Focuses on a Muslim legal science known in Arabic as usul al-fiqh. Whereas the kindred science of fiqh is concerned with the articulation of actual rules of law, this science attempts to elaborate the theoretical and methodological foundations of the law. It outlines the features of Muslim juristic thought.

The contributions of Bernard Weiss to the study of the principles of jurisprudence (uṣūl al-fiqh) are recognized in a series of contributions on Islamic legal theory. These thirteen chapters study a range of Islamic texts and employ contemporary legal, religious, and hermeneutical theory to study the methodology of Islamic law. Contributors include: Peter Sluglett, Ahmed El Shamsy, Éric Chaumont, A. Kevin Reinhart, Mohammad Fadel, Jonathan Brockopp, Christian Lange, Raquel M. Ukeles, Paul Powers, Robert Gleave, Wolfhart Heinrichs, Joseph Lowry, Rudolph Peters, Frank E. Vogel

The Spirit of Islam is considered one of the best and most well-written sources of information on the life of Mohammed the prophet and the history of Islam. Consisting of two parts, "The Life and Ministry of the Prophet" and "The Spirit of Islam," the book contains the literary, cultural, social, political, and philosophical history of Islam. Originally, the book was a short work entitled "A Critical Examination of the Life and Teachings of Mohammad," but the author later revised the work into what it is today. SYED AMEER ALI (1849-1928) was an Indian Muslim who wrote several books about Islamic history and practice, as well as Islamic law. A respected jurist himself, and a descendant of Mohammad, Ali's words were extremely influential. He achieved honors in school, began a legal practice in Calcutta, and was one of the most accomplished Muslims of his time before he moved to London at age 20. When he returned to Calcutta in 1873, he continued his law practice, became a law professor at Calcutta University, and founded the Central National Mohammedan Association in 1877, a political organization central to promoting modern Muslim thought. Ali moved back to London in 1904, establishing the London Muslim League in 1908 and the first London mosque in 1910. Ali continued to write and make breakthroughs for Muslims until his death in 1928.

Does Islamic law define Islamic ethics? Or is the law a branch of a broader ethical system? Or is it but one of several independent moral discourses, Islamic and otherwise, competing for Muslims’ allegiance? The essays in this book present a range of answers: some take fiqh as the defining framework for ethics, others insert the law into a broader ethical system, and others present it as just one among several parallel Islamic ethical discourses, or show how Islamic ethics might coexist with non-Muslim normative systems. Their answers have far reaching implications for epistemology, for the authority of jurists and lay Muslims, for the practical moral challenges of daily life, and for relationships with non-Muslims. The book presents Muslim ethicists with a strategic contemporary choice: should they pursue a single overarching methodology for judging all ethical questions, or should they relish the rhetorical and political competition of alternative but not necessarily incompatible moral discourses?

Wael B. Hallaq has already established himself as one of the most eminent scholars in the field of Islamic law. In this book, first published in 1997, the author traces the history of Islamic legal theory from its early beginnings until the modern period. Initially, he focuses on the early formation of this theory, analysing its central themes and examining the developments which gave rise to a variety of doctrines. He concludes with a discussion of modern thinking about the theoretical foundations and methodology of Islamic law. In organisation, approach to the subject and critical apparatus, the book will be an essential tool for the understanding of Islamic legal theory in particular and Islamic law in general. This, in combination with an accessibility of language and style, will guarantee a readership among students and scholars and anyone interested in Islam and its evolution.

Scholars praised the 1992 edition of this book as a groundbreaking intellectual treatment of Islamic jurisprudence. Bernard Weiss's revised edition brings to life Sayf al-Din al-Amidi's classic exposition of the methodologies through which Muslim scholars have constructed their understandings of the divine law. Weiss's new introduction provides an overview of Amidi's jurisprudence that facilitates deeper comprehension of the challenging dialect of the text. This edition includes an in-depth analysis of the nature of language and the ways in which it madeiates the law, while shaping it at the same time. An index has been added.