Introducing undergraduate students to Islamic law, this accessible textbook does not presume legal or technical knowledge. Drawing on a comparative approach, it encourages students to think through the issues of the application of Islamic law where Muslims live as a majority and where they live as a minority, including the USA, Saudia Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan.
The book surveys the historical development as well as the contemporary contexts of Islamic law. In distilling the history of Islamic law for non-specialists, the author covers important topics such as the development and transformation of Islamic institutions before and after colonialism. Coverage of Islamic law across contemporary contexts draws on real case material, and allows for discussion of Islam as a legal and a moral code that is activated both inside and outside the court.
Readers will learn about rituals, dietary restrictions, family, contracts and property, lawful and unlawful gain, criminal law and punishments, and what makes a government legitimate in the eyes of Muslim individuals and authorities.

Ahmad Atif Ahmad is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preliminaries
Calendars, terms, and conventions
Introduction
1. Three Cases
2. Madhhabs
3. Theorizing the Shari'a
4. The Social Shari'a
5. The Personal Shari'a
6. The National Shari'as
7. The Transnational Shari'a
8. Society, Law, and Government
Final Review
Appendix I: A Debate between Shafi'i (d. 204/820) and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal
(d. 241/856) (about a Muslim who does not perform the daily prayers.)
Appendix II: Map of Muslim Populations Around the World
Appendix III: Preamble to Pakistan's Constitution (4/12/73)
Appendix IV: Inheritance Tables
Appendix V: Islamic Mortgage Form
Further reading
Index