What Is the Sharia?

In the West, "sharia" often calls to mind antiquated laws founded upon gender discrimination and barbaric punishments. In the East, for some it means the ideal standards by which Muslims strive to live; for others, it is the greatest obstacle to modernization of their societies. These clashing views sometimes lead to violence. Clarification of the term has therefore become an urgent necessity.

Sharia is all of these things and much more. It is the legal system of Islam, a series of guidelines and prohibitions. But it is also a concept invested with a whole range of meanings, from the virtuous attributes of an "'ideal"' society, to the confinement of particular elements to otherness and adversity.

Moving through history, society and Islamic thought to explore the sources of sharia law, Baudouin Dupret gets to the heart of its uses and abuses in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This short, accessible book provides an invaluable guide for those seeking to understand a matter more complex and pressing today than ever before.

Author: Baudouin Dupret
Publisher: Hurst & Co.
Published: 05/01/2018
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 7.60h x 5.20w x 0.90d
ISBN13: 9781849048170
ISBN10: 1849048177
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Islamic Studies
- Political Science | International Relations | General
- Law | Islamic

About the Author

Baudouin Dupret is educated in Law, Islamic Sciences and Political Sciences. He spent many years as a CNRS researcher in Egypt, Syria, and Morocco. He has published extensively on sociology and anthropology of law, and on legislation and non-legal normativities in the Middle East and North Africa, including the co-authored Law at Work: Studies in Legal Ethnomethods (2015). Published in association with the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations (AKU-ISMC), with the support of the French Ministry of Culture.