This survey of Islamic Law combines Western and Islamic views and describes the relationship between the original theories of Islamic law and the views of contemporary Islamic writers. Covering the key topics in the area -- including the history, sources and formation of Islamic Law, the legal mechanisms, and the contemporary context -- it is strong in its coverage of the modern perspective, which particularly marks this book out from other texts in this field. The aim is to provide the student with a background understanding of Islamic Law and access to the complexity of the Islamic legal system. The language used is non-technical and understanding is aided with a supplementary detailed glossary and analytical indices. Selling Points *Author is a well-known scholar who is a lawyer by original profession and who has taught Islamic Law for 22 years: ideally placed to write an introductory survey of the field. *No prior knowledge assumed *Uses non-technical language *Includes a glossary of key terms

The discipline of 'principles of Islamic jurisprudence' ("usul al-fiqh") constitutes the theoretical basis of Islamic law ("Shari'ah") and the indisputable foundation on which it is based. One of the most important branches of "usul al-fiqh" is the study of the usage of language. "Language and the Interpretation of Islamic Law" is the first work to appear in the English language dealing with this important aspect of Islamic law. Dr Sukri Husayn Ramic gives us the background to the terminology used by the different schools of Islamic law and then discusses the different applications of language in legal reasoning and the interpretation of Islamic law.

This monograph examines the dynamics involved in implementing Islamic law in Southeast Asia, and how this issue has become a source of conflict in Kelantan, Malaysia and Aceh, Indonesia. Using textual and fieldwork methodology, the study compares and contrasts the collective experience of trying to apply Islamic law in these two locations. --In both Kelantan and Aceh, Islamic law was first developed in the thirteenth century with the coming of Islam to the region, but was later replaced by colonial legal systems, and then by the jurisprudence of national governments following independence. Reinstituting Islamic law has become a dominant political issue in both countries. --Through an analysis of the conditions that have made the emergence of Islamic law in Kelantan and Aceh possible, the author helps extend previous studies on this issue by providing a sociological understanding of religious law as a source of both conflict and identity. --Kamaruzzaman Bustamam-Ahmad is a Ph.D. student at La Trobe University, Australia.-

Taking the Arab Spring as its case study, this book explores the role of law and constitutions during societal upheavals, and critically evaluates the different trajectories they could follow in a revolutionary setting. It urges a rethinking of major categories in political, legal, and constitutional theory in light of the Arab Spring. The book is a novel and comprehensive examination of the constitutional order that preceded and followed the Arab Spring in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Jordan, Algeria, Oman, and Bahrain. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, including an in-depth analysis of recent court rulings in several Arab countries, the book illustrates the contradictory roles of law and constitutions. The book also contrasts the Arab Spring with other revolutionary situations and demonstrates how the Arab Spring provides a laboratory for examining scholarly ideas about revolutions, legitimacy, legality, continuity, popular sovereignty, and constituent power. With a new preface from the author addressing developments in the Arab Spring.