The historical formation of Islamic law - Wednesday 18th February

The first Spring term meeting of the Ancient Law reading group will take place on Wednesday 18th February at 5pm in the Centre for Jewish Studies office which is Room 11 on the Lower Ground floor in the West Wing of the Samuel Alexander building.

Mehmet Ciftci will be leading a discussion on the historical formation of Islamic law. Below please find Mehmet's introductory comments ahead of the reading session:

"Ever more frequently we confront the need to understand Islamic law, not only to understand the actions of Muslims far away, but also those living in our midst. Without presuming any prior knowledge of this subject, I shall make a brief sketch of the historical formation of Islamic law from its four different sources, which continue to be the basis of Islamic law today: the Quran, the hadith, the consensus of the Islamic community and analogical reasoning. I also include a discussion of Shia Islam and of its differences from Sunni Islam. Finally, I have provided an excerpt from a recent fatwa written by a Sunni legal scholar to condemn the actions of ISIS, not only for its topical relevance, but also to give an example of Islamic law in practice."