Law and Society Review Special Issue Introduction: Islamic Law, Society, and the State

• Published date: 01 September 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12360
• Date: 01 September 2018

Law and Society Review Special Issue Introduction:

Islamic Law, Society, and the State

Tamir Moustafa Jeffrey Adam Sachs

Islamic law occupies a relatively minor place in the legal systems

of most Muslim-majority countries, with jurisdiction often limited

to matters of family law. In a smaller number of countries, its

reach includes criminal and constitutional matters as well. Yet

whatever its formal scope, state claims to Islamic law frequently

generate controversy and contention. There is a certain irony

here: most states that seek to regulate Islamic law do so with the

expectation that its role can be carefully stage managed and chor-

eographed. Instead, state leaders more typically find themselves

contending with new demands and unexpected forms of claims-

making; whether from women’s groups advocating for gender

equality grounded in Islam, from conservative groups calling for

the adoption of an Islamic criminal code, or from liberals and sec-

ularists challenging the state’s claim to Islamic law altogether.

1

When it comes to Islamic law, everyone has an opinion.

Many readers will understand these struggles as a politics of

tradition versus modernity. But the collection of essays that make

up this special issue of Law & Society Review present a different

perspective. They demonstrate that contention around Islamic

law is, in fact, a quintessentially modern phenomenon. That is to

say, the present-day politics of Islamic law are both unique to the

contemporary era and contingent on modern state institutions for

their expression and distinctive salience. This special issue focuses

on what state regulation of Islamic law gives rise to—the new

forms of politics it creates, the governing strategies it enables, the

modes of resistance it makes possible, and the types of legal or

religious consciousness it generates.

More generally, this special issue is intended to connect socio-

legal scholars with new research at the intersection of Islamic law

and society. This is a bridge that is sorely missing at present.

Terms such as “Islamic law” “shari‘a,” and “fatwa” are widely cir-

1

These debates are often intertwined with a variety of other issues: ethnic politics,

patriarchy, critiques of government abuse of power,and so forth.

Law & Society Review, Volume 52, Number 3 (2018)

©2018 Law and Society Association. All rights reserved.

560