Understanding Sharia: Islamic Law in a Globalised World
Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- The Institute of Ismaili Studies -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Islamic Law in the Contemporary World -- Preamble -- Schools of Law in Islam (madhahib) -- Our Approach -- Why has this Situation of Apparent Stasis Arisen? -- Need for a Clear and Easy-to-Read Book -- What this Book Aims to Do -- The Structure of the Book -- Questions Raised by the Book -- 1. Sharia - Origin through Revelation, Historical Development and Change -- The Advent of Islam -- Sharia -- Legal Content of the Qur'an -- Sharia - An Interconnected System -- Interpretation -- Arabia at the Beginning of Islam -- Initial Period 610-661 -- Pre-Islamic Arab Society -- Pre-Islamic Practices -- Sharia as an Identity Marker -- The Advent of Muhammad as Prophet and Ruler -- The Early Period and the Need for Interpretation -- Some Early Examples of Legal Interpretation -- Some Specific Cases -- Important Characteristics of this Initial Period -- Changes Islam Made to Customary Practices of the Peninsular Arabs -- Questions that Arise about Law and Legal Development Under the First Four Caliphs -- Conclusion -- 2. Legal Practice under the Umayyads (661-750) -- Rapid Expansion and Early Development of Law -- Expansion of Islam within the First Century of the Revelation -- Other Courts and Legal Functionaries -- Legal Pluralism -- Continuation of Legal Development -- After the End of the Rule of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs -- Theological Discourses -- The Qadi -- Conclusion -- 3. Consolidation of the Schools of Law under the Abbasids (750-1258) -- The Abbasids -- Continuing Theological Discourses -- Concern -- The Mihna -- Legal Doctrine and Moral Validation -- Diversity -- Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi'i -- Usul al-Fiqh - the Sources or Roots of Islamic Jurisprudence -- Shafi'i's Legacy