Reviews
"Weiss does an excellent job of distilling and translating the specialist work of usul al-fiqh scholarship into a readable but detailed analysis. . . . In its clarity and acumen, this book is highly recommended and should be regarded as superior to earlier introductions to Islamic law."
—Religious Studies Review
Description
This study focuses on a Muslim legal science known in Arabic as usul al-fiqh. Whereas the kindred science of fiqh is concerned with the articulation of actual rules of law, this science elaborates the theoretical and methodological foundations of the law.
The Spirit of Islamic Law outlines the prominent features of Muslim juristic thought: espousal of divine sovereignty; a fixation on divine texts; an uncompromisingly intentionalist approach to the interpretation of those texts; a frank acknowledgment of the fallibility of human endeavor to capture divine intent; a toleration of legal diversity; a moralistic bent grounded in a particular social vision; and finally, a preoccupation with the affairs of private individuals—especially family relations and contracts—coupled with a concern to define the limits of governmental power.
The Spirit of Islamic Law is the fifth book in Georgia’s Spirit of Laws series, which illuminates the nature of legal systems throughout the world.
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Paper List price: $24.95 978-0-8203-2827-0 3/1/2006 |
