This study focuses on a Muslim legal science known in Arabic as usul al-fiqh. Whereas the kindred science of fiqh is concerned with the articulation of actual rules of law, this science elaborates the theoretical and methodological foundations of the law.

"The Spirit of Islamic Law" outlines the prominent features of Muslim juristic thought: espousal of divine sovereignty; a fixation on divine texts; an uncompromisingly intentionalist approach to the interpretation of those texts; a frank acknowledgment of the fallibility of human endeavor to capture divine intent; a toleration of legal diversity; a moralistic bent grounded in a particular social vision; and finally, a preoccupation with the affairs of private individuals--especially family relations and contracts--coupled with a concern to define the limits of governmental power.

"The Spirit of Islamic Law" is the fifth book in Georgia's Spirit of Laws series, which illuminates the nature of legal systems throughout the world.

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 is a uniquely comprehensive and up-to-date volume spanning nine regions and 38 Islamic countries around the world. More than a billion Muslims have their lives in such matters as marriage, divorce, maintenance, paternity and the custody of children governed by certain aspects of the Shari'a, commonly known as Islamic Family Law. But as the team who have put together this resource book point out, this does not mean that identical principles apply everywhere. In fact, as the socio-cultural and historical contextualisations which precede each country's legal profile make clear, the practical application of Shari'a principles is often modified by theological differences of interpretation, particular customary practices in the country concerned, and state policy and law. This volume documents the scope and actual manner of application of Islamic Family Law worldwide. Part of its purpose is the assumption that while changing social conditions - including a commitment to certain universal human rights -- make legal reform necessary, any strategy must be based first of all on the best possible factual foundations. And secondly, since Islamic Family Law has become contested ground between conservative and fundamentalist forces on the one hand and modernist and liberal trends on the other in most Islamic countries, reform must be conceived only in realistic terms and advocated in ways that motivate and empower potential supporters working in their own communities. This work is a uniquely valuable resource for lawyers, social policymakers and scholars. It is also a contribution to the historical challenge which Islamic societies confront in reforming personal and family law.

This reissue describes the complete history of Islamic jurisprudence from its origins, through the Medieval period, to modern times. The work demonstrates how, although religious law lies at the heart of Islamic culture, Islamic states have recently modified the law to meet society's changing values. The author considers the problems of such legal reform, referring to a wide variety of substantive legal rules and institutions.

This is an in-depth and insightful study of Shari'ah governance from a theoretical and practical perspective. Shari'ah governance has a profound influence on the day-to-day practice of Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) and each jurisdiction has adopted a different approach to developing a governance framework. Hasan Zulkifli reviews these pluralistic approaches and identifies best practice. It comes with examples, case studies and practical discussions based on IFIs in the UK, Malaysia and the GCC countries of Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The topics covered include: the theory behind corporate and Shari'ah governance; the regulatory framework for Shari'ah governance; Shari'ah governance approaches; the Shari'ah Board's role and how it retains its independence, transparency and competence; the operational procedures of Shari'ah governance; and, the effectiveness of the Shari'ah Board and how it could be improved.

200 abstracts of scholarly publications in non-English languages on Islamic law and ethics. Law within Muslim societies is not uniform; even within Muslim majority regions it can be interpreted differently according to different denominations and legal traditions. As law forms an integral part of normative social practice, reflecting the moral and ethical principles of a society, it is important to highlight the diversity of interpretations to better enable the study of law along with the ethical principles of a community. This volume brings together some of the many unheard voices of scholars studying law and ethics in languages other than English. It features 200 abstracts with bibliographical details in 3 languages (English, Arabic and Turkish) giving access to information about scholarly publications from Muslim contexts in the fields of law and Sharia.

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.

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.

Islam's Sacred Law is one of the most complex, detailed and comprehensive legal theories that Islam, as a Western religion, has produced in its capacity as a doctrine of social justice. However, few available texts have dealt with the treatment of women under the actual system of justice that adheres to Islam's Sacred Law. This book fills this void by providing a much needed comprehensive study of the application of the Sacred Law to women under the Islamic Republic of Iran's justice system. It will be a fascinating guide to all those interested in comparative law, criminal justice and the sociology of law.

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Providing a comprehensive and accessible examination of Shari'ah Law, this well considered introduction examines the sources, characteristic features, and schools of thought of a system often stereotyped for its severity in the West. In a progressive and graduated fashion, Mohammad Hashim Kamali discusses topics ranging from juristic disagreement to independent reasoning. Also broaching more advanced topics such as the principle of legality and the role and place of Shari'ah-oriented policy, Kamali controversially questions whether Islam is as much of a law-based religion as it has often been made out to be. Complete with a bibliography and glossary, and both a general index and an index of Arabic quotations, this wide-ranging exploration will prove an indispensable resource for Islamic students and scholars, and an informative guide to a complex topic for the general reader.

This book explores the development of the Muslim Brotherhood's thinking on Islamic law and human rights, and argues that the Muslim Brotherhood has exacerbated, rather than solved, tensions between the two in Egypt. The organisation and its scholars have drawn on hard-line juristic opinions and reinvented certain concepts from Islamic traditions in ways that limit the scope of various human rights, and advocate for Islamic alternatives to international human rights. The Muslim Brotherhood's practices in opposition and in power have been consistent with its literature. As an opposition party, it embraced human rights language in its struggle against an authoritarian regime, but advocated for broad restrictions on certain rights. However, its recent and short-lived experience in power provides evidence of its inclination to reinforce restrictions on religious freedom, freedom of expression and association, and the rights of religious minorities, and to reverse previous reforms related to women's rights.The book concludes that the peaceful management of political and religious diversity in society cannot be realised under the Muslim Brotherhood's model of a Shari`a state. The study advocates for the drastic reformation of traditional Islamic law and state impartiality towards religion, as an alternative to the development of a Shari`a state or exclusionary secularism. This transformation is, however, contingent upon significant long-term political and socio-cultural change, and it is clear that successfully expanding human rights protection in Egypt requires not the exclusion of Islamists, but their transformation. Islamists still have a large constituency and they are not the only actors who are ambivalent about human rights. Meanwhile, Islamic law also appears to continue to influence Egypt's law. The book explores the prospects for certain constitutional and institutional measures to facilitate an evolutionary interpretation of Islamic law, provide a baseline of human rights and gradually integrate international human rights into Egyptian law.

Drawing on legal and hadith texts from the formative and classical periods of Islamic legal history, this book offers an overview of the development of the questions prominent jurists asked and answered about women's issues. All assumed a woman would marry and thus the book concentrates on women's family life. The introduction establishes the historical framework within which the jurists worked. A chapter on Qur'an verses devoted to women's lives is followed by chapters on marriage and divorce which compare the views of jurists during the formative period. The fourth chapter describes the evolution from the formative to the classical periods. The fifth uses material from both periods to describe the array of legal opinion about other aspects of women's lives in and outside their homes. Throughout, jurists' opinions are juxtaposed with relevant quotations from contemporaneous hadith collections.

This volume examines Islamic maritime law and the actual practice of Muslim sailors during the classical period. It contains seven chapters. The first surveys the important terminology of maritime life. The second chapter examines the interrelationship of shipowners, crew, and passengers. The third chapter deals with maritime commercial laws; contracts for the leasing of ships, freight charges, transportation of goods, taxes and tolls in the ports. It also examines losses at sea, describes the laws concerning of jettison and "general average," collision, and salvage of jetsam. Chapter four covers military maritime law; chapter five emphasizes the legal significance of territorial waters as interpreted by Muslim jurists, governors, and seafarers. The sixth chapter discusses how Islamic maritime law was adjudicated at sea, while the final one concludes the study by explaining how sea-travel affected the performance of Islamic religious duties.

In the past two decades, Muslim countries across the globe have been faced with a crisis in governance. Starting with a summary of Islamic Law (Sharia) and its implications for law enforcement, this book will highlight the unique needs and challenges of law enforcement, and particularly policing, in these communities. It will provide a scholarly exposition of Sharia law and how it is compatible (or not) with policing in a modern context. The role and contribution of Sharia Law towards conceptualizing law enforcement in a modern context is certainly worth looking forward to, especially understanding its co-existence with civil law in countries with minority Muslim communities. Featuring case studies from throughout the Muslim world, this volume will highlight key qualities of Sharia law and Muslim culture that play a role in law enforcement, including: case processing, community policing, police administration, human rights, and the influence of globalization. Taking a comprehensive approach, this work provides a historical context for colonization events in Muslim countries and their influence on current law enforcement systems, as well as providing key insights into the particular norms that make up the bases for Muslim societies, and their unique needs. Looking into the future, it provides guidelines for how community policing can play a proactive role in law enforcement and crime prevention.