Customer Reviews

The Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim Society (Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies)

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Messick's work is perhaps one of the most interesting approaches to studying the shari'ah ever written. His focus and approach is that of an anthropologist, hence the ethnographic character of the book; however, at the same time he maintains a keen understanding of both history and fiqh throughout.

The locus of this work is nearly entirely dominated by the highlands of Yemen and Ibb, the location of Messick's own ethnogrpahic study. Through the filter of Yemeni culture and the vast changes occuring there, Messick weaves a tale of what happenned theoretically, structurally, socially, politically, etc. to the practice of the Shari'ah within Yemeni society--oscillating between pre-modern, pre-bureacratic practices of the imamate, the effects of Ottoman reforms and the nationalist efforts at modernization.

As is fitting in the context, a keen regard is kept throughout the work for the dialectial aspects of textuality and orality and how as the scales increasing tip in favor of textualized, bureacratic order Yemeni society is utterly transformed. We then are able to see how the shariah was reshaped from a central discourse of the Muslim polity into "Islamic Law" as yet another component of governance have been repositioned within the framework of the nation-state.

I just want to let everyone know that the book you will receive might say this:

"This book is a print on-demand volume. It is manufactured using toner in place of ink. Type and images may be less sharp than the same material seen in traditionally printed University of California Press editions."

Needless to say, this is an invaluable text for anyone interested in Islamic law and the anthropology of law in general. In terms of the print quality however, I would have expected something finer for the price I paid.