This title examines the usefulness, challenges and limits of ijtihad for Muslims today. The resurgence of Islam, geopolitical crises involving Muslim nations, violence associated with Islam and the immigration of millions of Muslims to Western countries have generated a strong interest in understanding Islamic law. The challenges of these new realities have impressed upon Muslims the need to rethink classical jurisprudence and a powerful contemporary ijtihad - the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the legal sources. This book explores the limits and controversies of this development in the context of the diverse needs of Muslim cultures and communities living in Muslim and non-Muslim nations and continents including Europe and North America. This title explains diverse bodies of Islamic law including fiqh, qanun and siyar. It supplements Arabic terms from the Basic Code with English substitutes. It analyses the forces shaping contemporary ijtihadPresents a jurisprudential guide suitable for jurists, judges, national legislatures, and teachers and students and law and Islamic studies.

About the Author
L. Ali Khan is Professor of Law at Washburn University, Kansas. Hisham M. Ramadan obtained his Doctor of Juridical Sciences degree from University of Wisconsin School of Law in 2003, having previously studied at SUNY (Buffalo), The University of Auckland, and Ain Shams University, Cairo.


Book Information
ISBN 9780748668564
Author L. Ali Khan
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press
Weight(grams) 395g