World of Fatwas: Shariah in Action [Hardcover]

Arun Shourie (Author), Sharad Saxena (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1995

Study of Islamic canonical decisions (Fatwas) issued in India during the last hundred years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Arun Shourie is one of India's best known commentators on current and political affairs. He has been an economist with the World Bank, a consultant to the Planning Commission and Editor of The Indian Express. His writings have gained him a vast following across the country, as well as several national and international awards. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 685 pages
• Publisher: ASA (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8190019953
• ISBN-13: 978-8190019958
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,306,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye opener!, April 12, 2000

By 

"jayjina" - See all my reviews

This review is from: World of Fatwas: Shariah in Action (Hardcover)

Arun Shourie is the scourge of the "progressive"Indians who parade their Marxist ideologies under the guise of "historical" and "social science" reasearch.

In this book, he exposes fully the narrow minded world of the Mullahs who rule the roost in Islam. Whilst the FATWA is now infamous for its severe impact on Slaman Rushdie, the world knows little of how much these "religious" edicts govern the humdrum lives of ordinary Muslims.

Shourie discusses at length some quite hilarious and often crass cases that the Muslim clergy give direction on. For instance, (a) a mouse falls in water, is the water OK to drink? or can it be used to wash? What if it was a fly in butter? (b) a she goat has been abused by a man, is the meat of this goat Halal (like Kosher)? (c) under what circumstances can a man remarry a woman after he has divorced her? (d) if a man says "Talaaq, Talaaq, Talaaq" three times to his wife, is this form of divorce irrevocable? etc. Shourie also goes on to expose the narrow, sectarian, male dominated ideologies that drive these law makers.

This is the height of Philosophical discourse to which the intellectuals of Islam rise. The book is excellently researched in that it makes copious use of original references from the Islamic catalogue of "religious literature". Admittedly, the focus is on the Islamic ideology of the various schools of thought (surely a misnomer) of the Indian Subcontinent, but then no one in the rest of the Islamic world has come forward to say that this literature is not representative. Even more serious is the vitriol and venom that the various Islamic groups pour on each other. This is only exceeded by their utter contempt for the "unbelievers". This is an excellent book - it is a MUST READ, especially in conjuntion with Ibn Waraaq's "Why I am not a Muslim".

Readers should look forward to the the "progressive" followers of Indian Social Science and History - like Romila Thappar, Irfan Habib, Bipan Chandra, to name a few, to step forward and decry this book as "the rantings of a Hindu fascist" The fact is that these people do not have a leg to stand on. More pertinently, the "intellectuals" of the "true faith" are silent on the matter too; surely that speaks volumes for the integrity and accuracy of Shourie's research.

Well done Arun Shourie. Keep up the great work.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A most powerful book., October 14, 2001

By 

AuthorZone.Com Book Review (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World of Fatwas: Shariah in Action (Hardcover)

This book is a MUST READ people!
I loved it!

At first I was a skeptic, so I looked up the verses and his claims, and sure enough, this book is right on the money. Ver accurate and an eye opener.