Synopses & Reviews
Islamic law is the epitome of Islamic thought, the most typical manifestation of the Islamic way of life, the core and kernel of Islam itself, asserts Joseph Schacht the internationally renowed Islamic law scholar. Indeed, the primary place of law in Islam as well as the preponderance of the legal over the theological in Muslim thinking has long been recognized by both Muslim jurisprudents and by Western legal scholars. At a time when Islamic fundamentalism is flourishing, the relation of religion in and to law-related behavior needs to be scrutinized. In its eight chapters, contributed by various experts in the field and with a cogent introduction by editor Daisy Hilse Dwyer that focuses on the sources of law, the reasons for its centrality in the Middle East, and personal status law, this volume considers Middle Eastern law as practiced by Muslims in a diversity of Middle Eastern nations. The dynamics of dispute settlement, the interaction of court personnel with litigants, the content of legislation, and the promulgation of public policies about law are detailed here as well as the power dynamics of law's interpersonal, intergroup, and international sides. Focusing on the specifics of contemporary politics and social life, the volume provides a baseline for understanding how, and the degree to which, the legal principles and the legal ethos elaborated in Islam centuries ago continue to provide a vital dynamic in legal behavior and thinking today.
The first five chapters deal with the on-the-ground intricacies of personal status law. They detail the complex blend of options and constraints that Middle Easterners experience in confronting personal status issues and examine the different approaches to these issues by contrasting regional evironments and differentially empowered social groups. The last three chapters assess law in the public domain-an area in which the most striking recent applications of Islamic law have occurred. Law and Islam in the Middle East will be of particular value to international law experts, students of Islam, comparative law, and the Middle East, as well as practicing social scientists and others who seek a practical and philosophical understanding of how the spirit and letter of Islamic law constitute and reconstitute themselves with a fine-tuned responsiveness to a continuously changing nation and world.
Synopsis
This volume considers Middle Eastern law as practiced by Muslims in a diversity of Middle East nations scrutinizing the relation of religion in and to law-related behavior. The book focuses on the sources of Islamic law, the reasons for its centrality in the Middle East and personal status law.
Synopsis
"Islamic law is the epitome of Islamic thought, the most typical manifestation of the Islamic way of life, the core and kernel of Islam itself," asserts renowned Islamic law scholar Joseph Schacht. At a time when Islamic fundamentalism is flourishing, the relation of religion to law-related behavior needs to be scrutinized. This volume considers Middle Eastern law as practiced by Muslims in a diversity of Middle East nations. Eight chapters, contributed by experts in the field, and a cogent introduction by Dwyer deal with the practical intricacies of personal status law and assess law in the public domain.
About the Author
DAISY HILSE DWYER is a a practicing attorney in New York City, with specializations in corporate and transnational law.
Table of Contents
Law and Islam in the Middle East: An Introduction by Daisy Hilse Dwyer
Women and Criminal Justice in Egypt by Safia K. Mohsen
Litigant Strategies in an Islamic Court in Jordan by Richard T. Antoun
Literacy and the Law: Documents and Document Specialists in Yemen by Brinkley Messick
Islam and the Struggle over State Law in Turkey by June Starr
Reinstating Islamic Criminal Law in Libya by Ann Elizabeth Mayer
Legal Postulates in Flux: Justice, Wit, and Hierarchy in Iran by Michael M. J. Fischer
Working the Law: A Lebanese Working-Class Case by Suad Joseph
Index