CONFLICTS AND TENSIONS IN ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE

The conflicting interests of stability and change in law is a problem common to all lb world’s legal systems. But nowhere is the problem of adapting established law 1» Fne changing standards and values of society more acute than in contemporary Islam Islamic law as a manifestation of divine will has known continuity and a form for more than twelve centuries; the notion of permanence is therefore particularly deep-rooted. And yet the impetus for social change, under the influence of Western civilization, is equally strong. Consequently, Islamic jurisprudence is seeking a basic system of principles with which to answer the needs of present-dag, Muslim society while preserving the continuity of traditional doctrines.
Professor Coulson’s method is to examine the principal currents of Islamic legal
thought through a series of conflicting concepts. The six polarizations he has devised
are revelation and reason, unity and diversity, authority and liberty, idealism and
realism, law and morality, and stability and change.
Although clearly relevant to general Islamic studies, this book is intended primarily
as a study in comparative law. This follows the trend of recent developments in the
Islamic legal system itself. In the past, Muslim law has been regarded essentially as
a brand of religious studies. Now, however, it is being separated from religion and
becoming a province of legal science rather than a matter of religious expertise. It is conforming its modes of expression and techniques of application to the standards of
a general law-—-commercial and civil.—which is of foreign, specifically, European,
origin. –

• AUTHOR: NOEL J. COULSON
• ISBN 983-9541-50-1