Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations

by Wael B. Hallaq

• ISBN13: 9780521678742
• ISBN10: 0521678749
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-27
• Publisher: Ingram Pub Services

Summary

In recent years, Islamic law, or Shari'a, has been appropriated as a tool of modernity in the Muslim world and in the West and has become highly politicised in consequence. Wael Hallaq's magisterial overview of Shari'a sets the record straight by examining the doctrines and practices of Islamic law within the context of its history, and by showing how it functioned within pre-modern Islamic societies as a moral imperative. In so doing, Hallaq takes the reader on an epic journey tracing the history of Islamic law from its beginnings in seventh-century Arabia, through its development and transformation under the Ottomans, and across lands as diverse as India, Africa and South-East Asia, to the present. In a remarkably fluent narrative, the author unravels the complexities of his subject to reveal a love and deep knowledge of the law which will inform, engage and challenge the reader.

Author Biography

Wael B. Hallaq is James McGill Professor in Islamic Law in the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University. He is a world renowned scholar whose publications include The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law (Cambridge, 2005), Authority, Continuity and Change in Islamic Law (Cambridge, 2001), and A History of Islamic Legal Theories (Cambridge, 1997).

Table of Contents

Preface and acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
The pre-modern tradition	p. 25
The formative period	p. 27
Legal theory: epistemology, language and legal reasoning	p. 72
Legal education and the politics of law	p. 125
Law and society	p. 159
The Circle of Justice and later dynasties	p. 197
The law: an outline	p. 223
The legal pillars of religion	p. 225
Contracts and other obligations	p. 239
Family law and succession	p. 271
Property and ownership	p. 296
Offenses	p. 308
Jih&abar;d	p. 324
Courts of justice, suits and evidence	p. 342
The sweep of modernity	p. 355
The conceptual framework: an introduction	p. 357
The jural colonization of India and South-East Asia	p. 371
Hegemonic modernity: the Middle East and North Africa during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries	p. 396
Modernizing the law in the age of nation-states	p. 443
In search of a legal methodology	p. 500
Repercussions: concluding notes	p. 543
Contents of substantive legal works	p. 551
Chronology	p. 556
Bibliography	p. 563
Index	p. 598
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