Islamic Law in Context
A Primary Source Reader

This book gathers 30 texts from across the Muslims world, exemplifying the diversity of Islamic legal thought and practice.

Omar Anchassi (Edited by), Robert Gleave (Edited by)

9781316516065, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 November 2024

504 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 3.6 cm, 0.88 kg

This volume surveys the diversity of Islamic legal thought and practice, a 1500 - year tradition that has been cultivated throughout the Islamic world. It features translations of Islamic legal texts from across the spectrum of literary genres (including legal theory, judicial handbooks, pamphlets) that represent the range of temporal, geographic and linguistic contexts in which Islamic law has been, and continues to be, developed. Each text has been chosen and translated by a specialist. It is accompanied by an accessible introduction that places the author and text in historical and legal contexts and explains the state of the relevant field of study. An introduction to each section offers an overview of the genre and provides a useful bibliography. The volume will enable all researchers of Islamic law - established academics, undergraduate students, and general readers - to understand the tremendous and sometimes bewildering diversity of Islamic law, as well the continuities and common features that bind it together.

Introduction Robert Gleave and Omar Anchassi
Part I. Islamic Legal Theory (Uṣūl al-Fiqh) and Related Genres: 1. The Foundation of Analogy Ziad Bou Akl
2. The Insufficiency of Concomitance Alone Walter Edward Young
3. Selections from al-Manthūr fī-l-Qawāʾid of Badr al-Dīn al-Zarkashī (d. 794/1392) Elias G. Saba
4. 'Is Every Mujtahid Correct or Not?' and the implications of holding incorrect theological beliefs for one's fate in the hereafter, from Qawānīn al-Uṣūl of Mīrzā al-Qummī (d. 1231/1816) Ali-reza Bhojani
5. The 'Innovation' of Legal School Affiliation Robert Gleave
Part II. Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) and Related Genres: 6. The Kitāb al-Umma, or Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīna Rehanna Nurmohamed
7. Section on lawful food from al-Mabsūṭ fī Fiqh al-Imāmiyya of Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī (d. 460/1067) Sumeyra Yakar
8. 'The Treatise of Refutation of those who Criticise [Our] Conduct' (Kitāb al-Radd ʿalā man Ṭaʿana fī l-Sīra) attributed to Imam al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh, Aḥmad b. Sulaymān (d. 566/1170) Eirik Hovden
9. Menstruating Women and Visiting the Mosque Robert Gleave
10. Section on the law of rebellion from the Radd al-Muḥtār of Ibn ʿĀbidīn (d. 1252/1836) Aysegul Simsek
11. Offer and Acceptance in Islamic Marriage Robert Gleave
12. Treatise on Jihad and Migration Magomed Gizbulaev
13. Alms Tax (zakā) in Shīʿī Law Maryam Rutner
14. A Difficult Case of Divorce, Tholaq Samvadam of ʿAbd Allāh Musliyār (b. ?) Sayyed Mohamed Muhsin
Part III. Legal Opinions (Fatwās): 15. Ottoman Fatwās on the Substitution of Defunct Endowment Properties, from al-Aqwāl al-Marḍiyya of Qāḍīzādah Muḥammad Ṭāhir (d. 1254/1834) Hatice Kubra
16. Settling Disputes among Nomads Ismail Warscheid
17. Fatwās on Aspects of Modern Life Knut S. Vikør
18. 'According to the qaul muʿtamad it is unlawful and invalid' Mohamad Bekti Khudari Lantong
19. Women and Leadership Mahmoud Afifi
20. 'His doctrine is deviant' Mukhsin Achmed
Part IV. Court Judgements and other Court Documentation: 21. The Restitituion of Conjugal Rights Sohaira Siddiqui
22. A Sharīʿa Court Judgement of Muḥammad Ḥusayn Fishārakī (d. 1353/1935) reviving the Safavid Waqf of Mīrzā Aḥmad Kafrānī (d. after 988/1580) Zahir Bhalloo
23. Authenticating Marriage Monika Lindbekk
24. Judgment of the Moroccan Supreme Council of Sharīʿa Appeals, Ruling #52 on Issue #4164 concerning Inheritance, Slavery, and Paternity (1359/1943) Ari Schriber
25. Sharīʿa, Sales and Loans in the Malaysian High Court Amir Shaharuddin
26. A Sharīʿa Court Decision on the Type of 'Compensation' in huləʾə/khulʿ Divorce Asnakech Getnet
Part V. Judicial Manuals and Reference Books: 27. 'The Discretion of the İmâm' Kubra Nugay
28. On Criminal Law Mina Khalil
29. Custody Disputes and the Best Interest of the Child, from al-Murshid fī l-Qaḍāʾ al-Sharʿī by Qāḍī Iyad Zahalka Nijmi Edres
30. Ibn Khunyan (b. 1376/1956) on Ajudication and Judicial Organisation, from al-Kāshif fī Sharḥ Niẓām al-Murāfaʿāt al-Sharʿiyya al-Saʿūdī ('A Commentary on the Saudi Code of Sharīʿa Procedure') Dominik Krell
31. Temporary Marriage in Iranian Family Law Hannah L. Richter
32. On Scriptuaries and Pagans as Slave-Concubines Omar Anchassi
Part VI. Alternative Sources for Islamic Legal Studies: Licenses, Biographies, Pamphlets, Speeches and Novels: 33. Reform of Islamic Law in 19th century Afghanistan Elham Bakhtary
34. The 'Permission to Teach' the Law Robert Gleave
35. Controversial and Uncontroversial Biographies in Rayḥānat al-Adab of Mīrzā Muḥammad ʿAlī Mudarris (d. 1373/1954) Robert Gleave
36. Battle of the Qāḍīs Mahmood Kooria
37. Aḥlām al-Naṣr and the Islamic State's Justification for Execution by Burning Mathias Ghyoot.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], Law & society [LAQ], Islamic law [LAFS], Islamic theology [HRHT], Islamic life & practice [HRHP], Islam [HRH]