This seminar focuses on Islamic law and Muslim jurists in social and economic history, with a special attention on the last two hundred years. In a historical anthropology of law, we read primary sources in English translation and secondary literature about the norms and practices of law in Muslim and non-Muslim polities. We look at law as a domain of social interaction, an instrument of government, and part of statecraft in Muslim polities. The main goals of the class are 1) to help students in understanding Islamic legal terms and the difference between norm and practice 2) to help students using the distinction between primary and secondary sources in an original research paper.
History