Seyed Mohammad Ghari S. Fatemi is a Professor of Comparative Human Rights Law and Islamic Legal Theories at the Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, where he has taught Islamic legal theory since 1995 and serves as Research Lead for Islamic Legal Studies. He also holds professorships at Mofid University (Qom) and Shahid Beheshti University (Tehran) and is an Associate Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Birmingham. He completed his PhD in Law at the University of Manchester (1999), alongside advanced seminary training in the Ḥawza ʿIlmiyya of Qom. His research addresses human rights, Islamic law, and legal hermeneutics. His books include Human Rights in the Contemporary World: Analytical Essays on Rights and Freedoms (8th print 2025) and An Introduction to Human Rights in the Contemporary World: Concepts, Foundations and Sources (9th print 2025); he is co-editor of Regulative Verses of the Qurʾan: From Historical Trends to Contemporary Trajectories (2025). Hashim Bata is a Lecturer in Islamic Legal Studies and Managing Director of the Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, and an Associate Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Birmingham. He completed his PhD in Law at the University of Warwick (2014), examining Shīʿī legal epistemology and the authority of certainty (ḥujjiyyat al-qaṭʿ). His research spans uṣūl al-fiqh, fiqh, the history of Shīʿism, and Islamic theology. His publications include Exploring the Mind of God: An Introduction to Shiʿite Legal Epistemology (Brill, 2023) and, as editor, The Regulations of Purity and Impurity in Islam (AMI Press, 2022).

• AcknowledgementsPreface Introduction 1. From Interpretive Tensions to Methodological Synthesis2. Thematic Organisation of the Anthology3. Scope and Source Selection4. How to Use This AnthologyPART I: Foundational Concepts THEME ONE: The Remit of Uṣūl al-Fiqh within the Ecology of the Islamic SciencesTHEME TWO: The Architecture of the LawPART II: Linguistic DiscussionsTHEME THREE: The Theory of Meaning: Language, Signification, and Legal InferenceTHEME FOUR: On CommandsTHEME FIVE: On ProhibitionsTHEME SIX: Scope of Revealed RulingsPART III: Epistemology in Legal HermeneuticsTHEME SEVEN: Certainty, Conjecture, and Doubt: The Epistemic Foundations of Juristic ReasoningTHEME EIGHT: Evidence and Authority: Sources of Law in Islamic Legal TheoryTHEME NINE: Conflict of Evidence: Reconciling Competing Proofs in Islamic Legal TheoryPART IV: Interpretative Application THEME TEN: Ijtihād and Taqlīd: Competence, Delegation, and DisagreementAuthors Represented in the AnthologyBibliographyIndex