This book is dedicated to examining the various methods and trends in Hadith Studies across the globe. Bringing together contributions from ten scholars of Hadith, it addresses the subject from a variety of methodological vantage points and historical premises. Divided into two parts, it first looks at methods and approaches, and then presents 5 case studies focusing on specific questions and issues. Some of these authors seek to overturn, refine or reaffirm dominant paradigms within the field, while others look to expand its horizons in new directions. The global scope, and coverage of both longstanding debates and cutting edge methods and approaches, means this book will make a significant contribution to a controversial and challenging field.

Muslim law and rules for dealing with the distribution of a dead person's property differ greatly from western law. The system of Muslim law, the SharVa, is derived from the Qur'an and the words of the Prophet himself, and is therefore believed to be of divine inspiration, and not man-made. A variety of schools of law have grown up which interpret the Prophet's sayings, and the practical effect of these different rules of interpretation varies considerably. Recent codifications have not necessarily remained within the classical Muslim legal traditions, and have introduced further differences. With western law it is assumed that a man will make a will, and, broadly speaking, his property will be distributed in accordance with its provisions. It is only in the event of a man dying without making a will that the rules of intestacy are applied. Muslim law makes the opposite assumption.

Wael B. Hallaq is regarded as one of the leading scholars in the field of Islamic law. In a path-breaking new book, the author shows how authority guaranteed both continuity and change in Islamic law. While the role of the law schools in augmenting these processes was of the essence, the author demonstrates that it was the construction of the absolutist authority of the school founder, an image which he suggests was actually developed later in history, that maintained the foundations of school methodology and hermeneutics. The defence of that methodology gave rise to an infinite variety of individual legal opinions, ultimately accommodating changes in the law. Thus the author concludes that the mechanisms of change were embedded in the very structure of Islamic law, despite its essentially conservative nature. This book will be welcomed by specialists and scholars in Islamic law for its rigour and innovation.

This is the first comprehensive study of the life and works of Muhammad Baqer as-Sadr - an Iraqi scholar who made an important contribution to the renewal of Islamic law and politics in the contemporary Middle East. Executed in 1980, Sadr was the most articulate thinker and a major political actor in the revival of Shi‘i learning, which placed Najaf in Southern Iraq at its centre. Dr Chibli Mallat examines the intellectual development of Sadr and his companions who included Ruhullah al-Khumaini and assesses Sadr’s innovative approaches to the study of law, economics and banking. The author convincingly demonstrates how Sadr’s ideas and activities were influential in the rise of political Islam across the Middle East and played an important part in the Iranian revolution of 1979.

How the Ottomans refashioned and legitimated their rule through mystical imageries of authority The medieval theory of the caliphate, epitomized by the Abbasids (750-1258), was the construct of jurists who conceived it as a contractual leadership of the Muslim community in succession to the Prophet Muhammed's political authority. In this book, Huseyin Yilmaz traces how a new conception of the caliphate emerged under the Ottomans, who redefined the caliph as at once a ruler, a spiritual guide, and a lawmaker corresponding to the prophet's three natures. Challenging conventional narratives that portray the Ottoman caliphate as a fading relic of medieval Islamic law, Yilmaz offers a novel interpretation of authority, sovereignty, and imperial ideology by examining how Ottoman political discourse led to the mystification of Muslim political ideals and redefined the caliphate. He illuminates how Ottoman Sufis reimagined the caliphate as a manifestation and extension of cosmic divine governance. The Ottoman Empire arose in Western Anatolia and the Balkans, where charismatic Sufi leaders were perceived to be God's deputies on earth. Yilmaz traces how Ottoman rulers, in alliance with an increasingly powerful Sufi establishment, continuously refashioned and legitimated their rule through mystical imageries of authority, and how the caliphate itself reemerged as a moral paradigm that shaped early modern Muslim empires. A masterful work of scholarship, Caliphate Redefined is the first comprehensive study of premodern Ottoman political thought to offer an extensive analysis of a wealth of previously unstudied texts in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish.

In this path-breaking new book, the author shows how authority guaranteed both continuity and change in Islamic law. Hallaq demonstrates that it was the construction of the absolutist authority of the school founder, an image which he suggests was actually developed later in history, that maintained the foundations of school methodology and hermeneutics. The defense of that methodology gave rise to an infinite variety of individual legal opinions, ultimately accomodating changes in the law. Thus the author concludes that the mechanisms of change were embedded in the very structure of Islamic law, despite its essentially conservative nature.

A translation of Abu Shuja' al-Asfahani's introduction to classical Islamic law, Matn al-Ghayat wa al-Taqrib. This enduring classic covers the full range of basic topics within the Shafi'i school of law. It includes the full Arabic text and notes to point out where later Shafi'i jurists have differed from the author, Imam al-Nawawi's preferences, and minor clarifications and explanations.

Since the Second World War, there has been a significant migration of Muslims to countries in the Western world. Muslims in Non-Muslim Land traces the process by which these migrants arrived in Western Europe - in particular Britain - and explains how the community developed its faith identity through three particular stances: assimilation, isolation and integration. The findings argue that the assumption that Islam causes Muslims to isolate from the indigenous population and form a 'state within a state' is false and that Islamic Law actually gives Muslims confidence and the ability to integrate within the wider society. The theological view that all non-Muslim lands are dar al-arb (domain of war) is challenged, and the study shows that the traditional interpretive model of Islamic Law inherently possesses the flexibility and applicability to take into consideration minority-status of Muslims in Britain. Muslims in Non-Muslim Land focuses on Islamic Law as interpreted by the anafi Law school and highlights in detail the multi-pronged and robust nature of its legal theory and subsequent application. What is ground-breaking about Muslims in Non-Muslim Lands is that it illustrates the ability of &anafi Law to deal with contemporary issues in a wide range of subjects. It also provides Muslims with ways of Islamically resolving medical, financial and political concerns. The study concludes that Islamic Law can facilitate the integration of Muslim minorities within secular societies while allowing them to still remain true to their faith.

2019 Choice Outstanding Academic title I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies Why is the term shari?a-the mention of which conjures up images of a politicised religion in many parts of the world-understood in the ways that it is today? For Muslims and non-Muslims alike, much is read into this term, often with scant regard for its historical, cultural or theological underpinnings. The politics of identity has a profound effect on contemporary life, both secular and religious, and this includes our understandings of the shari?a. Yet at the core of this concept, for Muslims, is the quest for a moral compass by which to navigate a path through life (Qur'an, 45:18), informed deeply by revelation and its interpretation by the Prophet Muhammad as well as his closest Companions. Built on this foundation is an ongoing human endeavour to grasp and lend expression to that teaching-elaborately in law, but no less so in devotional, ethical and customary practices in diverse Shi?i and Sunni Muslim communities, including in the West. Popular myths about the shari?a - that it is divine law, that it is contained in a single code recognised by all Muslims, that it is about controlling behavior, that it `defines' Islam - are challenged in this volume by leading scholars, with a view to illuminating how we arrived here and where we might be headed. The claims of the modern state as the custodian of the shari?a are put into perspective, alongside the vital role of a pluralist civil society. From bioethics, human development, family law and finance to constitutional and human rights issues, this fifth volume in the Muslim Heritage Series offers an accessible account of the ideals and realities of the shari?a. As such, it will appeal not only to specialists in the humanities and social sciences, but also to the general reader with an interest in global affairs and informed citizenship.

This book explores the contentious topic of women's rights in Muslim-majority countries, with a specific focus on Iran and the Iranian women's movement from 1906 to the present. The work contextualizes the authorial self through the use of personal narrative and interviews. A new critique of Islamic law is produced through an in-depth study of the Iranian Constitution, civil and criminal codes. The work presents a novel reconceptualization of the term "Islamic feminism" by revisiting the arguments of various scholars and through analysis of interviews with Iranian women's rights activists. It is contended that the feminist movements can play a critical role in Islamic law reform and consequently the eventual implementation of international human rights law in Muslim-majority countries. What emerges from this study is not only a feminist critique of two major regimes of law, but also the identification of possibilities for reform in the future. The study transitions from the Iranian national context to the international by way of a comparative legal study of international human rights laws and Islamic laws. The book will appeal both to academics and human rights practitioners.

By pairing a scholar of Islamic law with a scholar of Jewish law, a unique dynamic is created, and new perspectives are made possible. These new perspectives not only enable an understanding of the other's legal tradition, but most saliently, they offer new insights into one's own legal tradition, shedding light on what had previously been assumed to be outside the scope of analytic vision. In the course of this volume, scholars come together to examine such issues as judicial authority, the legal policing of female sexuality, and the status of those who stand outside one's own tradition. Whether for the pursuit of advanced scholarship, pedagogic innovation in the classroom, or simply a greater appreciation of how to live in a multi-faith, post-secular world, these encounters are richly-stimulating, demonstrating how legal tradition can be used as a common site for developing discussions and opening up diverse approaches to questions about law, politics, and community. Islamic and Jewish Legal Reasoning offers a truly incisive model for considering the good, the right and the legal in our societies today.

Muslim Qur'anic interpretation today is beset by tensions. Tensions between localising and globalising forces; tensions between hierarchical and egalitarian social ideals; and tensions between the quest for new approaches and the claim for authority raised by defenders of exegetical traditions. It is this complex web of power structures, local as well as global, that this book seeks to elucidate. This book provides a fresh perspective on present-day Qur'anic interpretations by analysing the historical, social and political dimensions in which they take place, the ways in which they are performed and the media through which they are transmitted. Besides discussing the persistence of exegetical traditions and the emergence of new paradigms, it examines the structural conditions in which these processes occur. Languages, nation states, global human rights discourses and intra-Islamic divisions all shape the nature of interpretive endeavours and frequently fuel conflicts over the correct understanding of the Qur'an. This book contains more than twenty detailed case studies of recent Qur'anic interpretations, based on translated texts that cover a variety of languages, regions, media, genres, approaches, authors and target groups. They are integrated into the chapters, bring their arguments to life and stimulate fundamental reflections on the authority of the text and the authority of its interpreters.

Al-Qa?i al-Nu?man was the chief legal theorist and ideologue of the North African Fatimid dynasty in the tenth century. This translation makes available in English for the first time his major work on Islamic legal theory, which presents a legal model in support of the Fatimids' principle of legitimate rule over the Islamic community. Composed as part of a grand project to establish the theoretical bases of the official Fatimid legal school, Disagreements of the Jurists expounds a distinctly Shi?i system of hermeneutics, which refutes the methods of legal interpretation adopted by Sunni jurists. The work begins with a discussion of the historical causes of jurisprudential divergence in the first Islamic centuries, and goes on to address, point by point, the specific interpretive methods of Sunni legal theory, arguing that they are both illegitimate and ineffective. While its immediate mission is to pave the foundation of the legal Isma?ili tradition, the text also preserves several Islamic legal theoretical works no longer extant--including Ibn Dawud's manual, al-Wu?ul ila ma?rifat al-u?ul--and thus throws light on a critical stage in the historical development of Islamic legal theory (u?ul al-fiqh) that would otherwise be lost to history.

This book traces the emergence and development of the idea of literal meaning in Islamic legal hermeneutics. Literal meaning is what a text means in itself, regardless of what its author intends to convey or the reader understands to be its message. As Islamic law is based on the central texts of Islam, the idea of a literal meaning that rules over human attempts to understand God's message has resulted in a series of debates amongst modern Muslim legal theorists. In this reading of Islamic legal hermeneutics, Robert Gleave explores various competing notions of literal meaning, linked to both theological doctrine and historical developments, together with insights from modern semantic and pragmatic philosophers. It focuses on Islamic legal writings, with reference to Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir) and Arabic rhetorical works. It describes Muslim debates through the lens of modern Western linguistic philosophy, opening the topic up for Western scholars.

This volume provides a comprehensive survey of the contemporary study of Islamic law and a critical analysis of its deficiencies. Written by outstanding senior and emerging scholars in their fields, it offers an innovative historiographical examination of the field of Islamic law and an ideal introduction to key personalities and concepts. While capturing the state of contemporary Islamic legal studies by chronicling how far the field has come, the Handbook also explains why certain debates recur and indicates fundamental gaps in our knowledge. Each chapter presents bold new avenues for research and will help readers appreciate the contested nature of key concepts and topics in Islamic law. This Handbook will be a major reference work for scholars and students of Islam and Islamic law for years to come.

"Islamic Commercial Law: An Analysis of Futures and Options" is a ground-breaking study, written by a renowned scholar in the field of Islamic law, Prof M. H. Kamali, focusing on options and futures as trading tools, exploring their validity from an Islamic point of view. In this work, Prof M. H. Kamali advances a new perspective on the issue of futures and options based on an interpretation of the Qur'an and the Sunna and referring to the principle of "maslaha" (consideration of public interest) as enshrined in the Sharia.---"Islamic Commercial Law" consists of three parts. Part One is devoted to the description of futures trading and the understanding of operational procedures of futures and futures markets. Part Two investigates the issue of permissibility of futures trading in Islamic law and the underlying questions of risk-taking and speculation, which are of central concern to the topic. Part Three is devoted to an analysis of options. Prof M. H. Kamali concludes this work by providing the most advisable approach to commercial speculation in futures and options, especially the one that most serves the public interest as enshrined in Sharia. So as to aid the reader's understanding of this topic, the author also includes a helpful glossary of all technical Arabic terms that appear in this work. Prof M. H. Kamali's "Islamic Commercial Law" is recommended reading for anyone working on Islamic law, comparative law, or Islamic banking, and is an essential contribution to the topic of Islamic commercial law.

A very accessible and concise guide to Islamic finance Contracts and Deals in Islamic Finance provides a clear breakdown of Islamic financial contracts and deal structures for beginners. The embedded requirements within selected Islamic financial contracts, such as risk weightage, capital structures, creations of cash flows, and balance sheets, are explained fully to provide a solid understanding of the backbone of the industry. Aimed primarily at beginners and those with a background in conventional banking, this book guides readers through the major contracts, how they're applied, and how to discern a contract's legitimacy. Case studies and interviews with bankers and global regulators provide real-life examples of contract application, and the author's own experiences provide deep insight into the everyday issues that arise. Ancillary instructor's materials include PowerPoint slides and lecture notes that facilitate use in the classroom. Literature describing the application of Islamic financial contracts is few and far between, and those providing a basic breakdown of these contracts and questioning their validity are rarer still. This book is the first of its kind, offering a basic approach to understanding Islamic contracts, designed for the true beginner. * Understand the current contracts applied in Islamic banking * Learn how contracts are applied across different jurisdictions * Identify illegitimate contracts and those not in the spirit of Shariah law * Examine the current economic realities surrounding Islamic finance By highlighting the underlying themes in Islamic finance and assessing the current practices, this book gives readers the solid understanding and up-to-date perspective that form a solid foundation upon which successful Islamic finance is practiced. For a solid introduction to the Islamic finance industry, Contracts and Deals in Islamic Finance is an accessible, practical guide.

This book looks at how Islamic law was practiced in Russia from the conquest of the empire's first Muslim territories in the mid-1500s to the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the empire's Muslim population had exceeded 20 million. It focuses on the training of Russian Muslim jurists, the debates over legal authority within Muslim communities and the relationship between Islamic law and 'customary' law. Based upon difficult to access sources written in a variety of languages (Arabic, Chaghatay, Kazakh, Persian, Tatar), it offers scholars of Russian history, Islamic history and colonial history an account of Islamic law in Russia of the same quality and detail as the scholarship currently available on Islam in the British and French colonial empires.

In "Freedom, Equality and Justice in Islam," M H Kamali presents the reader with an analysis of the three concepts of freedom, equality and justice from an Islamic point of view and their manifestations in the religious, social, legal and political fields. The author discusses the evidence to be found for these concepts in the Qur'an and Sunna, and reviews the interpretations of the earlier schools of law. The work also looks at more recent contributions by Muslim jurists who have advanced fresh interpretations of freedom, equality and justice in the light of the changing realities of contemporary Muslim societies. "Freedom, Equality and Justice in Islam" is part of a series dedicated to the fundamental rights and liberties in Islam and should be read in conjunction with "The Dignity of Man: An Islamic Perspective" and "Freedom of Expression in Islam."

"The Dignity of Man: An Islamic Perspective" provides the most detailed study to date on the subject of the dignity of man from the perspective of Islam. M H Kamali sets out the proclamations on human dignity found in the Qur'an and then discusses topics pertaining to or resulting from human dignity: the physical and spiritual nobility of man; God's love for humanity; the sanctity of life; and the necessity for freedom, equality and accountability. Finally, the author examines the measures that the "Shariah" has taken to protect human dignity and to promote it in social interaction. The discussion is here presented in the light of the debate on the universality of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This book goes a long way towards exploring an alternative to Western concepts of human rights. "The Dignity of Man: An Islamic Perspective" is part of a series of studies on fundamental rights and liberties in Islam and should be read with its companion volumes of "Freedom,"" Equality and Justice in Islam," and "Freedom of Expression in Islam,"

Beginning in the late eighteenth century, British rule transformed the relationship between law, society, and the state in South Asia. But qazis and muftis, alongside ordinary people without formal training in law, fought back as the colonial system in India sidelined Islamic legal experts. They petitioned the East India Company for employment, lobbied imperial legislators for recognition, and built robust institutions to serve their communities. By bringing legal debates into the public sphere, they resisted the colonial state's authority over personal law and rejected legal codification by embracing flexibility and possibility. With postcards, letters, and telegrams, they made everyday Islamic law vibrant and resilient and challenged the hegemony of the Anglo-Indian legal system. Following these developments from the beginning of the Raj through independence, Elizabeth Lhost rejects narratives of stagnation and decline to show how an unexpected coterie of scholars, practitioners, and ordinary individuals negotiated the contests and challenges of colonial legal change. The rich archive of unpublished fatwa files, qazi notebooks, and legal documents they left behind chronicles their efforts to make Islamic law relevant for everyday life, even beyond colonial courtrooms and the confines of family law. Lhost shows how ordinary Muslims shaped colonial legal life and how their diversity and difference have contributed to contemporary debates about religion, law, pluralism, and democracy in South Asia and beyond.

"This engagingly written study illuminates the workings of Islamic courts and the politics and meanings of Muslim identity in one of Asia's most important 'new tigers.' While elucidating the dynamics of Muslim families and family law, Peletz provides dazzling insights into Malay-Muslim subjectivities and notions of gender, sexuality, and modernity. The result is an intellectual tour de force that should be read by anyone and everyone interested in Islam, democracy, civil society, and the thorny question of just what, in political and sexual terms, it means to be modern."--Robert W. Hefner, author of "Civil Islam"

"With one out of five people in the world subject to Islamic law this important study of the Malaysian variant is a genuine milestone in our understanding of Muslim law and society. It challenges our appreciation of the power relations between men and women and of the politics of law in building a modern state. This is law not on the books but in daily life. The insights afforded here are central to the broader role Islamic law is playing in the lives of the whole world."--Lawrence Rosen, Princeton University

"This is at once Michael Peletz's most sophisticated and most ambitious book. He is concerned with at least three huge projects: the Islamic resurgence, the Islamic legal system, and cultural politics. This is an evocative, often brilliant book that shows how cosmopolitan politics engineered from Kuala Lumpur have produced a contradictory notion of Asian values that poses an opaque but imminent danger."--Bruce Lawrence, author of "Shattering the Myth: Islam Beyond Violence"

"Based on impressive fieldwork and archival research, this is the first full-lengthtreatment of Islamic courts in contemporary Malaysia. It makes the important point that, far from being antiquated and out of touch, Islamic courts are helping to make a 'modern' Malaysia."--James Piscatori, coeditor of "Muslim Politics"

Dieses Buch beschaftigt sich auf der hermeneutisch-interpretativen Ebene mit dem Verhaltnis zwischen dem Text und dem Kontext. Die Grundlage dazu bilden die Debatten, die infolge der gesellschaftlichen Umbruche in der bosnisch-herzegowinischen Gesellschaft im Laufe des 20. Jahrhunderts. zur Frage der Deutung und Anwendung der Scharia gefuhrt wurden. Der Autor identifiziert und untersucht dabei alle wesentlichen Elemente und Charakteristika, Reichweiten und Einschrankungen der gesellschaftlichen, politischen, rechtlichen und theologischen Verortung der Scharia im gesamtgesellschaftlichen Kontext eines europaischen Landes. Vor dem Hintergrund der gegenwartigen Diskussionen uber die Integration der Muslime in die europaischen Gesellschaften ist diese Frage im hiesigen Kontext von grosser Relevanz.