This book is part of the gLAWcal book series:

Global Issues

Jim Whitman, Paolo D. Farah

This comparative philosophy of law book aims at formulating a new analytical approach to constitutional comparisons, assuming as a starting point the different legal perspectives implied in the (Sunni) Islamic outlook on the juridical phenomena and the Western concept of law, with particular reference to constitutionalism. Rather than comparing systems based on substantive legal contents, such as the protection of human rights or the functioning of the State apparatus, this book adopts a wider and comprehensive viewpoint, comparing the different ways in which the Islamic sharīʿa and Western legal categories interact. Such an analysis is carried out avoiding the Westernization of Islamic legal constructs, and bearing in mind the conceptual difference in comprehending juridical realities. By doing so, the book explores the various dynamics subtended to the interactions between sharīʿa and Western constitutionalism, providing a new classification to the different contemporary models.


The philosophical and legal comparisons are analyzed in a dynamic way, based on a wide range of contemporary constitutional systems, virtually encompassing all the States in which Sunni Islam plays a major cultural role, and taking also into consideration non-State actors and non-recognized actors. The categorization hereby provided divides the different constitutional systems in four distinct groups, based on the conceptual dynamics in which sharīʿa and Western law interact in a single legal framework, starting from the systems in which the Islamic legacy plays no direct role into the legal system but represents however a powerful cultural element, and going as far as examining a de facto system like ISIS’ dystopian legal order in which the Western conception of law is totally rejected. For each category, one or two countries will be held as primary examples: for the first category, the book will focus on Morocco and Turkey, for the second category of Egypt, for the third category on Saudi Arabia. The fourth category, embodying the radical view of Islamic fundamentalism, is exemplified by ISIS. A further chapter explores the possibility of sharīʿa playing a role in Western legal systems, with particular attention being paid to the United Kingdom, Greece and the borderless world of the cyberspace.


While contributing to legal philosophy, this project intends also to develop and define a new interdisciplinary approach, aiming to provide a starting point for novel analyses in research fields such as legal comparativism, legal pluralism, and constitutional law. Finally, by formulating a new interdisciplinary approach, this project will provide a foundational discussion of a continuously evolving subject that will never be exhaustively explored. As such, it aims at broadening scholarly reflections on the relationship between the West and Islam, eventually placing these concepts within a suitably comprehensive and contextualized framework.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

FOREWORD
PROF.PAOLO DAVIDE FARAH
Editor of the Series “Global Issues”

 

1.    INTRODUCTION:
A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO ISLAM AND CONSTITUTIONAL PRACTICE

01.  A new approach to comparativism: a general overview

02.  Islam and constitutionalism

03.  Methodology of research

04.  Terminology and definitions

05.  On Islam and sharīʿa: a few preliminary remarks

06.  On sharīʿa and the West: a comparison between two worlds

06.1. State and ummah

06.2. Law, power, authority

06.3. Human reason between two worlds

06.4. Sharīʿa, law, space, time

06.5. Conceptual perimeter and direct applicability

06.6. Between secular and religious

 

2.    CHAPTER I:
NO SHARĪʿA IN THE LAND OF SHARĪʿA 

01.  Historical overview

01.1.     Turkey between multinationalism, universalism and the Western approach

01.2.     The Kingdom of Morocco between Islam and the Nation-State

02.  Sharīʿa and law in a system without sharīʿa

02.1.     From qānūn to law, and from root to source: a fundamental transition

02.2.     Sharīʿa and national legislation

02.3.     The case of Morocco between law, fatāwā and ʿulamāʾ

02.4.     Law and sharīʿa without official recognition: a possible coexistence?

03.  State, Islam and ummah without sharīʿa

03.1.     State and Islam in the constitutional framework

03.2.     State and ummah in a constitutional system

03.3.     Head of State and amīr al-mu’minīn: the case of Morocco

 

3.    CHAPTER II:
SHARĪʿA IN THE CONSTITUTION AND THE CONSTITUTION OF SHARĪʿA

01.  Premise

02.  Historical overview: the case of Egypt

03.  The sharīʿa-clause in the constitutional discourse

03.1.      Sharīʿa-clause, repugnancy clause andconfessional clause

03.2.     History and evolution of the sharīʿa-clause in Egypt

03.3.     Other examples of sharīʿa-clauses

03.4.     Particular cases

04.  Three implications of the sharīʿa-clause

04.1.     Sharīʿa as source of legislation

04.2.     Sharīʿa as parameter of constitutionality

04.3.     Direct application of sharīʿa in judgment

04.3.a. Direct application of sharīʿain national courts

04.3.b. Direct application of sharīʿain religious courts

04.3.c. Conclusive remarks on direct applicability of sharīʿa

05.  Conclusions, and an open question on a hybrid model

 

4.    CHAPTER III:
THE SAUDI MODEL AND SHARĪʿA ASCONSTITUTION

01.  Premise

02.  Historical overview

03.  Constitution, basic law and sharīʿa in Saudi Arabia

03.1.      Islamic sharīʿa as constitution

03.2.     The Saudi model and the sharīʿa-clause

03.3.     Basic law, sharīʿa and niẓām

04.  The direct effect of sharīʿa in the Saudi model

05.  State and sharīʿa in Saudi Arabia

05.1.     Nation-State and universalism in Saudi Arabia

05.2.     State,Islam and power in Saudi Arabia

 

5.    CHAPTER IV:
THE JURIDICAL DIMENSION OF ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM: THE CASE OF ISIS 

01.  Premise

01.1.      About Islamic fundamentalism

01.2.      ISIS as a fundamentalist movement and as a legal order

01.3.      ISIS’ historical evolution and ideology

02.  Rejecting law: the aspiration to sharīʿa alone

02.1.     The centrality of sharīʿa in ISIS’ agenda

02.2.     ISIS and manmade law, between sharīʿa and apostasy

02.3.     The aspiration to sharīʿa alone

03.  Rethinking the ummah: a return to universalism

03.1.     ISIS between statehood and khilāfah

03.2.     The return of the ummah as a political subject

03.3.     The bayʿah in a borderless world

04.  Conclusive remarks about ISIS as a legal order

 

6.    CHAPTER V:
SHARĪʿA AND THE WEST, ANDSHARĪʿA IN THE WEST
 01.  The conceptual boundaries of two worlds

02.  Sharīʿa in the West between conflict and coexistence

03.  Internet and fatāwā in a global world

04.  The sharīʿa in the West: the case of the UK

05.  The sharīʿa in the West: the case of Greece

06.  The sharīʿa-police as a radicalization of ḥisbah

 

7.     CONCLUSION:
A FEW REMARKS FOR FURTHER REFLECTIONS

 

 BIBLIOGRAPHY
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