A History of Islamic Law - Softcover

Coulson, N.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1412818559 ISBN 13: 9781412818551

Publisher: Routledge, 2011

Synopsis

Lawyers, according to Edmund Burke, are bad historians. He was referring to an unwillingness, rather than an inaptitude, on the part of early nineteenth-century English lawyers to concern themselves with the past: for contemporary jurisprudence was a pure and isolated science wherein law appeared as a body of rules, based upon objective criteria, whose nature and very existence were independent, of considerations of time and place. Despite the influence of the historical school of Western jurisprudence Burke’s observation is generally valid for Middle East studies.

Muslim jurisprudence in its traditional form provides an extreme example of a legal science divorced from historical considerations. Law, in classical Islamic theory, is the revealed will of God, a divinely ordained system preceding and not preceded by the Muslim state controlling, but not controlled by, Muslim society. There can thus be no relativistic notion of the law itself evolving as an historical phenomenon closely tied with the progress of society.

The increasing number of nations that are largely Muslim or have a Muslim head of state, emphasizes the growing political importance of the Islamic world, and, as a result, the desirability of extending and expanding the understanding and appreciation of their culture and belief systems. Since history counts for much among Muslims and what happened in 632 or 656 is still a live issue. A journalistic familiarity with present conditions is not enough; there must also be some awareness of how the past has molded the present. This book is designed to give the reader a clear picture. But where there are gaps, obscurities, and differences of opinion, these are also indicated.

About this title

About the Author

N. J. Coulson was chair of oriental laws at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is the author of numerous books including Succession in the Modern Family, Conflicts and Tensions In Islamic Jurisprudence, and Commercial Law in the Gulf States.

Review

“This excellent little book presents a concise, clear, vivid, and well-illustrated historical account of Islamic law from its inception to the present.”

—Muhsin Mahdi, Journal of Near Eastern Studies

“A History of Islamic Law is a badly needed book; it will prove an extremely useful book; and above all, it is a remarkably well-constructed book.”

—G. E. von Grunebaum, Speculum

“In comparatively limited space N. J. Coulson... succeeds in unfolding the whole history of Muslim law, from its beginnings in the Koran down to judgments given in recent years in some African country... [A] useful textbook, well suited to its purpose of serving as an introductory survey.”

—S. D. Goitein, The English Historical Review

“Mr. Coulson’s compact volume is a clear, comprehensive, and authoritative treatment of the genesis and history of Islamic law in theory and practice, and of the central problem of legal reform now confronting Muslim society. Islamic law, the Sharia of medival Islam, is for Muslims the comprehensive catalogue of God’s commands and recommendations laid down for the guidance of man... In recent times, with the wholesale adoption by Muslim countries of western legal ideas and institutions, the Sharia has seemingly been all but abandoned... Unless the idea of a law system based on religion is to be abandoned entirely... [Coulson] points out, the task for modern Muslims, like that of their medieval predecessors, is once more to ascertain and impose the central ethical norms of Islam upon the functionings of their society.”

—Richard H. Nolte, The American Historical Review

“The book by N. J. Coulson represents... [an] introduction to Islamic law.”

—Herbert J. Liebensny, Journal of the American Oriental Society

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1412818559
• ISBN 13: 9781412818551
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272