Hunt Janin is an American writer living in southwestern France. He has written numerous nonfiction and scholarly books on a range of subjects, including medieval history and cross-cultural studies. André Kahlmeyer has a MA degree in Middle Eastern studies and has studied, traveled, worked, and learned Arabic in the Middle East. He now focuses on Middle Eastern issues, working for a developmental aid agency as project officer for Islamic countries.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Introduction      1. Fundamentals of Islam      2. Traditional Sharia Law: Obligations to God and to Fellow Human Beings      3. The Sharia and Its Jurists: From the Beginnings to al-Shatibi’s Legal Reforms      4. Ottoman Law in the Golden Age of the Empire: Süleyman the Magnificent      5. The Sharia Under Wahhabi Puritanism and Incursions by the West      6. The Sharia and Jihad      7. The Sharia in the World Today      8. Islamic Banking      9. The Future of Islamic Law: Reform or Retrenchment?      Appendix 1: Al-Shafi’i’s Views on Legal Knowledge      Appendix 2: Translating the Concept of Jihad      Appendix 3: The Sharia in 29 Selected Countries Today      Appendix 4: Selected Chronolog y, c. 570–2001      Glossary      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index