In Palestine, family law is a controversial topic publicly debated by representatives of the state, Sharia establishment, and civil society. Yet to date no such law exists. This book endeavors to determine why by focusing on the conceptualization of gender and analyzing "law in the making" and the shifts in debates (2012-2018). In 2012, a ruling on khul'-divorce was issued by the Sharia Court and was well received by civil society, but when the debate shifted in 2018 to how to "harmonize" international law with Islamic standards, the process came to a standstill. These developments and the various power relations cannot be properly understood without taking into consideration the terminology used and redefined in these debates.

Pre-modern Western sources generally claim that European mercantile communities in the Ottoman Empire enjoyed legal autonomy, and were thus effectively immune to Ottoman justice. At the same time, they report numerous disputes with Ottoman officials over jurisdiction ("avanias"), which seems to contradict this claim, the discrepancy being considered proof of the capriciousness of the Ottoman legal system. Modern studies of Ottoman-European relations in this period have tended uncritically to accept this interpretation, which is challenged in this book.

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.

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.

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.