Disputes in a Court ofSharia, Kunar Valley, Afghanistan, 1885–1890

In: International journal of Middle East studies: IJMES, Volume 15, Issue 3, p. 353-367

Abstract

A prominent feature of the literature on Islamic law is the absence of reference to concrete cases. The preference given to oral testimony over written evidence by the ulema may have been one of the reasons for this neglect. But a more crucial factor can be traced back to the conceptual apparatus of the researchers who made use of the blurred notion of "traditional" society. As obedience to norms in such societies was supposedly automatic, the researchers could legitimately focus on ideals instead of the complexities of concrete behavior.