Sharia and the Making of the Modern Egyptian: Islamic Law and Custom in the Courts of Ottoman Cairo

By Reem A Meshal and Reem A. Meshal

In this new study, the author examines sijills, the official documents of the Ottoman Islamic courts, to understand how sharia law, society, and the early-modern economy of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ottoman Cairo related to the practice of custom in determining rulings. In the sixteenth century, a new legal and cultural orthodoxy fostered the development of an early-modern Islam that broke new ground, giving rise to a new concept of the citizen and his role. Contrary to the prevailing scholarly view, this work adopts the position that local custom began to diminish and decline as a source of authority.
These issues resonate today, several centuries later, in the continuing discussions of individual rights in relation to Islamic law.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9774166175
• ISBN13: 9789774166174
• Release Date: April 2014
• Publisher: American University in Cairo Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.2" x 9.3"