Abstract
“For centuries the law has held a paramount place in the civilization and structure of the Muslim world, at least in the Islamic ideal. The prestige it has enjoyed may, indeed, be regarded as without parallel in history, for this civilization was uniquely based on religion, and the religion of Islam always accorded a pre-eminent place to law”1 Therefore Islamic ambition to reconquer its lost field of cultural glory should coincide with a legal theory that would fit in with the changed conditions of the world. This task would have been easier had the first Islamic law books and collections of traditions not long since perished.
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References
Anderson, Law as a Social Force, op. cit., p. 13.
Coulson, op. cit., p. 37.
Guillaume, Alfred, Islam, Penguin Books, 1962, p. 98.
Anderson, Law as a Social Force, op. cit., p. 19.
Cf. supra p. 44-46.
Cf. supra p. 51-52.
It is a salient historical fact that inhabitants of the territories conquered by Muslims did not embrace Islam until after centuries of conquest. Islam in the Far East, where one quarter of all Muslims live, spread through the peaceful efforts of merchants and missionaries.
The Ummayads and Byzantines shared the revenues of Cyprus. Another example was Sidon, the revenues of which were, at one time, shared by Muslims and Crusaders. See supra p. 49.
Two examples in this respect are: (i) the treaty of 1027 between the Fatimid al-Zahir and Constantine VIII (see supra p. 48), and (ii) the treaty of Kucak-Kaynarji in 1774 (see supra P. 52).
Mauretania has assumed the title of “The Islamic Republic of Mauretania.” The first constitution of independent Pakistan mentioned that Pakistan was an Islamic state. The National Charter of the U.A.R. explicitly stipulates that the Arab socialism should be based on the spiritual values of the nation. Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia and some other Arab States, also, consider the Qur’ān as their constitutional Law.
It may be argued that the sources of the Shari’ah are not compiled in terms of citations or texts. Nevertheless the mere fact that the general principles are codified, in one way or another, is in itself a great convenience.
Qur’ān; XI: 88.
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© 1968 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Al Ghunaimi, M.T. (1968). Epilogue. In: The Muslim Conception of International Law and the Western Approach. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9508-9_11
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