An Introduction to Islamic Law [Paperback]

Joseph Schacht (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198254733 | ISBN-13: 978-0198254737 | Publication Date: October 27, 1983

This book presents a broad account of the present knowledge of the history and outlines the system of Islamic law. Showing that Islamic law is the key to understanding the essence of one of the great world religions, this book explores how it still influences the laws of contemporary Islamic states, and is in itself a remarkable manifestation of legal thought.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`'an unmissable work on its subject'' Muslim World Book Review

About the Author

Joseph Schacht is at Columbia University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 27, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198254733
• ISBN-13: 978-0198254737
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #735,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #84 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Islam > Law
  • #88 in Books > Law > Perspectives on Law > Comparative

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting first half, boring second half, March 8, 2008

By 

Michael Lewyn (Forest Hills, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: An Introduction to Islamic Law (Paperback)

This book is really two books: a first half which describes the evolution of Muslim law (also known as Sharia), and a second half which lists Muslim legal principles in a wide variety of areas. The latter half is basically a laundry list of legal rules, and is about as interesting to read as a laundry list.

The first half is more interesting. Some of the things I learned:

*The author tells a story of how Islamic law evolved. After the first decades of Islam, a few pious Muslims began to give advice on ritual matters. As these men met like-minded men, they created schools of legal specialists. As traditions (allegedly generated by the Prophet Mohammed and his associates) become widespread, the scholars combined those traditions with their own interpretations of the Koran to create the major schools of sharia. A few sects over time have diverged from these schools, though most such movements have died out. Most of this evolution was over by about 1000; according to the author, sharia has evolved far less since 1000, as later scholars deferred to the old masters (much as the Talmud has become effectively canonized in Judaism).

*There is no one universally applicable Sharia. Even within the dominant Sunni sect, there are several schools of Sharia, each of which evolved in a different part of the Islamic world- kind of like Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewish law. The differences among these schools (like those between Sephardim and Ashkenazim) tend to be nonideological.

*Like Jewish law, Islamic law has occasionally proved to be flexible. Although sharia prohibits interest, Islamic scholars have created ways of facilitating commerce while staying within the letter of the law. Similarly, the strict criminal penalties of sharia have occasionally been limited by procedural safeguards; for example, someone cannot be executed for adultery unless there are four witnesses.

*It is a common cliche in America that "there is no separation of church and state in Islam." In a sense, this is true; sharia influences government action in a way that would not be permissible in the United States. This does not mean, however, that Islamic governments have ever mechanically applied sharia. According to the author, governments have generally been willing to pick and choose among Islamic legal rules, applying sharia where feasible but not in every situation. For example, the medieval Ottoman empire's penal laws presupposed that the sharia's original "punishments are obsolete and replaces them by ... provisions [that] go beyond merely supplementing the sharia by the [administrative justice] of the ruler, and amount to superseding it."

Because this book was written in the 1960s, the author does not explore the relationship of modern radical Islam to the earlier schools, nor does it focus heavily on Islam's relationship with other religions. However, the author does mention the radical purism of Saudi Wahabbism in passing, and also mentions that more modernist regimes seek to integrate Islam with modernity by adopting "any opinion held at some time in the past" where that opinion seems appropriate as a matter of policy.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent introduction by an unsurpassed scholar, April 25, 2003

By 

Tron Honto - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Introduction to Islamic Law (Paperback)

Schacht still remains a towering figure in the study of Islamic Law even after ~50 yrs., and his introduction gives you the ideal figure figure as a guide. This work is not just a simplistic review of Islamic law, but it is also a work of scholarship. While it is unfortunate that his most important work, ON MUHAMMADAN JURISPRUDENCE, is no longer in print, this work serves as a good alternative and even a much more readable entry point to this field of scholarship.

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Primer on Islamic Law, November 25, 2011

By 

Kaiserkeller62 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: An Introduction to Islamic Law (Paperback)

THis is an absolutely fabulous book that will give you a great understanding of Islamic (Sharia) Law without all the political overtones of today. I very strongly recommend it.