In what ways has Islamic law discriminated against women and privileged men? What rights and power have been accorded to Muslim women, and how have they used the legal system to enhance their social and economic position? In an analysis of Islamic law through the prism of gender, Judith Tucker tackles these complex questions relating to the position of women in Islamic society, and to the ways in which the legal system impacted on the family, property rights, space and sexuality, from classical and medieval times to the present. Working with concepts drawn from feminist legal theory and by using particular cases to illustrate her arguments, the author systematically addresses questions of discrimination and expectation - what did men expect of their womenfolk - and of how the language of the law contributed to that discrimination, infecting the system and all those who participated in it.

Rudolph Peters' book, first published in 2006, is about crimes and their punishments as laid down in Islamic law. In recent years some of the more fundamentalist regimes, such as those of Iran, Pakistan, Sudan and the northern states of Nigeria have reintroduced Islamic law in place of western criminal codes. Peters gives a detailed account of the classical doctrine and traces the enforcement of criminal law from the Ottoman period to the present day. The accounts of actual cases which range from theft, banditry, murder, fornication and apostasy shed light on the complexities of the law, and the sensitivity and perspicacity of the qadis who implemented it. This is the first single-authored account of both the theory and practice of Islamic criminal law. It will be invaluable for students, and scholars in the field, as well as for professionals looking for comprehensive coverage of the topic.

Long before the rise of Islam in the early seventh century, Arabia had come to form an integral part of the Near East. This book, covering more than three centuries of legal history, presents an important account of how Islam developed its own law while drawing on ancient Near Eastern legal cultures, Arabian customary law and Quranic reforms. The development of the judiciary, legal reasoning and legal authority during the first century is discussed in detail as is the dramatic rise of prophetic authority, the crystallization of legal theory and the formation of the all-important legal schools. Finally the book explores the interplay between law and politics, explaining how the jurists and the ruling elite led a symbiotic existence that - seemingly paradoxically - allowed Islamic law and its application to be uniquely independent of the 'state'.