English | 2010 | PDF | 20 MB | 272 Pages
N. J. Coulson, 1138518263, 1351535293, 9781138518261, 9781351535298, 9781412818551, 9781315083506, 9781351535281, 9781351535304, 978-1138518261, 978-1351535298, 978-1412818551, 978-1315083506, 978-1351535281, 978-1351535304
Lawyers, according to Edmund Burke, are bad historians. He was
referring to an unwillingness, rather than an inaptitude, on the part
of early nineteenth-century English lawyers to concern themselves with
the past: for contemporary jurisprudence was a pure and isolated
science wherein law appeared as a body of rules, based upon objective
criteria, whose nature and very existence were independent of
considerations of time and place. Despite the influence of the
historical school of Western jurisprudence, Burke's observation is
generally valid for Middle East studies. Muslim jurisprudence in its
traditional form provides an extreme example of a legal science
divorced from historical considerations. Law, in classical Islamic
theory, is the revealed will of God, a divinely ordained system
preceding, and not preceded by, the Muslim state controlling, but not
controlled by, Muslim society. There can thus be no relativistic notion
of the law itself evolving as an historical phenomenon closely tied
with the progress of society. The increasing number of nations that are
largely Muslim or have a Muslim head of state, emphasizes the growing
political importance of the Islamic world, and, as a result, the
desirability of extending and expanding the understanding and
appreciation of their culture and belief systems. Since history counts
for much among Muslims and what happened in 632 or 656 is still a live
issue, a journalistic familiarity with present conditions is not
enough; there must also be some awareness of how the past has molded
the present. This book is designed to give the reader a clear picture.
But where there are gaps, obscurities, and differences of opinion,
these are also indicated.
