Sharia Compliant
A User's Guide to Hacking Islamic Law
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- $25.99
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
For over a thousand years, Muslim scholars worked to ensure that Islamic law was always fresh and vibrant, that it responded to the needs of an evolving Muslim community and served as a moral and spiritual compass. They did this by "hacking" Islamic law in accordance with changing times and contexts, diving into the interconnected Islamic legal tradition to recalibrate what was outdated, making some laws work better and more efficiently while leaving others undisturbed. These hacking skills made Islamic law both flexible and relevant so that it could meet the needs of a community with changing values while remaining true to its ancient roots. Today, the hacking process has stalled in the face of unprecedented structural challenges, and Islamic law has stagnated.
This book is designed to revitalize the hacking tradition by getting readers involved in the process. It walks them through the ins and outs of Islamic legal change, vividly describing how Muslim scholars have met new and evolving challenges on topics as diverse as abolition, democracy, finance, gender, human rights, sexuality, and more. And it provides step-by-step instructions for readers to hack laws for themselves, so that through their engagement and creativity, they can help Islamic law regain its intrinsic vitality and resume its role as a forward-looking source for good in the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this well-reasoned book, Ahmed (Narratives of Islamic Legal Theory) argues that Islamic law can be made more modern to address contemporary concerns. Ahmed suggests that Muslims need to "challenge common assumptions about Islam" to adapt Islamic law to the challenges of 21st-century life. For Ahmed, "hacking" is about revitalizing Islamic law and restoring its inherently innovative nature. He wants to do this by empowering Muslims to work within the system to improve it. Ahmed shares examples throughout history of how hacking Islamic law has helped free slaves, revolutionize financial relationships, broaden women's rights, and make Muslims stand out in the "selfie-culture" that has developed over the past decade. He coaches readers to plug into online Koran chat rooms and mailing lists to reread and freshly apply verses about women and the family in ways that are both faithful to the text and liberating for Muslimahs. Though lay readers may have difficulty following more nuanced discussions, they will still come away with an understanding of the traditional mechanics of interpreting and applying Islamic laws. Ahmed's in-depth book demonstrates how flexible Islamic law can be as it evolves to tackle the issues of 21st-century life and will appeal to lay readers interested in the textual origins of popularly held beliefs about the Koran.
