Explores the eleventh century Abbasid Empire and the intersection between politics, theology, and law in the thought of Abu Ma'ali al-Juwayni.

Sohaira Z. M. Siddiqui is an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, Qatar. She has published a series of articles in the Journal of Islamic Studies, Islamic Law and Society, the Journal of the American Oriental Society and Middle East Law and Governance. She is also the editor of a forthcoming volume entitled Locating the Shari'a: Legal Fluidity in Theory, History and Practice. She has held fellowships at the University of Cambridge and Harvard Law School and is a series editor for Sapientia Islamica, published with Mohr Siebeck.

Introduction; Part I. Historical Background: 1. Politics, patronage, and scholarship in Nishapur; 2. Al-Juwayni¿: life of a scholar; Part II. Epistemology: 3. Intellectual fissures: the Ash¿ari¿s and the Mu¿tazila; 4. The epistemology of al-Juwayni¿; Part III. Legal Theory: 5. Certainty in legal sources: Hòadi¿th; 6. Certainty in legal sources: Ijmä¿; 7. The rise of legal uncertainty: Qiyäs al-Mänä; 8. Coping with legal uncertainty: Qiyäs al-Shabah; Part IV. Political Thought: 9. The search for continuity: al-Juwayni¿'s political thought; 10. Continuity, custom, and applied epistemology in al-Juwayni¿'s political thought; Conclusion.