Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law

I acquired the book in ebook form for academic purposes. However, while the content is very good the format of the ebook is not conducive to academic work. There are no page numbers, so creating citations is next to impossible in this format.

The previous reviews entitled "What a Shame" and "Rebellion is not Violence" harbor ill will that reveal much about the reviewers and nothing about the author nor the book. First, I cannot imagine who better to comment on the book and the author, Dr. Abou El Fadl, than his graduate students, who have obviously committed their time and intellectual energy into studying his work at a depth that few others can. By defending their teacher, they honor their teacher, and this says nothing of whether or not the book can stand on its own merits. Without question, the book stands on its own merits, or it would not have been published by Cambridge University Press, nor won the accolades of so many reviewers that it has. I don't understand why someone would be critical of a professor's students defending their professor or his work, unless that person harbored some kind of ill will towards the students or the professor.As to the other review, the reviewer embarrassingly reveals the fact that he has not even read the book in the comments that he makes. Among the most obvious guffaws are his comments that "the work is exclusively focused on Salafi thought," and that it "ignores the Shi'ite point of view." Ali must have been reading a different book or skipped past most of the chapters, because the book does neither. Ali claims that it is historically inaccurate that Islamic law does not call for the killing or destruction of rebels. If he had actually read the book, and understood what he was reading, he would have learned he was wrong in this statement. Ali's assertions that the author misunderstood what he was doing, was neglectful, confused or oversimplifying are funny, and the examples he provides as evidence are just as funny, not to mention flimsy, ahistorical and superficial. The punchline of the book being a "good start, but it is hardly a reference on rebellion and violence in Islamic law," is particularly comical when one considers the all-star league of a scholar such as Dr. Abou El Fadl and his sterling record of publications and scholarship. In contrast, considering the quality of this reviewer's comments, it is like someone from Little Leagues trying to tell the Player of the Year how to play ball.

Although Islam remains an all-inclusive faith with answers to all sorts of questions, the longevity of the Islamic style of governance and the rise of political Islam in modern history brought the discipline of Islamic Law to the forefront once more. As a result, Islam is being judged and appraised based on its contribution to the legal field more than its input in any other area of knowledge. Modern scholars are deeply divided over the authenticity and applicability of Islamic law principles. The recent publications are good barometers of the attitudes towards Islam in general. This review is intended to give interested readers some idea regarding some this and other important books and some background information about the influential authors active in the field of Islamic studies.One could divide the modern authors into four major tendencies based on the background and ideas as expressed in their work and through their contact with the larger community of readers of Islamic publications and followers of Islamic faith.Before we move on to these divisions, let's remind readers that Muslim scholars have generally held the view that Islamic law is based on the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and the ijtihád of the renowned Islamic scholars. They insist that all laws are based on the two primary sources (Qur'an & Sunnah) and whatever is not addressed therein was examined by the Mujtihids.Unlike the accepting position of the Muslims, modern scholars are becoming more and more critical not only of the historical events as transmitted in the Muslim media, but also of the content of even the primary documents which served as a source of Muslim law and creed. In the following, I will categorize some of the works and authors based on the works they have published and the reactions they have elicited.1. The critical camp was spearheaded by the orientalist Ignaz Goldziher (Hadith: The 'Traditions', Ascribed to Muhammed, Vol. 2, Format: Hardcover, ISBN: 0873952359, Publisher: State University of New York Press, Pub. Date: June 1971) who argued that a good part of the Hadith literature-considered the canonizing feature of Islamic law-was fabricated at least three hundred years after the time of Muhammad. After Goldziher, other orientalists like Joseph Schacht (The Legacy of Islam, Format: Hardcover, 2nd ed., 554pp., ISBN: 019821913X, Publisher: Oxford University Press, Pub. Date: August 1974, Edition Desc: 2d ed), and Wansbrough (Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretations, Format: Hardcover, 256pp., ISBN: 0197135889, Publisher: Oxford University Press, Pub. Date: April 1977), David Powers (Studies in Qur'an and Hadith: The Formation of the Islamic Law of Inheritance, Format: Hardcover, ISBN: 0520055586, Publisher: University of California Press, Pub. Date: January 1986), and Wael Hallaq (Authority, Continuity, and Change in Islamic Law, Format: Hardcover, 284pp., ISBN: 0521803314, Publisher: Cambridge University Press, Pub. Date: October 2001) followed the same path to bestow some doubt about the authenticity and historicity not only of the Hadith but also the Qur'an. Muslim reactionaries charged these scholars of starting and intellectual crusade to discredit Islam. The fact that these scholars were all either Jews or Christians played a major role in giving credence to this charge and the writings of these authors did not go beyond Western classroom walls as Muslim readers simply ignored them.2. The second group of scholars can be characterized as the group of "apologetic non-Muslims" or the class of intellectual activists whose aspirations to bridge the gap between the people of the various faiths may have put them on a course of reconciliation rather than independent scholarship. Among these scholars, one can think of John L. Esposito (Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, Format: Hardcover, 208pp. ISBN: 0195154355, Publisher: Oxford University Press, Pub. Date: March 2002), Bernard W. Lewis (Islam in History: Ideas, People, and Events in the Middle East, Format: Paperback, 496pp. ISBN: 0812695186, Publisher: Open Court Publishing Company, Pub. Date: November 2001, Edition Desc: REVISED & EXPANDED), and may more active in their associations.3. The third group consists of "apologetic Muslims" like Dr. Yasin Dutton (The Origins of Islamic Law, Format: Hardcover, 264pp. ISBN: 0700710620, Publisher: Curzon Press, Pub. Date: September 1999), Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl (Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women, Format: Paperback, 361pp., ISBN: 1851682627, Publisher: Oneworld Publications, Pub. Date: December 2001) and the late professor Fazlur Rahman. These scholars and others like them set course to recast Islamic tradition in a positive light without offering any systematic method or theory on how to determine what is sound and what is not. At times they even bent the logic and facts to portrait the tradition in a positive light. In other instances, they argued for the good of classical Islamic thought while suggesting its shortcomings without offering a practical mechanism for differentiation between the regressive and the progressive Islamic thought. Their work can be best described as a retroactive reading of ancient materials to accommodate present circumstances without any attempt to do away with principles that prevented Islamic law from staying on its alleged "progressive path".4. The final group is the closest of what can be described as a class of free thinkers. These are individuals who appear to be immersed in their study first and interested in reconciliation last. Based on their writings and speeches, they seem to follow their theoretical agenda even if that would lead them to rejection of "almost" sacred principles of jurisprudence and philosophy. Scholars like Dr. Ahmed Souaiaia (Islamic Law & Government, Format: Paperback, 1st ed., 281pp., ISBN: 059523173X, Publisher: Writers Club Press, Pub. Date: June 2002) and Dr. Abdolkarim Soroush (Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam, Format: Paperback, 254pp. ISBN: 0195158202 Publisher: Oxford University Press, Pub. Date: September 2002) have challenged the Sunni and Shi`ite traditional thinkers respectively to force a debate on the very foundational sources of law and ethics in classical and modern Islamic thought. In addition to these two intellectually promising scholars, there are a number of other authors from Egypt and North Africa (most of whom write in Arabic or French) who are embarked on the same path and who are destined to bring fresh idea to otherwise stagnant and frozen field. Individuals belonging to the last category are genuine independent thinkers who have an advantage as they themselves seemingly come as insiders who are very familiar with Islamic tradition; yet, who are theoretically sound given there research training. How their writings will be received by the general Muslim reading public will undoubtedly determine their (and others') impact.None of these groups of scholars can take credit for this lively discussion of Islamic law and Islamic thought. Clearly, without one, the other may have never existed as each group contributed an idea to this topic which is becoming more and more the center of the world's attention. What is positive about this debate is that for the first time, Islamic tradition is being challenged and appraised as a social phenomenon after living all these years in the privacy of the religious centers. If Islam is to emerge as a social and cultural force, it must be subjected to critical analysis; these books are only element of that process.I hope this review will be helpful to readers who are planning on buying some books on Islam and Islamic law. It is a hard task trying to pick up a book and learn from it without knowing the general trends and the various players. Hopefully other book lovers will be able to share with us more on this or simply write their reaction to the evaluation of scholarship on Islamic law.