The Islamic School of Law: Evolution, Devolution, and Progress (Harvard Series in Islamic Law)

by Peri Bearman (Editor), Rudolph Peters (Editor), Frank E. Vogel (Editor)

Product Details

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School (February 15, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN: 0674017846
Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches

Book Description

The Islamic school of law, or madhhab, is a concept on which a substantial amount has been written but of which there is still little understanding, and even less consensus. This collection of selected papers from the III International Conference on Islamic Legal Studies, held in May 2000 at the Harvard Law School, offers building blocks toward the entire edifice of understanding the complex development of the madhhab, a development that even in the contemporary dissolution of madhhab lines and grouping continues to fascinate. As scholars look to the construction of a new Islamic legal history, these essays inform on the background to madhhab formation, on inter-madhhab polemics and the drive toward legal authority, on madhhab perpetuation and anti-madhhab tendencies, on the constitutional role of the madhhab, on the madhhab's legislative and adjudicative mechanisms, and on the significance of the madhhab in comparative terms. This volume is of value to anyone interested in the nature of Islamic law.

About the Author
Peri Bearman is Associate Director, Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. Rudolph Peters is Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam. Frank E. Vogel is The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Adjunct Professor of Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School.