This Law of Ours And Other Essays [Paperback]

Muhammad Asad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1987

The essays in this book, written as far back as in the 1940s, aim to contribute something of a clarification the confusion prevailing in the Muslim Ummah as to the scope and practical implications of Islamic law.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Muhammad Asad, born Leopard Weiss in the Polish city of Lvov in 1900, was the grandson of an orthodox Rabbi. By this early twenties he could write and read German, Franch and Polish languages. He took to journalism and travelled Middle East as the correspondent of 'Franfurter Zeitung' of Germany.

After his conversion to Islam, he again travelled and worked throughout the Muslim world, including Arabia, Iran, Jordan, North Africa and Pakistan, In 1953 he was appointed as Pakistan's plenipotentiary to the United Nations. He moved to Morocco where he completed his magnum opus, the 'Message of the Qur'an.' He later settled in Lisbon where he died on 20th February 1992.

Asad's other works include 'Islam at the Crossroads', 'Road to Mecca,' Principles of State and Government in Islam', and 'Sahih Bukhari: Early Years of Islam.'

Product Details

• Paperback: 195 pages
• Publisher: Islamic Book Trust (January 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9839154109
• ISBN-13: 978-9839154108
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,174,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Muslims should read this book!!, June 26, 2001

By 

naushad sheikh (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Law of Ours And Other Essays (Paperback)

The author Muhammad Asad explains why the Shari'ah is no longer a dominating factor in the lives of Millions of Muslims, as it once was in the very early history of Islam. The book is realy a collection of thoughts, essays and broadcasts made by the author over a 40 year period. At once we realise how Shari'ah has come to be manipulated in the hands of a few specialists who call themselves fuquha, who themselves have forgotten that the opinions of the four Imams are only time bound and could have no bearing on todays problems. Yet this absurd notion of piety for the dead scholars is continued to this day by many scholars, with endless rhetoric about nobody now is cable of understanding the Shari'ah. The author argues strongly that the Shari'ah, by its very nature a divine law cannot be subject to scholary opinion, but must be laid down in plain terms, technically called a nass. By their very nature most of these nass injuctions are always given in general terms, to allow for human social development.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liberating, June 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: This Law of Ours and Other Essays (Hardcover)

This is one of the most incredible books you'll ever find to explain the modern day divisions within the Islamic world. It serves as an explanation of the historical decline in Muslim free thought and debate in favor of the current strict reliance on codified traditions and interpretations.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A call to return to the essence of Islam, June 27, 2008

By 

Akmal Niyazmat (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: This Law of Ours And Other Essays (Paperback)

Being a lawyer myself and interested in the challenges Islamic law is facing nowadays, I greatly enjoyed the first chapter of the book. The first chapter is entitled "This Law of Ours" and is mainly a critique of overwhelming reliance on deductions of previous scholars of four main madhahib. M. Asad's critique is based on the main argument that modern social issues require new deductions and thus reliance on the previous ijtihadi decisions of scholars makes Islamic law incompetent in addressing contemporary social problems.

I also liked "The Answers of Islam" chapter of the book. M. Asad answers the questions posed by well-know German publisher Gerhard Szczeshy about Islam's stance on universe in general, other religions, humanitarianism, religion and society, etc.