History of Islam: Ali ibn Abi Taalib (H/B)

The book is all about rationality, logicism, coherency and to a large extent, the algorithm of predictability of Islamic law. Islamic law was never an illogical and haphazard law making process and will never be one.

The challenge lies within both Islamic and non Islamic communities focussing too much on the literature of fiqh (islamic jurisprudence) neglecting the dimensions of fatwa and qada’ (opinions by mufti and judgement by judge). Rationality and coherency tend to manifest more in those dimensions relative to academic writings of the jurists (fuqaha).The good thing about the book – i reckon – is that it is comparative to Common Law and Civil Law systems respectively. As much as you will be exposed to Islamic law making process, in the process, you will be equally exposed to UK Common Law (judge law) and the Civil Law of the Continent (jurist law).The not-so-good point about the book is that it is very technical and heavy loaded. I have put special effort however to make the book readable even to ordinary man. My word of comfort though is that, if you like rationalism, the book is perfect for you irrespective of your background.

I am extremely happy to be able to come back to look at my core competency which is Islamic legal theory. I really hope the book is a good contribution to both Islamic libraries and legal studies libraries of the world.