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Contemporary Islamic Legal Thought:
Law, State, and World Order

Contemporary Thought

The second part of the course takes up Islamic legal thought in the 20th century, in the aftermath of a vast, century-long transformation of old legal orders carried out under Western colonial power and tutelage. We seek to trace the trajectory of this thought, noting crucial turnings and shifts, considering thinkers under the loose rubrics of liberal, feminist, conservative/establishment, and political Islamist. Our goal is to answer questions such as, how compelling intellectually are the available theories as accounts of Islamic law (and its implementing institutions) in modern times? how well do they cover the multiple aspects of modern legal life that must be treated by a successful theory? An explanation of the terms we to understand the theoretical contribution of each of the thinkers can be found here.