8vo. xxi, 417 pp., publisher’s original wrappers, biblio. index, Islamic Text Society, revised edition, Cambridge, 1991.

Synopsis

Professor Kamali is currently the founding Chairman and CEO of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In this work, Prof Kamali offers us the first detailed presentation available in English of the theory of Muslim law (‘usul al-fiqh’). Often regarded as the most sophisticated of the traditional Islamic disciplines, Islamic jurisprudence is concerned with the way in which the rituals and laws of religion are derived from the Qur’an and the ‘Sunna’ – the precedent of the Prophet. Written as a university textbook, ‘Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence’ is distinguished by its clarity and readability; it is an essential reference work not only for students of Islamic law, but also for anyone with an interest in Muslim society or in issues of comparative jurisprudence. Kamali explains that although scholars have used Sunnah and hadith almost interchangeably, the words have distinct meanings. Sunnah occurs 16 times in the Quran and is always used to imply an established practice or course of conduct. Hadith occurs 23 times in the Quran and in each case carries the meaning of a narrative or communication. None of the occurrences in the Quran use the word hadith in its technical exclusive sense of being a saying of the Prophet. In juristic terms, Kamali states that hadith is a narration of the conduct of the Prophet, whereas Sunnah is the law that is deduced from that conduct.