Islamic Books - Page 3

Encyclopedia of Islamic Law: A Compendium of the Major Schools

Laleh Bakhtiar, Kevin Reinhart

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Informative... But intellectually useless. 2 out of 5 stars.
12 of 16 people found this review helpful.

This book is actually a direct translation of a major comparative study by the late shi`i scholar Muhammad Jowwad Maghniyyah. The original work as well as the translation simply list religious rules regarding certain cases and highlights the differences between the Sunni and shi`i scholars.

The work rarely mention the reasoning behind any legal rule and the information is very brief. For practicing Muslims, the book can be a great source of information; for non-practicing Muslims, it is useless.

The translation is not the best I have seen either, I have read better translations of the same work and this one is the worst.

For the kind of information that is contained in the book, any online resource of Islamic law (of the same calible) will be more useful and save more time.

Editorial Review:

The various schools of law are compared and contrasted on all issues of the Shariah including individual worship (purification, prescribed prayer, prescribed fasting, prescribed charity and prescribed pilgrimage), economic issues including inheritance, endowments, wills and bequests, legal disability and social issues of marriage and divorce.

A History of Islamic Law (Islamic Surveys)

Noel J. Coulson

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

More of an introduction than anything else 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

More of an introduction to Islamic law than a history of it. This book is also seriously lacking and a little dated. The basic context of the book is the development of a system of law that has expanded from its 'primative' boundries to coming into contact with complex societies such as the Persians and Byzantines to a peak of the 11th centures when the four schools were truly codified to the so called 'stagnation and decline' The book then moves on to the contact with European laws through loss of teritorry and colonial expansion. The impression throughout this part of the book is 'Islamic law became outdated, for 'humanitarian reasons' people would be horrified by amputated hands and stoning of people so western laws were adopted, with the exeption of Saudi Arabia, Northern Nigeria and Afghanistan.

The book simply does not cover the issues here as to why western laws were adopted. It is far too simplisitic to simply go on about amputeted hands and stoning as though that is all Islamic law consists of (It would be a bit like saying all US law consists of is gassing, injecting or electricuting prisoners)

This is simply not an honest study of the development of Islamic law but rather a dated skim over of history. I suppose you couldnt expect much from a book consisting of only 264 pages to cover around 1400 years of history but this is pretty poor. Especially considering this is on most reading lists in Universities.

Editorial Review:

The classic introduction to Islamic law, tracing its development from its origins,through the medieval period, to its place in modern Islam.

Pronouncing and Persevering: Gender and the Discourses of Disputing in an African Islamic Court (Chicago Series in Law and Society)

Susan F. Hirsch

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Editorial Review:

The title of Susan Hirsch's study of disputes involving Swahili Muslims in coastal Kenya reflects the image of gender relations most commonly associated with Islamic law. Men need only "pronounce" divorce to resolve marital conflicts, while embattled and embittered wives must persevere by silently enduring marital hardships. But Hirsch's observations of Islamic courts uncover how Muslim women actively use legal processes to transform their domestic lives, achieving victories on some fronts but reinforcing their image as subordinate to men through the speech they produce in court.

Pronouncing and Persevering focuses closely on the language used in disputes, particularly how men and women narrate their claims and how their speech shapes and is shaped by gender hierarchy in postcolonial Swahili society. Based on field research and court testimony, Hirsch's book debunks the conventional view that women are powerless under Islamic law and challenges the dichotomies through which Islam and gender relations are currently understood.

The Sources of Islamic Law: Islamic Theories of Abrogation

burton watson

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Editorial Review:

Islamic law never achieved unity but developed into five surviving schools, which, when first established, were in competition with one another. This scholarly book is the first to examine critically the differing Islamic theories of abrogation (or Naskh) upon which each school based its claim to be the correct interpretation.

The Rule of Law in the Arab World: Courts in Egypt and the Gulf (Cambridge Middle East Studies)

Nathan J. Brown

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

accessible, thorough, well-argued and well-sourced 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Nathan Brown's book is among the best legal writing about law in the Arab world available. Neither to general to describe reality meaningfully nor too elaborate to be accessible, Brown avoids the obsessive fixation upon Islam and gender that dominates most legal discourse about the region (usually motivated by grants which are in turn politically driven), Brown presents a very clear set of questions: does 'rule of law' in the Arab world primarily arise from colonial impositions from foreign powers, liberal legality (the pursuit of law as a means to restrain power), or from an effort to extend and consolidate power? Brown argues that the latter is the best account of the 'rule of law,' but also that this particular process of consolidating power is itself constraining, as a government that seeks to rule through laws has to occasionally grant tactical advantages to those it governs. The writing is clear, the sources extensive, and the author places real Arab sources at the center of his analysis, rather than citing the Western scholars who "know" the region better than its occupants. Still, as I see it, the primary contribution of the book is in disturbing basic conventions about the 'rule of law' itself.

Editorial Review:

Nathan Brown's penetrating account of the development and operation of the courts in the Arab world is based on fieldwork in Egypt and the Gulf. The book addresses important questions about the nature of Egypt's judicial system and the reasons why such a system appeals to Arab rulers outside Egypt. From the theoretical perspective, it also contributes to the debates about liberal legality, political change and the relationship between law and society in the developing world. It will be widely read by scholars of the Middle East, students of law and colonial historians.

Lessons in Islamic Jurisprudence

Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent and Long overdue 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 15 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. As-Sadr was a top scholar killed by Saddam and this translation was long overdue. I should think anyone who teaches Islamic law in the West would find it essential.

Poor. 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I must say I bought this book due to the attention given to the rise of Shia Islam in Iraq especially from Muqtada al-Sadr and his private army who have done so much to demolish Iraqs stability with his private army of South American style death squads.

I was interested in Muhammad Baqir as unlike Muqtada whose religious knowledge seems to come from Mullahs abroad and qualifications from little more than his family name (which he seems to use and exploit at every available opportunity) he was at least a well respected scholar (amongst Shia at least) in spite of being the co-founder (along with Muhammda Baqir al-Hakim (famed for his 'Badr brigade' the death squads of Basra and its surroundings)) in forming the Iranian backed Islamist movement in Iraq he was seen as more moderate than Khomeni.

This book however is to say the least a toil to read. Slow and lacking in any real commentary or explaination to the text. While there is an introduction to Islamic law including the history of its development I feel there sould have been more concentration on the actual text in order to make it at least more readable.

While this book may be of interest especially with ongoing events in Iraq it would certainly take more than just a passing read and perhaps recomended only to those with a deep interest in Shia Islamic law.

Editorial Review:

This classic text is rendered directly from the original Arabic by one of America's leading Islamic scholars. This paperback edition has been specially published for the many courses for which this book has been requested.

And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses

Khaled M. Abou El Fadl

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Editorial Review:

This is a substantially expanded edition of the author's seminal work "The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses: A Contemporary Case Study". Beginning with the case study of a Muslim basketball player who refused to stand up while the American national anthem was playing, the author documents the disintegration of the Islamic juristic tradition, and the prevalence of authoritarianism in contemporary Muslim discourses. The author analyzes the rise of what he describes as puritan and despotic trends in modern Islam, and asserts that such trends nullify the richness and diversity of the Islamic tradition. By declaring themselves the true soldiers of God and the defenders of religion, Muslim puritan movements are able to degrade women, eradicate critical thinking, and empty Islam of its moral content. In effect, the author argues, the self-declared protectors of Islam become its despots and oppressors who suppress the dynamism and vigor of the Islamic message. Anchoring himself in the rich Islamic jurisprudential tradition, the author argues for upholding the authoritativeness of the religious text without succumbing to authoritarian methodologies of interpretation. Ultimately, the author asserts that in order to respect the integrity of the Divine laws it is necessary to adopt rigorous analytical methodologies of interpretation, and to re-investigate the place of morality in modern Islam.

Roman, Provincial and Islamic Law: The Origins of the Islamic Patronate (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization)

Patricia Crone

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Roman influences on Islamic Law 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

If you are working in this area, like me, perhaps you have found nothing save P Crone's book published since the War. It would seem that the line went dead about 1945, somewhere in or around the Instituto per L'Oriente, Naples. I welcome this book as a revival of interest in the subject but not nearly as much as I would welcome advice, direction, comment, anything....on how to proceed to any other information on Roman influences on Islamic Law.

Editorial Review:

This book examines the cultural origins of Islamic law. Some authorities stress the importance of the contribution of Roman law; others that of Arabian law. Most are agreed that Jewish law contributed, but not explained further. Dr Crone tests the Roman hypothesis with reference to one institution, the patronate, which does indeed appear to owe something to Roman law. He concludes that Roman law contributed only in so far as it was part and parcel of the rather different legal practice of the Near Eastern provinces, and that provincial law would repay further consideration by legal historians.

Equity and Fairness in Islam (Islamic Law and Jurisprudence series)

Mohammad Hashim Kamali

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Editorial Review:

This is the first work in the English language to deal specifically with the subjects of equity and fairness in Islamic law. Prof M H Kamali takes these concepts back to their origin in the Qur'an, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad and the era of the Companions of the Prophet in the first two centuries of Islam. This is followed by discussions of equity as a basis for the formulation of Islamic law and a comparison between it and other concepts essential for law making such as general consensus, analogical reasoning and considerations of public interest. Part Two of Equity and Fairness in Islam is an attempt to apply the concepts of equity and fairness to certain issues of contemporary concern and especially to commercial transactions. The issues raised here are related to Islamic banking, sale transactions, charitable endowments, pensions funds and other long-term saving accounts. Equity and Fairness in Islam can be read in conjunction with M H Kamali's titles especially Islamic Commercial Law.

Distinguished Jurist's Primer (The Great Books of Islamic Civilization)

Ibn Rushd, Muhammad Abdul Rauf, Averroes

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Ibn Rushd's "Bidayat al-Mujtahid" ("The Distinguished Jurist's Primer") occupies a unique place among the authoritative manuals of Islamic law. It is designed to prepare the jurist for the task of the mujtahid, the independent jurist, who derives the law and lays down precedents to be followed by the judge in the administration of justice. In this manual Ibn Rushd traces most of the issues of Islamic law, describing not only what the law is, but also elaborating the methodology of some of the greatest legal minds in Islam to show how such laws were derived. This text provides a still-relevant basis for the interpretation and formulation of Islamic law. Combining his legal and philosophical knowledge, Ibn Rushd transcends the boundaries of different schools and presents a critical analysis of the opinions of the famous Muslim jurists and their methodologies. The legal subject areas covered include marriage and divorce; sale and exchange of goods; wages, crop-sharing and speculative partnership; security for debts and insolvency; gifts, bequests and inheritance; and offences and judgements.