This is a detailed, critical study of the reforms which have been made in recent years to the law in the State of Pakistan with the ostensible objective of bringing it into accord with the requirements of Islam. Special emphasis is given to the period from 1977 when General Zia ul Haque adopted a period of Islamization. This is a field of investigation of considerable importance both for the advancement of legal and political theory and for practical purposes, especially as regards human rights. The author, trained both in Pakistan law and the concepts and practice of Islamic law, has been able to advance significantly our understanding of the doctrinal developments documented in this book. First published in 1994.

This book argues that Islam’s role in state nationalism is the best predictor of the Islamization of government using two most different cases: Turkey, which was an aggressively secular country until recently, and Pakistan, a country that is synonymous with Islamization. It establishes a causal link between Islam’s role in state nationalism and Islamization of government during various periods of the history of both countries. The indicators used to establish the causal link between Islam’s role in state nationalism and Islamization are the presence of Islamic provisions in the constitution, Islam-inspired national symbols, Islamic images on the national currency, Islamic basis of family law, a Department of Religious Affairs, and governmental support for religious education. The book concludes by identifying three causal mechanisms—legitimacy, mobilization, and authenticity—that link Islam’s role in state nationalism and the Islamization of government.

This is a detailed, critical study of the reforms which have been made in recent years to the law in the State of Pakistan with the ostensible objective of bringing it into accord with the requirements of Islam. Special emphasis is given to the period from 1977 when General Zia ul Haque adopted a period of Islamization. This is a field of investigation of considerable importance both for the advancement of legal and political theory and for practical purposes, especially as regards human rights. The author, trained both in Pakistan law and the concepts and practice of Islamic law, has been able to advance significantly our understanding of the doctrinal developments documented in this book. First published in 1994.

Starting in 1947, this volume examines the way Pakistani judges have dealt with the controversial issue of Islam in the past 50 years. The book's focus on reported case-law offers a new perspective on the Islamisation of Pakistan's legal system in which Islam emerges as more than just a challenge to Western conceptions of human rights.

The first book to explore the modern history of Islam in South Asia The first modern state to be founded in the name of Islam, Pakistan was the largest Muslim country in the world at the time of its establishment in 1947. Today it is the second-most populous, after Indonesia. Islam in Pakistan is the first comprehensive book to explore Islam's evolution in this region over the past century and a half, from the British colonial era to the present day. Muhammad Qasim Zaman presents a rich historical account of this major Muslim nation, insights into the rise and gradual decline of Islamic modernist thought in the South Asian region, and an understanding of how Islam has fared in the contemporary world. Much attention has been given to Pakistan's role in sustaining the Afghan struggle against the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, in the growth of the Taliban in the 1990s, and in the War on Terror after 9/11. But as Zaman shows, the nation's significance in matters relating to Islam has much deeper roots. Since the late nineteenth century, South Asia has witnessed important initiatives toward rethinking core Islamic texts and traditions in the interest of their compatibility with the imperatives of modern life. Traditionalist scholars and their institutions, too, have had a prominent presence in the region, as have Islamism and Sufism. Pakistan did not merely inherit these and other aspects of Islam. Rather, it has been and remains a site of intense contestation over Islam's public place, meaning, and interpretation. Examining how facets of Islam have been pivotal in Pakistani history, Islam in Pakistan offers sweeping perspectives on what constitutes an Islamic state.

What role do and should constitutions play in mitigating intense disagreements over the religious character of a state? And what kind of constitutional solutions might reconcile democracy with the type of religious demands raised in contemporary democratising or democratic states? Tensions over religion-state relations are gaining increasing salience in constitution writing and rewriting around the world. This book explores the challenge of crafting a democratic constitution under conditions of deep disagreement over a state's religious or secular identity. It draws on a broad range of relevant case studies of past and current constitutional debates in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and offers valuable lessons for societies soon to embark on constitution drafting or amendment processes where religion is an issue of contention.

"In 2012, the year 1433 of the Muslim calendar, the Islamic population throughout the world was estimated at approximately a billion and a half, representing about one-fifth of humanity. In geographical terms, Islam occupies the center of the world, stretching like a big belt across the globe from east to west."--P. vii.