on religion as an identity marker.

Within the global phenomenon of the (re)emergence of religion into issues of public debate, one of the most salient issues confronting contemporary Muslim societies is how to relate the legal and political heritage that developed in pre-modern Islamic polities to the political order of the modern states in which Muslims now live. This work seeks to develop a framework for addressing this issue. The central argument is that liberal theory, and in particular justice as discourse, can be normatively useful in Muslim contexts for relating religion, law and state. Just as Muslim contexts have developed historically, and continue to develop today, the same is the case with the requisites of liberal theory, and this may allow for liberal choices to be made in a manner that is not a renunciation of Muslim heritage.

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

Words in both law and religion can shape power relationships and are often highly disputed. Shari`a lies within the overlap of these two spheres and provides a unique subject for the study of meaning in that liminal space. This book contributes important insights related to Islamic jurisprudence and secularism in the Turkish context and regarding the role of language in contested legal and religious contexts. The study begins by providing a historical framework for the ideas and terms covered, including concepts of religion in general, Shari`a in particular, and secularism in the Turkish state. It goes on to examine empirical research to describe and analyze contemporary Turkish understandings of religion and Shari`a. The author's research indicates that there is often a disconnect between supporting the adoption of Shari`a and supporting the regulation of everyday behavior through civil codes. Thus, "Shari`a" seems to have taken on new meanings as groups have sought either to appropriate or criticize it. It is a quintessential example of fractured and contextual meaning at the center of both religious and legal traditions. This book is essential reading for both academics and those interested in law, linguistics, history, political science, anthropology, sociology, religious studies, or Near Eastern studies.

This volume shows how and why legal empowerment is important for those exercising their religious rights under various jurisdictions, in conditions of legal pluralism. At the same time, it also questions the thesis that as societies become more modern, they also become less religious. The authors look beyond the rule of law orthodoxy in their consideration of the freedom of religion as a human right and place this discussion in a more plurality-sensitive context. The book sheds more light on the informal and/or customary mechanisms that explain the limited impact of law on individuals and groups, especially in non-Western societies. The focus is on discussing how religion and the exercise of religious rights may or may not empower individuals and social groups and improve access to human rights in general. This book is important reading for academics and practitioners of law and religion, religious rights, religious diversity and cultural difference, as well as NGOs, policy makers, lawyers and advocates at multicultural jurisdictions. It offers a contemporary take on comparative legal studies, with a distinct focus on religion as an identity marker.

This book is situated in the wider theoretical framework of civil and commercial law in the context of the tensions and conflicts arising between the Islamic law and western legal systems. The book deals with the genre of Mukhtasar in Islamic law and the significance of its emergence in the development and formation of Islamic law. These compositions of Mukhtasar are authored texts by individual jurists claiming independently to personal hermeneutical interpretations in producing and reproducing them. These compositions of Mukhtasar do not simply reproduce the legal rulings of eponyms of schools of law in an abridgement as traditionally it has been understood. Most importantly, the purpose for which they were composed was to provide hermeneutical accounts of the formation of Islamic law incorporating all essential expanded additional elements which have developed over the course of time. The authors of these compositions of Mukhtasar continue the hermeneutical formation of Islamic legal system.

The first eleven essays in this collection treat the application of Islamic law in qadi courts in the Maghrib in the period between 1100 and 1500 CE. Based on preserved legal documents and the expert opinions of Muslim jurists (Muftis), the essays examine family law cases involving legal minority, guardianship, divorce, inheritance, bequests, and endowments. Cumulatively, the cases bear witness to the effectiveness and efficiency of the Islamic judicial system in this period. Contrary to popular perceptions, the cases demonstrate that Muslim jurists placed a high value on reasoned thought and were sensitive to the manner in which law, society, and culture interacted with, and shaped, each other. The final essay shows how the treatment of family endowments by colonial regimes in Algeria and India at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries shaped, or misshaped the modern western scholarly understanding of Islamic law.

The Islamic finance industry has grown at a phenomenal pace over the past decade. A key driver has been the development of the Islamic capital markets, which offer tremendous potential for sovereigns, financial institutions, corporates and investors alike. This publication comes at a key juncture in the development of the Islamic capital markets, with the global financial crisis providing an opportunity for the different players in the Islamic capital markets to re-appraise successes and failures to date. More stringent Sharia oversight has also encouraged a recent critical re-evaluation of the structures used in the Islamic capital markets. This practical title provides a comprehensive overview of the Islamic capital markets, tracking their development from the first sukuks to the current outlook after the global economic crisis and the recent Sharia rulings of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions in relation to sukuk. Featuring contributions by prominent practitioners - including Shibeer Ahmed from White & Case, Moinuddin Malim from Mashreq al Islami and Debashis Dey and Stuart Ure from Clifford Chance, among other leading professionals - this book analyses market trends and key Sharia and legal issues and structures. Cutting-edge topics include the standardisation of sukuk, securitisation, treasury and other capital markets and rate protection products. With examples from practitioners who have helped to shape the Islamic capital markets, this book presents key insights for beginners, as well as more experienced practitioners. The guide is a practical handbook for legal practitioners, financial Institutions and bankers, central banks, university libraries and students and practitioners generally who have an interest in Islamic finance.

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.

This work studies not only the philosophical and religious underpinnings of Sharia law, but case material and legal statistics to analyse its application in the area of personal status law in the Sudan. It stresses marriage, divorce, child custody, women's status and social movements for change.

This volume, originally published in 1925, outlines the historical development of the Muslim law of inheritance in pre-Islamic Law. It discusses the ranking of heirs and guardians, reforms introduced by Muhammad, subsequent development of the law, and rise of the orthodox schools.

In many parts of Africa three different systems of laws are concurrently applied - the imported "Colonial" law, the indigenous customary law and Islamic law. In some countries the customary and the Islamic law are kept separate and distinct, while in others they are fused into a single system. This volume represents a unique survey of the extent to which Islamic law is in fact applied in those parts of East and West Africa which were at one time under British administration. It examines the relevant legislation and case law, much of which has never appeared in any Law Reports; the judges and courts which apply it and the problems to which its application give rise.

Originally published in 1939. After the death of Muhammad his community was ruled by three caliphs who kept their capital as Medina, the City of the Prophet. Under the rule of the caliphs those who did not confess the Muslim faith were under certain restrictions both in public and private life. This volume examines the social, cultural, religious and economic aspects of this period and includes chapters on: Government Service; Churches and Monasteries; Christian Arabs, Jews and Magians; Dress; Financial Persecution, Medicine and Literature and Taxation.

Should an employee be allowed to wear a religious symbol at work? Should a religious employer be allowed to impose constraints on employees' private lives for the sake of enforcing a religious work ethos? Should an employee or service provider be allowed, on religious grounds, to refuse to work with customers of the opposite sex or of a same-sex sexual orientation? This book explores how judges decide these issues and defends a democratic approach, which is conducive to a more democratic understanding of our vivre ensemble. The normative democratic approach proposed in this book is grounded on a sociological and historical analysis of two national stories of the relationships between law, religion, diversity and the State, the British (mainly English) and the French stories. The book then puts the democratic paradigm to the test, by looking at cases involving clashes between religious freedoms and competing rights in the workplace. Contrary to the current alternative between the "accommodationist view", which defers to religious requests, and the "analogous" view, which undermines the importance of religious freedom for pluralism, this book offers a third way. It fills a gap in the literature on the relationships between law and religious freedoms and provides guidelines for judges confronted with difficult cases.

This volume exposes some of the various issues raised in relation to Muslim communities in Europe by putting the intellectual and legal traditions into dialogue. It brings together a number of scholars of Shari'a and Islamic law with counterparts from the parallel European disciplines of hermeneutics, philosophy and jurisprudence, to explore how the processes of theological-legal thinking have been expressed and are being expressed in a more or less common intellectual framework. It provides a valuable reference for all those interested in exploring how Muslims and non-Muslims view Shari'a law, looking at ways the European legal systems can provide some form of accommodation with Muslim customs.

Politically, Islam in Indonesia is part of a rich multi-cultural mix. Religious tolerance is seen as the cornerstone of relations between different faiths - and moderation is built into the country's constitutional framework. However, the advent of democracy coupled with the impact of the South-East Asian economic collapse in 1997, and the arrival of a tough new breed of Middle Eastern Islamic preachers, sowed the seeds of the current challenge to Indonesia's traditionally moderate form of Islam. This volume explores the extent to which moderate Indonesian Islam is able to assimilate leading concepts from Western political theory. The essays in the collection explore how concepts from Western political theory are compatible with a liberal interpretation of Islamic universals and how such universals can form the basis for a contemporary approach to the protection of human rights and the articulation of a modern Islamic civil society.

The relationship between modern international law and Islamic law has raised many theoretical and practical questions that cannot be ignored in the contemporary study and understanding of both international law and Islamic law. The significance and relevance of this relationship in both academic and practical terms, especially after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, is now well understood. Recent international events in particular corroborate the need for a better understanding of the relationship between contemporary international law and Islamic law and how their interaction can be explored and improved to enhance modern international relations and international law. The articles reproduced in this volume examine the issues of General Principles of International Law, International Use of Force, International Humanitarian Law, International Terrorism, International Protection of Diplomats, International Environmental and Water Law, Universality of Human Rights, Women's Rights, Rights of the Child, Rights of Religious Minorities, and State Practice. The essays have been carefully selected to reflect, as much as possible, the different Islamic perspectives on each of these aspects of international law.