LibGuides: Islamic Law: Introductory Materials

Concise Introductory Articles

An Introduction to Islamic Law
Provides an accessible introduction to Islamic Law for non-Muslims.
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Salma Taman, 'An Introduction to Islamic Law' (2014) 16 Eur JL Reform 221
An Introduction to the Law of the Islamic World
Conference speech by Vogel, a leading authority in Islamic Law and previous Director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School
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Frank Vogel, 'An Introduction to Law of the Islamic World' (2003) 31 Int'l J Legal Info 353
Researching Islamic Law: An Introduction
Sources and suggestions for Islamic Law research by Spells, Law Librarian at SOAS, a leading institution for Islamic Law research
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Sarah Spells, 'Researching Islamic Law: an Introduction' (2009) 9 LIM 191

Introductory Texts

Brief list of leading classics and introductory texts in the field. The contributions by classic authors (e.g. Schacht) have been built on, and corrected for, by others such as Wael Hallaq:

Shariah : what everyone needs to know by John L. Esposito; Natana J. DeLong-Bas
Call Number: KA615 Esp 2018
ISBN: 9780199325061
Publication Date: Oxford University Press, 2018-04-11
An Introduction to Islamic Law by Wael B. Hallaq
Call Number: KA615 Hal 2009
ISBN: 9780521678735
Publication Date: Cambridge University Press, 2009-07-09
Islamic Law: a Very Short Introduction by Mashood A. Baderin
Call Number: KBP144 Bad 2021
ISBN: 9780199665594
Publication Date: Oxford University Press, 2021-05-03
An Introduction to Islamic Law by Joseph Schacht
Call Number: KA615 Scha
ISBN: 9780198254737
Publication Date: Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1983-10-27, reprint of 1964
The Spirit of Islamic Law by Bernard G. Weiss; Alan Watson (Series edited by)
Call Number: KA615 Wei
ISBN: 9780820328270
Publication Date: University of Georgia Press, 2006-03-01, reprint of 1998
Between God and the Sultan by Knut S. Vikør.
Call Number: KA615 Vik 2005
ISBN: 9780195223989
Publication Date: Oxford University Press, 2006-01-05
Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law by Ignaz Goldziher; Andras Hamori (Translator); Ruth Hamori (Translator)
Call Number: BP161 Gol
ISBN: 0691100993
Publication Date: 1981-04-21
A History of Islamic Law by N. J. Coulson
Call Number: KA615 Cou
ISBN: 9780748605149
Publication Date: Edinburgh University Press, 1984-01-01

Dictionaries

Clarifying terminology which is particularly necessary for Islamic terms in their original language (e.g. Arabic / Turkish / Persian):

The Oxford dictionary of Islam
John L. Esposito (Ed) (Oxford University Press, 2003)
Designed for general readers with little or no knowledge of Islam, this dictionary provides more than 2000 vivid entries organized in an easy-to-use, A-Z format.
Encyclopedia of Islam: Glossary and Index of Terms (2nd Edition)
P.J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis and C.E. Bosworth (Eds.) (Brill Academic Publishers, 2004)
Presented for convenience as a separate data set, the Glossary is an invaluable source of information for both the non-specialist, who is given an insight into the varied and rich vocabulary of Islam, and the specialist, who may discover surprising new contexts in which a term is being used.
Islamic Jurisprudence Glossary
English Department of Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi's Office, Iran
A compilation of jurisprudential terms along with their simplified explanation.
See also: Islam - Dictionaries (LINC Subject Catalog)
For print copies of Islamic dictionaries. "A dictionary of Islam" (1855) by Thomas Patrick Hughes (Call number: BP40 Hug) is one such authoritative source.

Handbooks, Manuals etc.

Researchers will find these helpful with their topical approaches and distillation of current issues in the field:

The Oxford handbook of Islamic law
Anver M. Emon and Rumee Ahmed (Ed) (Oxford University Press, 2015-)
Employing a historiographical approach, expert scholars in Islamic legal studies highlight the contested nature of key concepts and topics in Islamic law without taking any particular account for granted.
Research handbook on Islamic law and society
Nadirsyah Hosen (Ed) (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018)
The Research Handbook on Islamic Law and Society provides an examination of the role of Islamic law as it applies in Muslim and non-Muslim societies through legislation, fatwa, court cases, sermons, media, or scholarly debate.
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Taking a thematic approach, the Research Handbook assesses the application of Islamic law across six key areas: family law and courts; property and business; criminal law and justice; ethics, health and sciences; arts and education; and community and public spheres. Through examination of these themes in over 20 jurisdictions, the Research Handbook serves to demonstrate that Islamic law is adaptable depending on the values of Muslim societies across different times and places. In addition, the Research Handbook highlights how Islamic law has engaged with contemporary issues, looking beyond what is set out in the Qur'an and the Hadith, to examine how Islamic law is applied in societies today.
Routledge handbook of Islamic law
Khaled Abou El Fadl, Ahmad Atif Ahmad, and Said Fares Hassan (Eds.) (Routledge, 2019)
This handbook is a detailed reference source comprising original articles covering the origins, history, theory and practice of Islamic law.
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The handbook starts out by dealing with the question of what type of law is Islamic law and includes a critical analysis of the pedagogical approaches to studying and analysing Islamic law as a discipline. The handbook covers a broad range of issues, including the role of ethics in Islamic jurisprudence, the mechanics and processes of interpretation, the purposes and objectives of Islamic law, constitutional law and secularism, gender, bioethics, Muslim minorities in the West, jihad and terrorism. Previous publications on this topic have approached Islamic law from a variety of disciplinary and pedagogical perspectives. One of the original features of this handbook is that it treats Islamic law as a legal discipline by taking into account the historical functions and processes of legal cultures and the patterns of legal thought.
The Ashgate research companion to Islamic law
Rudolph Peters and Peri Bearman (Eds.) (Ashgate, 2014)
The volume presents classical Islamic law through a historiographical introduction to and analysis of Western scholarship, while key debates about hot-button issues in modern-day circumstances are also addressed. In twenty-one chapters, distinguished authors offer an overview of their particular specialty, reflect on past and current thinking, and point to directions for future research.
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The Companion is divided into four parts. The first offers an introduction to the history of Islamic law as well as a discussion of how Western scholarship and historiography have evolved over time. The second part delves into the substance of Islamic law. Legal rules for the areas of legal status, family law, socio-economic justice, penal law, constitutional authority, and the law of war are all discussed in this section. Part three examines the adaptation of Islamic law in light of colonialism and the modern nation state as well as the subsequent re-Islamization of national legal systems. The final section presents contemporary debates on the role of Islamic law in areas such as finance, the diaspora, modern governance, and medical ethics, and the volume concludes by questioning the role of Sharia law as a legal authority in the modern context. By outlining the history of Islamic law through a linear study of research, this collection is unique in its examination of past and present scholarship and the lessons we can draw from this for the future.

Encyclopedias

Get a quick overview of topics using A-Z reference:

Islamic Law:

Encyclopedia of Islamic law : a compendium of the views of the major schools
Laleh Bakhtiar (ABC International Group, 1996)
This publication is an English language adaptation of two works:
Muhammad Jawad al-Mughniyya's al-fiqh ala-l-madhahib al khamsa ("The Jurisprudence According to the Five Schools"), first published in Arabic in Beirut in 1982 and;
Imam Jaziri's al-Fiqh alal madhdhab al-arbaah ("Islamic Jurisprudence According to the Four Sunni Schools"), a classic work first published in 1928 and later translated in English in 2009.
Encyclopaedia of Islamic law and jurisprudence
Muhammad Moinuddin Khan (Ed) (Discovery Publishing House, 2018)
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Vol. 2. Dimensions of Islamic law
Vol. 3. Islamic law and society
Vol. 4. Islamic law and family
Vol. 5. Islamic law and marriage
Vol. 6. Islamic law and divorce
Vol. 7. Islamic law and security (on order)
Vol. 8. Islamic law and criminology
Vol. 9. Jurisprudence under Islamic law
Vol. 10. Islamic law and endowment
Vol. 11. Islamic law and human rights
Encyclopaedia of Islamic law
Arif Ali Khan, et. al., (Eds.) (Pentagon Press, 2006)
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Vol. 1. Concepts of Islamic Law
Vol. 2. Foundation of Islamic Law
Vol. 3. Islamic Law in Practice
Vol. 4. Civil Law in Islam
Vol. 5. Family Law in Islam
Vol. 6. Law of Marriage and Divorce in Islam
Vol. 7. Law of Waqf in Islam
Vol. 8. Criminal Law in Islam
Vol. 9. Jurisprudence in Islam
Vol. 10. Law of Governance in Islam
Encyclopaedia of Islamic Shariat
Maulana Muhammad Razi Khan Afridi & M.H. Syed (Eds.) (Pentagon Press, 2011)
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Vol. 1. Manual of Islam : Islamic Shariat on religion
Vol. 2. Manual of Islam : Islamic Shariat on faith
Vol. 4. Manual of Islam : Islamic Shariat on ideology
Vol. 5. Manual of Islam : Islamic Shariat on prophet
Vol. 6. Manual of Islam : Islamic Shariat on morality
Vol. 7. Manual of Islam : Islamic Shariat on etiquettes
Vol. 8. Manual of Islam : Islamic Shariat on family
Vol. 9. Manual of Islam : Islamic Shariat on society
Vol. 10. Manual of Islam : Islamic Shariat on polity

General Topics in Islam:

Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world (2nd Edition)
Richard C. Martin (Ed.) (Gale, Cengage Learning, 2016)
This reference work includes articles on the history, religion, cultural practices, and political economies of Muslims from the seventh-century in West Asia to today's Muslim societies throughout the continents of Asia, Africa, the Subcontinent, Europe, and the Americas.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three (3rd Edition EI-3)
Kate Fleet, et. al., (Eds.) (Brill, 2007-)
Dating back to its 1st Edition in 1913, this reference work includes comprehensive coverage of Islam in the twentieth century, attention to Muslim minorities all over the world and full attention to social science as well as humanistic perspectives.
Encyclopaedia Islamica
Wilferd Madelung, Farhad Daftary (Eds.) (Brill, 2008-)
Encyclopaedia Islamica is an abridged translation of the Persian Dāʾirat al-Maʾārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī, one of the most comprehensive sources on Islam and the Muslim world. It complements other encyclopedias due to its unique attention given to Shiʾi Islam and its rich and diverse heritage.
Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān
Jane Dammen McAuliffe (Ed.) (Brill, 2001-2006)
Encyclopedic dictionary of qur'anic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur'anic studies.
The Oxford encyclopedia of the Islamic world
John L. Esposito (Ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2009)
Provides accurate, comprehensive, and balanced scholarship on Islam and the areas it affects: society, politics, economics, everyday life, culture, and thought.
The New Cambridge History of Islam
Michael Cook (Ed) (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
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Vol. 1. The Formation of the Islamic World, Sixth to Eleventh Centuries
Vol. 2. The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries
Vol. 3. The Eastern Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries
Vol. 4. Islamic Cultures and Societies to the End of the Eighteenth Century
Vol. 5. The Islamic World in the Age of Western Dominance
Vol. 6. Muslims and Modernity: Culture and Society since 1800
The new encyclopedia of Islam (4th Edition)
Cyril Glassé (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013)
The essential one-volume work of reference on Islam, fully revised with added articles, including maps of the Islamic world today and through history, a chronology, and genealogical tables of key dynasties of the faith.

Specific Topics:

The biographical encyclopedia of Islamic philosophy
Oliver Leaman (Thoemmes Continuum, 2006)
The encyclopedia provides access to the ideas and people comprising almost 1400 years of Islamic philosophical tradition. It goes beyond philosophy to reference all kinds of theoretical inquiry which were often linked with philosophy, such as the Islamic sciences, grammar, theology, law, and traditions. Every major school of thought, from classical Peripatetic philosophy to Sufi mysticism, is represented, and entries range across time from the early years of the faith to the modern period.
Encyclopaedia of Islamic banking and insurance
Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance (2006)
Covering a wide range of topics, this publication also includes a survey of Islamic banks and financial institutions, research and educational bodies, a comprehensive bibliography and a glossary of Arabic terms commonly used in Islamic financing.
Encyclopedia of women & Islamic cultures online
Suad Joseph (Ed.) (Brill, 2012)
A groundbreaking reference work reflecting the very latest research on gender studies and the Islamic world, using an interdisciplinary, trans-historical, and global approach to examine women & Islamic cultures in countries with significant Muslim populations.
The Oxford encyclopedia of Islam and women
Natana J. Delong-Bas (Ed.) (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Written by leading international experts and with a concentration on contemporary issues, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women has more than 450 articles providing clear, current, comprehensive information on the major scholarly topics within the study of Islam and women.
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v.1. Ābīsh Khātūn bint Sa'd II - Mut'ah
v.2. Names and Naming - Ziyārah.
Organized around the central conceptual themes in research on Islam and women: Theory, Practice, and Interpretation of Religion; Self and Body; Immigration and Minorities; Sharia, Fiqh, Philosophy, and Reason; Culture and Expression; Wealth, Welfare and Labor; Politics and Polity; Scholarly Approaches and Theoretical Constructs; Community and Society; Science; Medicine and Education among others, this work examines the scholarship on Islam and women that has expanded exponentially over the past twenty years, as well as cross-pollination between other fields and disciplines.