Léon Buskens holds a chair for Law and Culture in Muslim societies at Leiden University and is director of the Netherlands Institute in Morocco (NIMAR). From its foundation in 2009 until the end of 2015 he was the first director of the Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies (NISIS). His research focuses on Islamic law and society, and the anthropology of Muslim societies, with a particular interest in Morocco and Indonesia.Annemarie van Sandwijk holds a double master's degree in History and in Theology and Religious Studies (Leiden University). She worked as an editor at the Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies (NISIS) for several years.

"Overall, this is a very interesting edited volume trying to discuss both the past and current developments in the field of Islamic studies, and a very ambitious endeavour ... the volume is a useful tool for all those interested in the field of Islamic studies such as students, researchers and scholars. It is also a useful read to journalists and any other persons, who wish to be aware of the state of art in Islamic studies and have a more adept image about Islamic societies." - The Nordic Journal of Migration Research, issue 4/2017, Alexandros Sakellariou

• INTRODUCTION, Dichotomies, Transformations, and Continuities in the Study of Islam Léon Buskens TEXTS The Anthropologist as Reader Brinkley Messick Textual Aspects of Religious Authority in Premodern Islam Jonathan P. Berkey What to do with Ritual Texts: Islamic Fiqh Texts and the Study of Islamic Ritual A. Kevin Reinhart GENDER Textual Study of Gender Marion Katz Scholarship on Gender Politics in the Muslim World: Some Critical Reflections Dorothea E. Schulz THEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF IDEAS Power, Orthodoxy, and Salvation in Classical Islamic Theology Christian Lange Dialectical Theology in the Search for Modern Islam Abdulkader Tayob LAW Classical Islamic Legal Theory as Ideology: Nasr Abu Zayd's Study of al-Shafi'i's al-Risala Muhammad Khalid Masud Islamic Law in the Modern World: States, Laws, and Constitutions Knut S. Vikør NETWORKS Sufi Networks, Ethics of Hospitality and Vernacular Cosmopolitanism Pnina Werbner CULTURE AND RELIGION Middle Eastern Studies and Islam: Oscillations and Tensions in an Old Relationship Léon Buskens, NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS, OVERVIEW OF NISIS AUTUMN SCHOOLS, 2010-2014.