Muslim Laws, Politics And Society In Modern Nation States ― Dynamic Legal Pluralisms In England, Turkey And Pakistan

Identifying the current socio-legal situation of Muslims and their legal attitudes from different perspectives, Yilmaz (Oriental and African studies, U. of London) analyzes the conflict between the assumptions of modern legal systems and plural legal realities. In England and Turkey, unofficial Muslim laws have been reconstructed within officially uniform secular legal systems, he says, in contrast to Pakistan, for example, where attempts by the state to reform Muslim family law have not been successful so far, and have led to intense clashes. He concludes that the restructuring of Muslim law as unofficial laws challenges the claim of official law to be the unique regulator of human behavior in any given field, and creates a dynamic legal plurality. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dr Ihsan Yilmaz, SOAS, Department of Law, University of London, UK.