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JournalISSN: 0928-9380

Islamic Law and Society 

Brill
About: Islamic Law and Society is an academic journal published by Brill. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Islam & Sharia. It has an ISSN identifier of 0928-9380. Over the lifetime, 412 publications have been published receiving 5205 citations. The journal is also known as: Islamic law and society.
Topics: Islam, Sharia, Madhhab, Jurisprudence, Comparative law


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the juristic discourse on Muslim minorities from the second/eighth century to the eleventh/seventeenth century with regard to (1) whether or not Muslims may reside in non-Muslim territory and under what circumstances; (2) the relationship of these Muslims to dâr al-Islām; and (3) the ethical and legal duties that these Muslims owe to the Sharī'a and to their host non-muslim polity.
Abstract: This essay examines the juristic discourse on Muslim minorities from the second/eighth century to the eleventh/seventeenth century with regard to (1) whether or not Muslims may reside in non-Muslim territory and under what circumstances; (2) the relationship of these Muslims to dār al-Islām; and (3) the ethical and legal duties that these Muslims owe to the Sharī'a and to their host non-Muslim polity. The juristic discussions on legality of residence in non-Muslim territory in the first Islamic centuries were cryptic and ambiguous. Systematic juristic positions developed only after the sixth/twelfth century as a response to historical challenges. The various positions adopted by the jurists were a function of historical specificity and reflected a dynamic process of legal development. In theory, the position of Muslim minorities residing in non-Muslim territory is problematic because of the traditional dichotomy between dār al-Islām and dār al-harb. In practice, the persistent existence of Muslim minorities residing outside dār al-Islām challenged this dichotomous view. The linguistic dichotomy between dār al-Islām and dār al-harb obscures a much more complex historical reality. The juristic discourse on the issue was not dogmatic and does not lend itself to essentialist positions.

164 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper interpreted the social and cultural consequences of Islam's regard for knowledge, showing how education in the Middle Ages played a central part in the religious experience of nearly all Muslims, focusing on Cairo, which under Mamluk rule (1250-1517) was a vital intellectual centre with a complex social system.
Abstract: This study interprets the social and cultural consequences of Islam's regard for knowledge, showing how education in the Middle Ages played a central part in the religious experience of nearly all Muslims. Focusing on Cairo, which under Mamluk rule (1250-1517) was a vital intellectual centre with a complex social system, the author describes the transmission of religious knowledge there as a highly personal process, one dependent on the relationships between individual scholars and students. The great variety of institutional structures, he argues, supported educational efforts without ever becoming essential to them. By not being locked into formal channels, religious education was never exclusively for the elite but was open to all.

139 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the role of Taqlīd in regulating the actions of mufti and judges as discussed by post-6th/12th century jurists of the Mālikī school and conclude that Taqlíd resulted from the desire to have uniform rules rather than as a result of intellectual stagnation.
Abstract: The study of the relationship between ijtihād and Taqlīd has been dominated by an approach that privileges ijtihād over Taqlīd on the assumption that the former is an intellectually superior mode of legal reasoning. By analyzing the role of Taqlīd in regulating the actions of muftīs and judges as discussed by post-6th/12th century jurists of the Mālikī school, I conclude that Taqlīd resulted from the desire to have uniform rules rather than as a result of intellectual stagnation. While ijtihād was individualistic and solipsistic, Taqlīd was the result of group interpretation that provided an objective basis upon which legal decisions and legal rulings could be described as being either substantively correct or incorrect. Viewed in this light, Taqlīd was originally a desire to limit the discretionary power of legal officials, especially those at the bottom of the legal hierarchy. The desire to possess uniform rules found its logical outcome in the legal genre of the mukhtaṣar as it emerged in the 7th/13th century. The mukhtaṣar functioned as the authoritative collection of a legal school's doctrine, and, for that reason, I argue that Islamic law in the age of mukhtaṣars is best understood as a codified Common Law.

113 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the early 1980s the debate about reform has become more intense and widespread as mentioned in this paper, and since then the discussions have become more vehement, especially since the coming to power of a new government in 1998 consisting of former opposition parties.
Abstract: In 1957-1958 Moroccan family law was codified in the Mudawwana , a text known for its close adherence to the classical Maliki tradition. Since the early 1980s the debate about reform has become more intense and widespread. The relatively limited reform of the Mudawwana in 1993 was closely linked to the beginnings of a process of cautious democratization. Since then the discussions have become more vehement, especially since the coming to power of a new government in 1998 consisting of former opposition parties. A year later this government presented a plan for extensive family law reforms. The plan has provoked considerable public debate over key concepts such as democracy , development , human rights , civil society , and ijtihād . Upon closer inspection, larger issues are at stake: Who may speak out in public and participate in politics? This new turn in the discussions is related to the emergence of a public sphere.

104 citations

Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
202310
202220
20211
20205
201913
201816