An Introduction to Islamic Law

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An Introduction to Law,
[A5] Paperback - 207 pages,
by Wael B. Hallaq.

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Description :

The study of Islamic law can be a forbidding prospect for those entering the field for the first time. Wael Hallaq, a leading scholar and practitioner of Islamic law, guides students through the intricacies of the subject in this absorbing 2009 introduction.

The first half of the book is devoted to a discussion of Islamic law in its pre-modern natural habitat. The second part explains how the law was transformed and ultimately dismantled during the colonial period. In the final chapters, the author charts recent developments and the struggles of the Islamists to negotiate changes which have seen the law emerge as a primarily textual entity focused on fixed punishments and ritual requirements.

The book, which includes a chronology, a glossary of key terms, and lists of further reading, will be the first stop for those who wish to understand the fundamentals of Islamic law, its practices and history.

*A concise, erudite introduction to the history, practice & contentions of Islamic law,
*Clearly composed and structured for an undergraduate market,
*Hallaq is the master of his field, a leading scholar of Islamic law and its interpretation.

Table of Contents :

---Introduction,

Part I. Tradition and Continuity:

---1. Who's who in the Shari'a,
---2. The law: how is it found?
---3. The legal schools,
---4. Jurists, legal education and politics,
---5. Shari'a's society,
---6. Pre-modern governance: the circle of justice.

Part II. Modernity and Ruptures:

---7. Colonising the Muslim world and its Shari'a,
---8. Modernising the law in the age of nation states,
---9. State, ulama and Islamists,
---10. Shari'a then and now: concluding notes.

---Glossary of key terms,
---Chronology,
---Suggested further reading,
---Index.

Wael B. Hallaq is a scholar of Islamic law and Islamic intellectual history. He is currently the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University at the Dept. of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. After a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, he joined The McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies in 1985, to become an assistant professor in Islamic law. In 1994, he earned full professorship, and in 2005 became a James McGill Professor in Islamic law.

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