Islamic Law and Culture, 1600-1840

This study of Islamic law in the final phase of its pre-modern period of existence is based mainly on the fatwa collections of two prominent Arab jurists and one Turkish jurist from this period. The book re-examines the basic methodological structure of Islamic law (including its complex relations with the state) and poses the question as to whether Islamic law became increasingly closed and rigid. It was found that no such closure ever took place. The book will be of importance to those interested in Islamic law, as well as to those interested in Islamic thought in general and the relations between society and the state.
Readership: All those interested in Islamic law, the Middle East under the Ottomans, Islam and civil society, Islam and the state.

Haim Gerber, Ph.D. (1977), Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is the author of several books dealing with the economic, social and legal history of the Middle East under the Ottoman Empire.