Since the discovery of oil in the Middle East an increasing number of important contracts must be framed in accordance with the Shari'a. Moreover various factors have helped to create among Muslims a more acute sense of an original Islamic identity & a collective feeling that Shari's should govern their lives not only with regard to personal & family matters but also as a valid & reasonable corpus of commercial & civil laws. The ban on taking interest (riba) & the rejection of chance contracts (gharar) are two features of an Islamic law of contract which contrast with the secular man-made legal systems of the West. This book is concerned with these two Islamic Prohibitory rules & with the interest-free banking system which has developed therefrom. This is a new enlarged edition where the comparative examination of the topics of the book is updated & furthermore extended to cover the Shi'a Ja'fari fiqh. As a result all aspects are examined in the light of the teachings of the four Sunni schools -which hold authority in the Arab states & in Pakistan -of the Ibadis strongly present in Oman & of the Shi'a Ja'faris prevalent in Iran & largely present in Iraq, Bahrein, Kuweit & Lebanon. The new edition will confirm the use of the initial one as a text book with a particular appeal to academics & practising lawyers. It also provides an insight into the religious & idealogical foundations claimed by Islamic banking.

This book is a basic treatise for those practising and arbitrating in the legal and commercial aspects of business in Middle East Countries. It examines the influence of traditional Islamic law on modern legislation as it affects trade, contracting, banking and financial operations. This book is highly topical and serves the needs of academics, of legal practitioners and of contractors.

This unparalleled Companion provides a comprehensive and authoritative guide to Islamic law to all with an interest in this increasingly relevant and developing field. The volume presents classical Islamic law through a historiographical introduction to and analysis of Western scholarship, while key debates about hot-button issues in modern-day circumstances are also addressed. In twenty-one chapters, distinguished authors offer an overview of their particular specialty, reflect on past and current thinking, and point to directions for future research. The Companion is divided into four parts. The first offers an introduction to the history of Islamic law as well as a discussion of how Western scholarship and historiography have evolved over time. The second part delves into the substance of Islamic law. Legal rules for the areas of legal status, family law, socio-economic justice, penal law, constitutional authority, and the law of war are all discussed in this section. Part three examines the adaptation of Islamic law in light of colonialism and the modern nation state as well as the subsequent re-Islamization of national legal systems. The final section presents contemporary debates on the role of Islamic law in areas such as finance, the diaspora, modern governance, and medical ethics, and the volume concludes by questioning the role of Sharia law as a legal authority in the modern context. By outlining the history of Islamic law through a linear study of research, this collection is unique in its examination of past and present scholarship and the lessons we can draw from this for the future. It introduces scholars and students to the challenges posed in the past, to the magnitude of milestones that were achieved in the reinterpretation and revision of established ideas, and ultimately to a thorough conceptual understanding of Islamic law.

This volume provides a comprehensive survey of the contemporary study of Islamic law and a critical analysis of its deficiencies. Written by outstanding senior and emerging scholars in their fields, it offers an innovative historiographical examination of the field of Islamic law and an ideal introduction to key personalities and concepts. While capturing the state of contemporary Islamic legal studies by chronicling how far the field has come, the Handbook also explains why certain debates recur and indicates fundamental gaps in our knowledge. Each chapter presents bold new avenues for research and will help readers appreciate the contested nature of key concepts and topics in Islamic law. This Handbook will be a major reference work for scholars and students of Islam and Islamic law for years to come.

This bibliography offers a new and indispensable tool for both researchers and practitioners in the field of Islamic law. It supplements the bibliographies published by Joseph Schacht (1964) and John Makdisi (1987) and includes some 1,600 Western-language publications which have appeared between 1980 and 1993. It contains a general and a regional section. With regard to the latter, the main focus is on the Middle East (including Afghanistan and North Africa), although publications in South and Southeast Asia have also been included. In order to facilitate its use, an authors' index and a subject index have been added.