This book, covering more than three centuries of legal history,
presents an important account of how Islam developed its own
law while drawing on ancient Near Eastern legal cultures,
Arabian customary law and Quranic reform. The development
of the judiciary, legal reasoning and legal authority during the
first century is discussed in detail as is the dramatic rise of
Prophetic authority, the crystallization of legal theory and the
formation of the all-important legal schools. Finally, the book
explores the interplay between law and politics, explaining how
the jurists and the ruling elite led a symbiotic existence and
mutual dependency that – seemingly paradoxically – allowed
Islamic law and its application to be uniquely independent of
the ‘‘state.’’