This volume exposes some of the various issues raised in relation to Muslim communities in Europe by putting the intellectual and legal traditions into dialogue. It brings together a number of scholars of Shari'a and Islamic law with counterparts from the parallel European disciplines of hermeneutics, philosophy and jurisprudence, to explore how the processes of theological-legal thinking have been expressed and are being expressed in a more or less common intellectual framework. It provides a valuable reference for all those interested in exploring how Muslims and non-Muslims view Shari'a law, looking at ways the European legal systems can provide some form of accommodation with Muslim customs.
Contents: Preface, Jørgen S. Nielsen and Lisbet Christoffersen; Shari'a between renewal and tradition, Jørgen S. Nielsen; Part 1 An Encounter of Legal Theories: Clarity or confusion – classical fiqh and the issue of logic, Mona Siddiqui; Demarcating fault-lines within Islam: Muslim modernists and hard-line Islamists engage the Shari'a, Asma Afsaruddin; Islamic jurisprudence and Western legal history, Mark van Hoecke; Is Shari'a law, religion or a combination? European legal discourses on Shari'a, Lisbet Christoffersen; Women, secular and religious laws and traditions: gendered secularization, gendering Shari'a, Hanne Petersen; Shari'a and Nordic legal contexts, Kjell-Åke Modéer. Part 2 Local Experiences: Shari'a from behind the bench: court culture, judicial culture and a judge-made discourse on Shari'a at a Swedish district court, Matilda Arvidsson; Between God and the Sultana? Legal pluralism in the British Muslim diaspora, Prakash Shah; Shari'a and secularism in France, Manni Crone; Divine law and human understanding – the idea of Shari'a in Saudi Arabia, Dorthe Bramsen; Speaking in His name? Gender, language and religion in the Arab media, Dima Dabbous-Sensenig; Shari'a and the constitutional debate in Egypt, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen. Part 3 Shari'a and Discourse: Traditions of interpretation within (Protestant) Christian theology as compared with Islam, Mogens Müller; Rebellious women – discourses and texts: Shari'a, civil rights, and penal law, Peter Madsen; Bibliography; Index.
About the Editor: Jørgen S. Nielsen is Professor of Islamic Studies and Director of the Centre for European Islamic Thought, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lisbet Christoffersen is Associate Professor in Public Law at The University of Roskilde and Professor in Law & Religion, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.