Overview
The first eleven essays in this collection treat the application of Islamic law in qadi courts in the Maghrib in the period between 1100 and 1500 CE. Based on preserved legal documents and the expert opinions of Muslim jurists (Muftis), the essays examine family law cases involving legal minority, guardianship, divorce, inheritance, bequests, and endowments. Cumulatively, the cases bear witness to the effectiveness and efficiency of the Islamic judicial system in this period. Contrary to popular perceptions, the cases demonstrate that Muslim jurists placed a high value on reasoned thought and were sensitive to the manner in which law, society, and culture interacted with, and shaped, each other. The final essay shows how the treatment of family endowments by colonial regimes in Algeria and India at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries shaped, or misshaped the modern western scholarly understanding of Islamic law.
Full Product Details
Author: David S. Powers
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Routledge
Edition: New edition
Weight: 0.748kg
ISBN: 9781409403708
ISBN 10: 140940370
Pages: 356
Publication Date: 28 October 2011
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
'David Powers is an outstanding scholar of classical Islamic law and legal system. His research focuses on the history of Islamic law and its application in Muslim societies. He has published intensively in this area and here he places in the hands of the readers two decades' work on the nature and performance of key Islamic legal institutions in the medieval Islamic West... this volume adds significant new details on Islamic legal and socio-cultural history, thus enhancing our understanding of both substantial and methodological aspects of the Islamic legal system and its general development, particularly in western Islam. Thus, this important work can be appreciated by students of Islamic law, Middle East scholars, and even the general public.' Bustan: The Middle East Book Review 'Each case study is in itself interesting and significant, but Powers' arguments are strengthened when the essays are read together ... anyone interested in Islamic legal development, comparative legal studies, the intersection of legal and social history, or women, family, and property in the western Islamic Mediterranean will want to read the essays collected here, and read them together.' Al-Masaq
Author Information
David S. Powers is Professor of Islamic History and Law at Cornell University, USA.
