Between God and the Sultan: A History of Islamic Law

This is a good book that is scholarly: neither too technical nor too concise. Compared to Kamali's Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, Hallaq's Shariah, and Kadri's Heaven on Earth, I prefer this one. Below is the table of contents for a better idea. CONTENTS Preface Introduction: Does Islamic Law Exist? Where is the Islamic law? The methods for studying Islamic law Part I. THE THEORY OF THE LAW From Practice to Method Law or tradition Al-Shaft'I The Koran and Sunna as Sources Four sources or three levels The Koran Hadith Contradictions between Koran and hadith Elaborating the Sources: Qiyas and Ijtihad Ijtihad Qiyas cIlla How did the qiyas methodology arise? Istihsan: to ignore a qiyas rule The cilla and hukm become the rule Getting Social Sanction: Ijmac and Authorization Ijmac How is ijmac established? Ijmac and the revealed Texts ShafFVs model Part II. THE APPLICATION OF THE LAW The Four Schools of Law Putting the law in writing The schoots 94 Four consensuees 104 What the dates mean 110 7 Law Beyond the Four Schools 114 ‘ Proto-Sunni’ currents 114 Ibadism 120 Shn'ium 121 The principles ofShFt law 129 8 The Court and the Law: the Mufti- and Legal Development 140 Fatwas 141 The mufti, the state and the courts 143 The process oftftcC" 147 From ijtihad to faWna 151 Taqlnd and the rules of the school 156 Manuats and supplemenCay works 161 Other sources for legal practice 165 9 The Court and its Judge: the Role of the Qadi 168 Competence and organization 170 Standard proceduee 173 Practices of the court 180 Part III. THE HISTORY OF THE LAW 10 The Court and the State 185 Non-SharFa courts: Mazatim and shurta 189 Htsba and the muhtasib 195 SharFa and siyasa courts 198 11 Law and Courts in the Ottom^ Empire 206 Kanun and SharFa 207 The qadis 209 The muftis and the sey^l-islam 212 Ottoman law in the provinces: Tumsia 217 12 Islamic Law in the Modem Period 222 Changes after 1800 222 From kanun to national laws 228 Reforms in the Ottoman empire 229 Egypt 231 Algeria 242 Africa: Islamic law in British colonies 246 Traditional states in a modern world 250 13 Implementing the SharL a’ 254 Islamism 257 Shari'a in practice today: Saudi Arabia 264 Iran 269 Sudan 273 Shari'a through siyasa 278 Part IV. SOME AREAS OF THE LAW 14 Criminal Law 280 The field of the law 280 Hudud 282 Murder and blood money 287 Apostasy 291 Methods of punishment 296 15 Family Law 299 Marriage 300 Divorce 309 Children 316 Inheritance 318 Modem adaptations 321 16 Economy, taxes and property 326 Islamic banking 328 Taxes 332 Waqf 339 Conclusion 345 Glossary 349 Bibliography 363 Index 381

one of the best book you will ever read. its clear cut, its very informative, but as usual as any non-muslim auther, it stretches mohammed's "marriage life" but it has less gossipe than other books

Great book, very rare and detailed insight into the judicial structure of many islamic countries past and present, strongly recommended!

I respect this book . It's not perfect. After all it's like a survey book . But this book has an immense information about the logic behind Islamic laws & even on the background of Islam . A perfect first read about Islam . And it's nearly devoid of subjective views . Simply informational. Great !

This was a mandatory purchase for Islamic fiqh class. The author's word choice is not the best. An example of how he doesn't get to the point right away and uses weird wording in his sentence structure is on pg 41 (which I read in the video clip) but really throughout the entire book. It leads me to believe English is not his primary language. I would not recommend this book for introduction to Islamic fiqh.

I read Vikor's work for my recent seminar on Islamic Law. Vikor takes a very cursory approach to the history Islamic Law, which is good since it's a HUGE topic! My professor (who specializes in Islamic Law) said that Vikor's book has done what few others in the field do--summarize the major points of the history of Islamic Law without getting bogged down in scholarly debates. With sparse application of his overview, Vikor writes a dry text. However, as a reference, it's fabulous. Reading it through in its entirety was difficult the first time, but when I recently wrote a research paper on Turkey, it became very useful. Vikor also includes a glossary at the end that lists all of the Arabic (and some Turkish) legal terms, so looking up obscure words is a cinch!

I had this as course book in Sharia Law at the university. The book gives an introduction to the history of Sharia law, and discusses the four law schools of Islam, development and praxis. The writers spend quite some time discussing how law develops, the hierarchies within the court system and also national praxis. I found it to be a very good book both because it is well written, but also because of the contextual focus.

Good introduction to the huge world of Islamic law. It gives a clear and easy to understand iview of the main points of this complex field.

This is so far the best introduction to the subject. Author makes numerous insightful observations about law and political power in islamic history and societies.