Understanding Islamic law : Sharīʻa

The demand for a book like Understanding Islamic Law among law students and legal practitioners in America and throughout the English-speaking world is large and growing. Islamic Law is not merely a "hot topic". It is a growing trend that is an increasingly mainstream fixture in the legal landscape. There is nothing currently on the market for Law Schools, like Understanding Islamic Law, that is a comprehensive text, in English, by a non-Muslim law professor.

The first 11 chapters of Understanding Islamic Law give the essential foundational materials for the study of Islamic Law. The remaining chapters cover several other pertinent fields: banking and finance, contracts, criminal law, family law, and property.

Understanding Islamic Law also:

Includes Arabic terms, in English, with diacritical marks to assist in pronunciation; Provides A Glossary of Arabic Terms; and Incorporates recent developments such as the burkha ban in France.

Understanding Islamic Law (Sharia) is a thorough and balanced text that can be used without supplementation in a one-semester Islamic Law course.

Muhammad (PBUH) before prophethood (570/571-610 A.D.) -- Muhammad (PBUH) as prophet (610-632 A.D.) -- Holy quran (610-650 A.D.) : revelation, compilation, and tenets -- Caliphs of Mecca and Medina (Rashidun) (632-661 A.D.) -- Umayyad Caliphate (661-750 A.D.) -- Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 A.D.) -- The crusades (1095-1272 A.D.) -- Sunni-Shiite split (632-680 A.D.) -- Shiism and its Imams (680-940 A.D.) -- Ottoman Turkish empire (11th Century 1923 A.D.) -- Moghul Indian empire (1504-1857 A.D.) -- Fundamental sources : holy Quran and Sunnah -- Secondary sources : [Ijma and Qiyas] -- Controversial additional sources -- Five pillars of Islam -- Four Sunnite schools of Islamic law -- Islam and capitalist economic growth -- Property law : ownership and property -- Property law : public property, private property, and possession -- Property law : protecting and restricting private ownership -- Contract law : general principles and contract information -- Contract law : types and contracts -- Contract law : performance, terms, and remedies -- Business associations law : traditional types of partnership -- Business associations law : modern partnerships and agricultural ventures -- Banking law : risk (Gharar) -- Banking law : interest (Ribb).

Banking law : legal devices (Hiyal) and the prohibition on interest (Ribb) -- Finance (Tamweel) : Islamic bonds (Sukuk) and securitization -- Finance (Tamweel) : types and risks of Islamic bonds (Sukuk) -- Finance (Tamweel) : insurance (Takaful) and money transfers (Hawalah) -- Marriage and divorce -- Rights of wife -- Women and work -- Women and clothes -- Rearing children -- Contraception -- Abortion -- Wills (Wasaya), charitable trusts (Waqfs), and euthanasia -- Law of succession -- Key concepts -- Claims of God (Haqq Allah) : sex crimes -- Claims of God (Haqq Allah) : drinking and stealing -- Claims of God (Haqq Allah) : converting and religious freedom -- Private claims (Haqq adami) -- Law of war -- Jihad (Struggle) -- Terrorism.