Hadi Enayat – författare

This open access reference book is a critical analysis of sharia for the 21st century. It serves as a critical introduction to a modernist, progressive and neo-traditionalist perspective on Islamic thought and practice regarding sharia. This approach reflects the efforts undertaken by Muslims - particularly those in the diaspora - to forge an alternative Muslim modernity based on creative engagement with both Islamic tradition and modern Western forms of knowledge. The book highlights the ground-breaking work of some of these seminal thinkers in various fields of law. The book is divided into thirteen chapters. It first covers what sharia is, its origins and how it developed in real time for Muslim societies. This discussion is then followed by chapters on each of the most challenging subjects of Islamic law in the contemporary world, including: constitutionalism, human rights, gender justice, biomedical ethics, religious freedom, criminal law, economics and finance and property rights. Each of these themes is discussed by the co-authors in light of the state-of-the-art literature available, each topic’s individual history, and the current debates and diverse global case studies that relate to each theme. The aim is to highlight that there is no monolithic version of sharia. Rather, sharia is an active set of humanistic principles that inspires Muslims around the world to live according to the ethics of their faith.The book is a collaboration by two experts from different professional backgrounds and aims to take a panoramic view of the subject to appeal to a wide audience. Each chapter can be read ‘stand alone’ while contributing to the book’s broader framework. All together, the chapters challenge misconceptions about sharia and showcase the developments surrounding sharia in the Muslim world and within the Muslim diaspora.The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by The Institute of Ismaili Studies.

After Iran's 1979 Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini denounced the secular legal system of the Pahlavis and pledged his commitment to distinctly Islamic conceptions of law and justice: the application of both the shariʿa and the rule of law (hākemiyat-e qānun) became major ideological pillars of the Islamic Republic. This precipitated the Islamization of the legal system, the judiciary and the courts, a process which still continues today and is the subject of intense ideological and political contestation. The Rule of Law in Iran is the first comprehensive analysis of judicial and legal institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran in their social, political and historical contexts. Scholars and practitioners of law, many with experience of working in Iran, shed light on how the rule of law has fared across a variety of areas, from criminal law to labour law, family law, minority rights, policing, the legal profession, the visual and performing arts, trade law, and medicine.

This book is a theoretically and historically informed exploration of 'secularism' in Muslim contexts. The study employs the tools of comparative historical sociology and sociology of knowledge to engage with the assumptions of Asadian theory.