Islamic Natural Law Theories

Islamic Natural Law Theories
Author: Anver M. Emon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2010-04-08
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199579008

This book offers the first sustained jurisprudential inquiry into Islamic natural law theory. It introduces readers to competing theories of Islamic natural law theory based on close readings of Islamic legal sources from as early as the 9th and 10th centuries CE. In popular debates about Islamic law, modern Muslims perpetuate an image of Islamic law as legislated by God, to whom the devout are bound to obey. Reason alone cannot obligate obedience; at most it can confirm or corroborate what is established by source texts endowed with divine authority. This book shows, however, that premodern Sunni Muslim jurists were not so resolute. Instead, they asked whether and how reason alone can be the basis for asserting the good and the bad, thereby justifying obligations and prohibitions under Shari'a. They theorized about the authority of reason amidst competing theologies of God. For premodern Sunni Muslim jurists, nature became the link between the divine will and human reason. Nature is the product of God's purposeful creation for the benefit of humanity. Since nature is created by God and thereby reflects His goodness, nature is fused with both fact and value. Consequently, as a divinely created good, nature can be investigated to reach both empirical and normative conclusions about the good and bad. They disagreed, however, whether nature's goodness is contingent upon a theology of God's justice or God's potentially contingent grace upon humanity, thus contributing to different theories of natural law. By recasting the Islamic legal tradition in terms of legal philosophy, the book sheds substantial light on an uncharted tradition of natural law theory and offers critical insights into contemporary global debates about Islamic law and reform.

The Foundation of Norms in Islamic Jurisprudence and Theology

The Foundation of Norms in Islamic Jurisprudence and Theology
Author: Omar Farahat
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2019-01-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108476767

This book offers a new way of understanding classical Islamic theories, holding that divine revelation is necessary for the knowledge of norms and its reading of the issue of reason breaks new ground in Islamic theology, law and ethics. It will appeal to students and scholars of Islamic studies, Islamic ethics, law and post-colonial theory.

The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics

The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics
Author: Tom Angier
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2019-11-07
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108422632

How do ethical norms relate to human nature? This comprehensive and interdisciplinary volume surveys the latest thinking on natural law.

Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law

Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law
Author: Anver M. Emon
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2012-10-11
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0191645702

The relationship between Islamic law and international human rights law has been the subject of considerable, and heated, debate in recent years. The usual starting point has been to test one system by the standards of the other, asking is Islamic law 'compatible' with international human rights standards, or vice versa. This approach quickly ends in acrimony and accusations of misunderstanding. By overlaying one set of norms on another we overlook the deeply contextual nature of how legal rules operate in a society, and meaningful comparison and discussion is impossible. In this volume, leading experts in Islamic law and international human rights law attempt to deepen the understanding of human rights and Islam, paving the way for a more meaningful debate. Focusing on central areas of controversy, such as freedom of speech and religion, gender equality, and minority rights, the authors examine the contextual nature of how Islamic law and international human rights law are legitimately formed, interpreted, and applied within a community. They examine how these fundamental interests are recognized and protected within the law, and what restrictions are placed on the freedoms associated with them. By examining how each system recognizes and limits fundamental freedoms, this volume clears the ground for exploring the relationship between Islamic law and international human rights law on a sounder footing. In doing so it offers a challenging and distinctive contribution to the literature on the subject, and will be an invaluable reference for students, academics, and policy-makers engaged in the legal and religious debates surrounding Islam and the West.

Islamic Law

Islamic Law
Author: Mashood A. Baderin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2021
Genre: Islamic law
ISBN: 0199665591

Islamic law is one of the major legal systems in the world today, yet it is often misunderstood, particularly in the West. This book provides a critical overview of the theory, scope, and practice of Islamic law, taking into account both classical and modern scholarly perspectives in examining the various facets of this key legal system.

Interpreting Averroes

Interpreting Averroes
Author: Peter Adamson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2019
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1107114888

Engages with all aspects of Averroes' philosophy, from his thinking on Aristotle to his influence on Islamic law.

Religious Pluralism and Islamic Law

Religious Pluralism and Islamic Law
Author: Anver M. Emon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2012-07-26
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0199661634

Analysing the rules governing the treatment of foreigners in Islam and situating them in their historical, political, and legal context, this book sets out a new framework for understanding these rules as part of a wider problem of governing through law amidst pluralism.

The Disintegration of Natural Law Theory

The Disintegration of Natural Law Theory
Author: Pauline C. Westerman
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2014-10-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004247386

John Finnis's proposal to rehabilitate Aquinas's natural law theory as an appropriate foundation of legal and moral theory rests on the assumption that Aquinas's theory can be restored by eliminating the mistaken interpretations of subsequent natural law theorists. This book challenges that assumption. After a brief analysis of Aquinas, the theories of Suárez, Grotius, and Pufendorf are investigated. It is argued that their theories are no 'mistakes', but attempts at solving problems inherent in natural law theory. As these attempts all fail, tensions remain, and ultimately lead to the demise of the theory. Finally it is argued that Finnis, running into the same problems, cannot hope to restore Aquinas's theoretical edifice.

Hans Kelsen and the Natural Law Tradition

Hans Kelsen and the Natural Law Tradition
Author: Peter Langford
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 555
Release: 2019-03-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9004390391

Hans Kelsen and the Natural Law Tradition provides the first sustained examination of Hans Kelsen’s critical engagement, itself founded upon a distinctive theory of legal positivism, with the Natural Law Tradition. This edited collection commences with a comprehensive introduction which establishes the character of Kelsen’s critical engagement as a general critique of natural law combined with a more specific critique of representative thinkers of the Natural Law Tradition. The subsequent chapters are then devoted to a detailed analysis of Kelsen’s engagement with prominent theorists from the Natural Law Tradition. The volume concludes with an exploration, focusing upon the delineation of a non-positivist legal theory in the debate between Robert Alexy and Joseph Raz, of the continued presence of Kelsenian legal positivism in contemporary legal theory.

Principles of Islamic International Criminal Law

Principles of Islamic International Criminal Law
Author: Farhad Malekian
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 477
Release: 2011-06-22
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004203966

The goal of this book is to minimize the misunderstandings and conflicts between International law and Islamic law. The objective is to bring peace into justice and justice into peace for the prevention of violations of human rights law, humanitarian law, international criminal law, and impunity.