Rudolph Peters is Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Peri Bearman is Associate Director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program (retired), Harvard Law School, USA.

’Our understanding of the nature, function and development of Islamic law has greatly increased and improved in recent decades. Building on their deep knowledge of the field, Peters and Bearman have conceived and collected an excellent book: comprehensive in its treatment without getting lost in details, incisive in the perspectives it provides without falling into easy discrediting of past research, stimulating in both its positive evaluations and its criticisms, and more importantly, paving the way to the future by the careful and balanced assessment of where we stand.’ Maribel Fierro, Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain ’Any student of Islamic law - past, present, or future - will want to keep this lucid, authoritative, and comprehensive Research Companion close at hand.’ David S. Powers, Cornell University, USA ’This is currently the most up-to-date survey of Islamic law available. The authors are all knowledgeable and take pains to cover their subject clearly and thoroughly. While the coverage is thorough, what is most useful is the full engagement with current scholarship. The reader will learn a great deal about both Islamic law and its study from this helpful, lucid, and well-conceived book.’ A. Kevin Reinhart, Dartmouth College, USA

• Contents: Preface; Introduction: The nature of the Sharia, Rudolph Peters and Peri Bearman. Part I The Historical Islamic Law: The origins of the Sharia, Knut S. Vikør; The divine sources, Herbert Berg; The schools of law, Paul R. Powers; Deriving rules of law, Robert Gleave; The judge and the mufti, Brinkley Messick; State and Sharia, Mohammad Fadel; Qanun and Sharia, BoÄŸaç A. Ergene. Part II Substantive Islamic Law: Equality before the law, Gianluca P. Parolin; Gender relations, Christina Jones-Pauly; Socio-economic justice, Hiroyuki Yanagihashi; Public order, Christian R. Lange; Constitutional authority, Andrew F. March; War and peace, Sohail H. Hashmi. Part III Islamic Law through the Prism of the Modern State: Sharia and the colonial state, Léon Buskens; Sharia and the nation state, Maurits S. Berger; The re-Islamization of legal systems, Martin Lau. Part IV Present-Day Discussions about Sharia: Sharia and finance, Abdullah Saeed; Sharia and the Muslim diaspora, Mathias Rohe; Sharia and modernity, Kristine Kalanges; Sharia and medical ethics, Birgit Krawietz; Epilogue: the normative relevance of Sharia in the modern context, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na›im. Glossary; Index.

Rudolph Peters is Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Peri Bearman is Associate Director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program (retired), Harvard Law School, USA.

’Our understanding of the nature, function and development of Islamic law has greatly increased and improved in recent decades. Building on their deep knowledge of the field, Peters and Bearman have conceived and collected an excellent book: comprehensive in its treatment without getting lost in details, incisive in the perspectives it provides without falling into easy discrediting of past research, stimulating in both its positive evaluations and its criticisms, and more importantly, paving the way to the future by the careful and balanced assessment of where we stand.’ Maribel Fierro, Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain ’Any student of Islamic law - past, present, or future - will want to keep this lucid, authoritative, and comprehensive Research Companion close at hand.’ David S. Powers, Cornell University, USA ’This is currently the most up-to-date survey of Islamic law available. The authors are all knowledgeable and take pains to cover their subject clearly and thoroughly. While the coverage is thorough, what is most useful is the full engagement with current scholarship. The reader will learn a great deal about both Islamic law and its study from this helpful, lucid, and well-conceived book.’ A. Kevin Reinhart, Dartmouth College, USA

• Contents: Preface; Introduction: The nature of the Sharia, Rudolph Peters and Peri Bearman. Part I The Historical Islamic Law: The origins of the Sharia, Knut S. Vikør; The divine sources, Herbert Berg; The schools of law, Paul R. Powers; Deriving rules of law, Robert Gleave; The judge and the mufti, Brinkley Messick; State and Sharia, Mohammad Fadel; Qanun and Sharia, BoÄŸaç A. Ergene. Part II Substantive Islamic Law: Equality before the law, Gianluca P. Parolin; Gender relations, Christina Jones-Pauly; Socio-economic justice, Hiroyuki Yanagihashi; Public order, Christian R. Lange; Constitutional authority, Andrew F. March; War and peace, Sohail H. Hashmi. Part III Islamic Law through the Prism of the Modern State: Sharia and the colonial state, Léon Buskens; Sharia and the nation state, Maurits S. Berger; The re-Islamization of legal systems, Martin Lau. Part IV Present-Day Discussions about Sharia: Sharia and finance, Abdullah Saeed; Sharia and the Muslim diaspora, Mathias Rohe; Sharia and modernity, Kristine Kalanges; Sharia and medical ethics, Birgit Krawietz; Epilogue: the normative relevance of Sharia in the modern context, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na›im. Glossary; Index.

Rudolph Peters is Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Peri Bearman is Associate Director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program (retired), Harvard Law School, USA.

’Our understanding of the nature, function and development of Islamic law has greatly increased and improved in recent decades. Building on their deep knowledge of the field, Peters and Bearman have conceived and collected an excellent book: comprehensive in its treatment without getting lost in details, incisive in the perspectives it provides without falling into easy discrediting of past research, stimulating in both its positive evaluations and its criticisms, and more importantly, paving the way to the future by the careful and balanced assessment of where we stand.’ Maribel Fierro, Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain ’Any student of Islamic law - past, present, or future - will want to keep this lucid, authoritative, and comprehensive Research Companion close at hand.’ David S. Powers, Cornell University, USA ’This is currently the most up-to-date survey of Islamic law available. The authors are all knowledgeable and take pains to cover their subject clearly and thoroughly. While the coverage is thorough, what is most useful is the full engagement with current scholarship. The reader will learn a great deal about both Islamic law and its study from this helpful, lucid, and well-conceived book.’ A. Kevin Reinhart, Dartmouth College, USA

• Contents: Preface; Introduction: The nature of the Sharia, Rudolph Peters and Peri Bearman. Part I The Historical Islamic Law: The origins of the Sharia, Knut S. Vikør; The divine sources, Herbert Berg; The schools of law, Paul R. Powers; Deriving rules of law, Robert Gleave; The judge and the mufti, Brinkley Messick; State and Sharia, Mohammad Fadel; Qanun and Sharia, BoÄŸaç A. Ergene. Part II Substantive Islamic Law: Equality before the law, Gianluca P. Parolin; Gender relations, Christina Jones-Pauly; Socio-economic justice, Hiroyuki Yanagihashi; Public order, Christian R. Lange; Constitutional authority, Andrew F. March; War and peace, Sohail H. Hashmi. Part III Islamic Law through the Prism of the Modern State: Sharia and the colonial state, Léon Buskens; Sharia and the nation state, Maurits S. Berger; The re-Islamization of legal systems, Martin Lau. Part IV Present-Day Discussions about Sharia: Sharia and finance, Abdullah Saeed; Sharia and the Muslim diaspora, Mathias Rohe; Sharia and modernity, Kristine Kalanges; Sharia and medical ethics, Birgit Krawietz; Epilogue: the normative relevance of Sharia in the modern context, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na›im. Glossary; Index.