This book is about qawa`id fiqhiyyah, which are sometimes referred to as legal maxims. In reality, the qawa`id play a much wider and more effective role as compared to legal maxims. Islamic law is all about principles and rules; it has been so from the day of its birth. The reason is that principles and rules were laid down by the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The relationship between the disciplines of usul al-fiqh and qawa`id fiqhiyyah is like the relationship between the two arms of the human body; they cooperate with each other to yield the rules of fiqh. This vital relationship has been kept concealed by separating the two disciplines and by severing the bond between them. This book attempts to uncover this relationship, and to restore the bond. Understanding this relationship will enhance understanding of the discipline of usul al-fiqh as well.

Using contemporary illustrations, Legal Maxims in Islamic Criminal Law delves into the theoretical and practical studies of al-Qawaid al-Fiqhiyyah in Islamic legal theory. It elucidates the importance of this concept in the application of Islamic law and demonstrates how the concept relates to the objectives of Islamic law (maqāṣid al-Sharī‘ah), generally. Included in this examination are the following maxims: al-Umūr bi-Maqāṣidihā ("Matters shall be Judged by their Objectives"); al-Yaqīn lā Yazūl bi-sh-Shakk ("Certainty Cannot be Overruled by Doubt"); al-Mashaqqa Tajlib at-Taysīr ("Hardship begets Facility"); Lā Ḍarar wa-lā Ḍirār ("No Injury or Harm shall be Inflicted or Reciprocated"); and al-ʿĀda Muḥakkama ("Custom is Authoritative").

This book considers the rarely studied but pervasive concepts of doubt that medieval Muslim jurists used to resolve problematic criminal cases.

Ahmed El Shamsy's The Canonization of Islamic Law is a detailed history of the birth of classical Islamic law. It shows how Islamic law and its institutions emerged out of the canonization of the sacred sources of Quran and Sunna (prophetic practice) in the eighth and ninth centuries CE. The book focuses on the ideas and influence of the jurist al-Shāfiʿī (d. 820 CE), who inaugurated the process of canonization, and it paints a rich picture of the intellectual engagements, political turbulence, and social changes that formed the context of his and his followers' careers.

The oldest collection of Legal Maxims that has reached us is the Risalah 'usul, al-Karkhi (260AH-340AH) By deep study of these 'usul it reveals that they are inclusive of qawa`id, dawabit, 'usul, and kulliyat. Some of them have the status of such general kulliyat that can be declared as the collective asset of Islamic Fiqh and some 'usul are such which may be useful in knowing the effective cause of Fiqhi values and to know the solution of Fiqhi problems according to the Hanafi way of proving a thing (istidlal) and the Hanafi style of logical deduction on a legal question (ijtihad) by a learned and enlightened doctor (Mujtahid). Imam al-Karkhi is the author of the first existing book on legal maxims. "...The style of Imam Karkhi is that he states the legal maxim in a small sentence while Imam Nasafi gives brief example. The principle and the example are so concise that a person who is not well-versed in Fiqh is not in a position to easily get the benefit of it. Here it should be remembered that the legal maxims of Imam Karkhi have undergone the process of refinement in the later centuries, and almost all the maxims at present are not in their original shape that was given to them by Imam Karkhi. For instance, out of the ninety-nine legal maxims given in Al-Majallah, only one maxim (article no. 4 of Al-Majallah) is partially stated according to the form of the first maxim of Al-'usul of Imam Karkhi. Otherwise, all the remaining maxims are present in Al-Majallah so far as their meanings are concerned, but the words and statements are not the same which were given to them by Imam Karkhi."[1] Abul Hasan al Karkhi was a Hanafi Faqhi who wrote al Usul (d 340 H). He is among those who is known as al Mujtahidin Fil Masail; He was a contemporary of Imam ibn Majah, Abu Daud, Tirmidhi and Nasai.

Bringing together essays on topics related to Islamic law, this book is composed of articles by prominent legal scholars and historians of Islam. They exemplify a critical development in the field of Islamic Studies: the proliferation of methodological approaches that employ a broad variety of sources to analyze social and political developments.