Islam and the Rule of Justice

Image and Reality in Muslim Law and Culture

Lawrence Rosen

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English

University of Chicago Press
13 March 2018

Middle Eastern history; Islam; Islamic law; Comparative law; Legal history

In the West, we tend to think of Islamic law as an arcane and rigid legal system, bound by formulaic texts yet suffused by unfettered discretion. While judges may indeed refer to passages in the classical texts or have recourse to their own orientations, images of binding doctrine and unbounded choice do not reflect the full reality of the Islamic law in its everyday practice. Whether in the Arabic-speaking world, the Muslim portions of South and Southeast Asia, or the countries to which many Muslims have migrated, Islamic law works is readily misunderstood if the local cultures in which it is embedded are not taken into account.

With Islam and the Rule of Justice, Lawrence Rosen analyzes a number of these misperceptions. Drawing on specific cases, he explores the application of Islamic law to the treatment of women (who win most of their cases), the relations between Muslims and Jews (which frequently involve close personal and financial ties), and the structure of widespread corruption (which played a key role in prompting the Arab Spring). From these case studie the role of informal mechanisms in the resolution of local disputes. The author also provides a close reading of the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, who was charged in an American court with helping to carry out the 9/11 attacks, using insights into how Islamic justice works to explain the defendant’s actions during the trial. The book closes with an examination of how Islamic cultural concepts may come to bear on the constitutional structure and legal reforms many Muslim countries have been undertaking.

By: Lawrence Rosen
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780226511573
ISBN 10: 022651157X
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 13 March 2018
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Lawrence Rosen is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Princeton University and adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School. He is the author of The Culture of Islam; Varieties of Muslim Experience; Bargaining For Reality; and Two Arabs, a Berber, and a Jew; all also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews for Islam and the Rule of Justice: Image and Reality in Muslim Law and Culture

Rosen writes elegantly and clearly about issues relating to Islam, the Arab world, and law. He writes with a great deal of expertise, based on his fieldwork in Morocco, his knowledge of US law, and his wide reading, especially in Islamic law. --John R. Bowen, Washington University in St. Louis At a moment when, around the world, the image of Islam has negative connotations--whether in political discourse, the media or public opinion more generally--Rosen offers an analysis of Islamic law that deconstructs numerous stereotypes. --Marie-Claire Foblets, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology