An Introduction to Islamic Law torrent

The study of Islamic law can be a forbidding prospect for those entering
the field for the first time. Wael Hallaq, a leading scholar and practitioner
of Islamic law, guides students through the intricacies of the subject in
this absorbing introduction. The first half of the book is devoted to a
discussion of Islamic law in its pre-modern natural habitat. The author
expounds on the roles of jurists, who reasoned about the law, and of judges
and others who administered justice; on how different legal schools came
to be established, and on how a moral law functioned in early Muslim
society generally. The second part explains how the law was transformed
and ultimately dismantled during the colonial period. As the author
demonstrates, this rupture necessitated its reinvention in the twentiethcentury
world of nation-states. In the final chapters, the author charts
recent developments and the struggles of the Islamists to negotiate
changes which have seen the law emerge as a primarily textual entity
focused on fixed punishments and ritual requirements. The book, which
includes a chronology, a glossary of key terms and lists for further reading,
will be the first stop for those who wish to understand the fundamentals
of Islamic law, its practices and its history.

Cambridge University Press, 2009