A large literature contends that legal systems that adapt efficiently to meet the contracting needs of the economy foster financial sector development. The paper discusses the adaptability features of Islamic law related to commercial transactions (Islamic commercial law) in light of contemporary financial system. After discussing the nature and way the common and civil law traditions can evolv...

Under this title I organized, on March 26 and 29, 2010, a workshop that discussed the place of Islamic law in the national codes of states with predominantly Muslim populations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. What place do their codes assign to Islamic law? As none of the states concerned—with the exception of Turkey—declares itself to be a secular state, they can all claim that the law ...

A number of states have proposed initiatives or implemented laws that prohibit state courts from applying, considering, or interpreting foreign law, and in particular, Islamic law. The constitutionality of anti-Sharia legislation is in question. Its proponents claim that the Sharia ban protects state and federal constitutional rights, whereas its opponents claim that the ban infringes on the re...

Observers of contemporary politics know that Islamic extremism presents ‘the West’ with a serious challenge of national and international security consequent to terrorist events of recent time. In addition to constabulary and military responses, there remains the more fundamental question about how to understand Islamist ideology and how counternarratives might be framed in the interest of law ...

... [T]he manner in which an act was qualified as morally good or bad in the spiritual domain of Islamic religion was quite different from the manner in which that same act was qualified as legally valid or invalid in the temporal domain of Islamic law. Islamic law was secular, not canonical... Thus, it was a system focused on ensuring that an individual received justice, not that one be a good...

This chapter traces how British and Dutch colonial officials gathered and organized knowledge on Islamic law in the British Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca and Singapore) and the Netherlands Indies (present-day Indonesia) respectively. Despite clear differences between the legal systems and administrative structures of the two colonies, colonial authorities shared a considerable amount of ...

Paul Power’s new book, Intent in Islamic Law, is a challenging and welcome addition to contemporary scholarship on Islamic law and comparative law. Powers examines the way in which the classical Islamic jurists thought about motive, how they thought motive could be identified, and how they thought an actor’s “intent” affected the “legality” of his actions. To accomplish his task, Powers compare...

The rule of law entails government accountability, equal access to justice and the political process, efficient judicial and political systems, clear laws, generally stable laws, and the protection of fundamental human rights. This paper explores whether Islamic law conforms to these principles in theory and in practice. Three conclusions are reached. First, various early Islamic institutions w...

Muslims living in the Indonesian archipelago have long placed considerable importance on their travels to and communications with what they saw as intellectual centers for the study of Islam. I trace some of the effects of these “intellectual pilgrimages” to Mecca, Cairo, and elsewhere on Indonesian deliberations about Islam, particularly concerning Islamic law. I argue that these references to...

This article discusses the challenges and opportunities for advancing women’s rights through Islamic law using contemporary Morocco as a case study. Part I provides an overview of women’s rights in Morocco including the historic 2004 Mudawana (Code of Personal Status) reforms. Part II discusses the social roles, cultural representations, and socioeconomic realities of Moroccan women, emphasizin...