Law And Power in the Islamic World

by Sami Zubaida

This book is an original contribution to the debates surrounding Islam and ideas of modernity. Starting from modern concerns, it examines the origins and evolution of the Shari’a (Islamic law), and the corpus of texts, concepts and practices in which it has been enshrined. Sami Zubaida considers key historical episodes of political accommodations and contests between scholars and sultans. Drawing on modern examples, mainly from Egypt and Iran, Zubaida explores how the Shari'a has evolved and mutated to accommodate the workings of a modern state by examining the reforms of the 19th and 20th centuries and the politics of the contemporary world.

Genres: Religion

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 17, 2003

About the author

Sami Zubaida (born 1937) is Emeritus Professor of Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck, and also holds posts as Professorial Research Associate at the Food Studies Centre at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and Research Associate at the London Middle East Institute at SOAS.

His research involves the religion, culture, politics and law of the Middle East, with particular attention to Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. His other research interest is food history and culture, ranging comparatively over Europe, the Middle East and India.

Born in Iraq, Sami Zubaida went to school in Baghdad before studying at the Universities of Hull and Leicester. He is the author of the recently published Beyond Islam: A New Understanding of the Middle East. Professor Zubaida’s earlier books include Islam, the People and the State: Political Ideas and Movements in the Middle East; A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East; and Law and Power in the Islamic World.

As a Visiting Hauser Global Professor of Law in 2006, Sami Zubaida taught Law and Politics in the Islamic World at New York University School of Law. In 2008 he was Shaykh Zayed Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the American University of Beirut, and in 2009 he delivered the Peter Green Lecture on the Modern Middle East at Brown University, USA. In 2011 his public lectures included speaking at Ravenna University, Italy; at the International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference, Istanbul; and delivering a keynote lecture at the Arab Thought Forum, Jordan.

Reviews

[Mohamedridha Alaskari محمد رضا العسكري · Rating 3 out of 5]

"ان الاخطاء في الدين خطيرة، أما الاخطاء في الفلسفة فسخيفة" - أفلاطون.

غالبية نصوص ومادة هذا الكتاب مهمة جدا للباحثالتاريخي عن الشريعة الاسلامية.

لطالما كانت هذه الشريعة محل اختلاف مع التشريعات القانونية بوجود طرفي النزاع وهما الاصلاحيين والمحافظين على مر العصور لكن الخاسر الاكبر هم الاصلاحيين كونهم ضعيفي الدليل دائما وسهولة تفنيدهم من قبل الاصوليين المحافضين،
من جانب اخر فأن الشريعة الاسلامية تتضارب مع السلطة وقد عمل المسلمون من عهد الخلفاء الى يومنا هذا للتقريب بين السلطة والشريعة الا انهم فشلوا بذلك كثيرا لانه من غير المنطقي موالمة السنن الالهية مع القوانين الوضعية التي تتغير بتطور المجتمع.

الكاتب فشل في تغاضيه عن مناقشة الشريعة في كل من المغرب العربي خصوصا تونس والعراق كون قوانينهم وتشريعاتهم مرت وتجلت بتغييرات دستورية جلية.
ايضا ابمؤلف ينقصه الكثير عن شريعة الشيعة حيث ركز الكاتب على نظرية ولاية الفقيه ولم يركز على المرجعية في المذاهب الشيعية التي تعتبر سر قوتها هي وجود مرجعية حية تبت بكل مستجد طارئ على الشيعة.

ايضا الكاتب تعاضى كثيرا عن الشريعة والسلطة في السعودية كونها نمذجا رجعيا في ضل دول تحكمها دساتير رصينة وغياب دستور انساني لائق في السعودية.

الكتاب مهم لكن النقاط اعلاه يجب ان تراعى اثناء تقييم هذا الكتاب.

[Sasha Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Traces the history of the relationship between religious and secular laws and authorities in Islamic countries, finding that until modern times, Shari'a was rarely the sole law of the land, but either ran in parallel with a secular legal system or was relegated to the fringes. This began to change with European pressure on Islamic countries to codify their laws in order to facilitate trade and with nationalistic responses to colonialism. Zubaida argues that this process has resulted in a harsher application of Shari'a and, in particular, more frequent imposition of the hudud punishments than was historically the case. Zubaida's argument depends partly on classifying siyasa as secular rather than Islamic, which is a contested view. The book is an interesting read, but I found it heavy going at times.