A Companion To Muslim Ethics

Download A Companion To Muslim Ethics full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online A Companion To Muslim Ethics ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

A Companion to Muslim Ethics

Author : Amyn Sajoo
Publisher : I.B. Tauris
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Companion to Muslim Ethics by : Amyn Sajoo

Download or read book A Companion to Muslim Ethics written by Amyn Sajoo and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 2010-11-15 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies Socrates famously said that the unexamined life is not worth living. In keeping with this dictum, taking ethics seriously means engaging with the real world where the human sense of right and wrong is daily tested. At their best, all faith traditions are challenged by such testing; and if faith-inspired ethics are thought to goven the whole of life, their guiding values need constantly to be interpreted by the believer to achieve a practical result. In the Muslim tradition, this is what the Qur'an really amounts to: a call to strive for belief with a social conscience. For fourteen centuries Muslim scholars have grappled with the implications of that call in matters of law, social practice and theology. And in our own time, the quests for civil society and the rule of law have much to do with the response given to these ethical questions. 'A Companion to Muslim Ethics' explores Islam's core conception of the good, shared with other great traditions. Leading experts examine issues such as gender equality, nonviolence, dispute resolution, the environment, health and finance. The volume will appeal to all those interested in how reason, faith and circumstance shape difficult moral choices in an increasingly globalised world.

A Companion to Muslim Ethics

Author : Amyn Sajoo
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857723316
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Companion to Muslim Ethics by : Amyn Sajoo

Download or read book A Companion to Muslim Ethics written by Amyn Sajoo and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-15 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies Socrates famously said that the unexamined life is not worth living. In keeping with this dictum, taking ethics seriously means engaging with the real world where the human sense of right and wrong is daily tested. At their best, all faith traditions are challenged by such testing; and if faith-inspired ethics are thought to goven the whole of life, their guiding values need constantly to be interpreted by the believer to achieve a practical result. In the Muslim tradition, this is what the Qur'an really amounts to: a call to strive for belief with a social conscience. For fourteen centuries Muslim scholars have grappled with the implications of that call in matters of law, social practice and theology. And in our own time, the quests for civil society and the rule of law have much to do with the response given to these ethical questions. 'A Companion to Muslim Ethics' explores Islam's core conception of the good, shared with other great traditions. Leading experts examine issues such as gender equality, nonviolence, dispute resolution, the environment, health and finance. The volume will appeal to all those interested in how reason, faith and circumstance shape difficult moral choices in an increasingly globalised world.

The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy

Author : Richard C. Taylor
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317484320
Total Pages : 515 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (174 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy by : Richard C. Taylor

Download or read book The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy written by Richard C. Taylor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-20 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This valuable reference work synthesizes and elucidates traditional themes and issues in Islamic philosophy as well as prominent topics emerging from the last twenty years of scholarship. Written for a wide readership of students and scholars, The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy is unique in including coverage of both perennial philosophical issues in an Islamic context and also distinct concerns that emerge from Islamic religious thought. This work constitutes a substantial affirmation that Islamic philosophy is an integral part of the Western philosophical tradition. Featuring 33 chapters, divided into seven thematic sections, this volume explores the major areas of philosophy: Logic, Metaphysics, Philosophy in the Sciences, Philosophy of Mind/Epistemology, and Ethics/Politics as well as philosophical issues salient in Islamic revelation, theology, prophecy, and mysticism. Other features include: •A focus on both the classical and post-classical periods •A contributing body that includes both widely respected scholars from around the world and a handful of the very best younger scholars •"Reference" and "Further Reading" sections for each chapter and a comprehensive index for the whole volume The result is a work that captures Islamic philosophy as philosophy. In this way it serves students and scholars of philosophy and religious studies and at the same time provides valuable essays relevant to the study of Islamic thought and theology.

Muslim Ethics

Author : Amyn Sajoo
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857714953
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Muslim Ethics by : Amyn Sajoo

Download or read book Muslim Ethics written by Amyn Sajoo and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2008-11-30 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent political and social events as well as advances in science and technology have posed challenges to the traditional Muslim discourse on ethics. In this book, Amyn B. Sajoo examines these challenges and critically analyses the implications of emerging initiatives in political pluralism and civic culture as well as moves in biomedicine and environmental conservation. He considers how the contours of public ethics in Islam may be redefined to provide shared conceptions of the good and the practically useful in pluralist societies.

The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics

Author : William Schweiker
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1405144440
Total Pages : 640 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (51 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics by : William Schweiker

Download or read book The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics written by William Schweiker and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by internationally renowned scholars, this Companion maps the moral teachings of the world’s religions, and also charts new directions for work in the field of religious ethics. Now available in paperback, this is a rich resource for understanding the moral teachings and practices of the world’s religions Includes detailed discussions of issues in moral theory Offers extensive treatment of the world’s major religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Chinese religions and African religions Compares the ways in which the religions provide resources for addressing current moral challenges in areas such as ecology, economics, global dynamics, religious war, human rights and other topics.

Islamic Ethics of Life

Author : Jonathan E. Brockopp
Publisher : Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 9781570034718
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (347 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Islamic Ethics of Life by : Jonathan E. Brockopp

Download or read book Islamic Ethics of Life written by Jonathan E. Brockopp and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneering work on controversial issues within the Muslim world Islamic Ethics of Life considers three of the most contentious ethical issues of our time--abortion, war, and euthanasia--from the Muslim perspective. Distinguished scholars of Islamic studies have collaborated to produce a volume that both integrates Muslim thinking into the field of applied ethics and introduces readers to an aspect of the religion long overlooked in the West. This collective effort sets forth the relationship between Islamic ethics and law, clearly revealing the complexity and richness of the Islamic tradition as well as its responsiveness to these controversial modern issues. The contributors analyze classical sources and survey the modern ethical landscape to identify guiding principles within Islamic ethical thought. Clarifying the importance of pragmatism in Islamic decision making, the contributors also offer case studies related to specialized topics, including "wrongful birth" claims, terrorist attacks, and brain death. The case studies elicit possible variations on common Muslim perspectives. The contributors situate Muslim ethics relative to Christian and secular accounts of the value of human life, exposing surprising similarities and differences. In an introductory overview of the volume, Jonathan E. Brockopp underscores the steady focus on God as the one who determines the value of human life, and hence as the final arbiter of Islamic ethics. A foreword by Gene Outka places the volume in the context of general ethical studies, and an afterword by A. Kevin Reinhart suggests some significant ramifications for comparative religious ethics.

Friendship in Islamic Ethics and World Politics

Author : Mohammad Jafar Amir Mahallati
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 0472126040
Total Pages : 371 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (721 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Friendship in Islamic Ethics and World Politics by : Mohammad Jafar Amir Mahallati

Download or read book Friendship in Islamic Ethics and World Politics written by Mohammad Jafar Amir Mahallati and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2019-11-20 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on a decade of direct diplomatic engagement with the United Nations, a decade of teaching on international relations, and another decade of research and teaching on Islamic and comparative peace studies, this book offers a friendship-related academic framework that examines shared moral concepts, philosophical paradigms, and political experiences that can develop and expand multidisciplinary conversations between the Christian West and the Muslim East. By advancing multicultural and interreligious discourses on friendship, this book helps promote actual friendships among diverse cultures and peoples. This is not a monologue. It provides a model of conversations among scholars and political actors who come from diverse international and interreligious backgrounds. The word “Islamic” should not mislead the reader to suspect that this edited volume delves only into religious discourses. Rather, it provides a forum for conversations within and between religious and philosophical perspectives. It sparks friendship conversations thematically and through disciplinary and cultural diversity. The result of the work of many prominent international scholars and diplomats over many years, it conveys at least one message clearly: friendship matters for not only our happiness but also for our survival.

Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics

Author : George F. Hourani
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521035637
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (356 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics by : George F. Hourani

Download or read book Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics written by George F. Hourani and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-04-18 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preface; Foreword Michael Marmura; Conventions; Titles and locations of the original articles; Introduction; 1. Islamic theology and Muslim philosophy; 2. Ethics in classical Islam: a conspectus; 3. Ethical presuppositions of the Qur'an; 4. 'Injuring oneself' in the Qur'an, in the light of Aristotle; 5. Two theories of value in early Islam; 6. Islamic and non-Islamic origin of Mu'tazilite ethical rationalism; 7. The rationalist ethics of 'Abd al-Jabbar; 8. Deliberation in Aristotle and 'Abd al-Jabbar; 9. Ash'ari; 10. Juwayni's criticisms of Mu'tazilite ethics; 11. Ghazali on the ethics of action; 12. Reason and revaltion in Ibn Hazm's ethicical thought; 13. The basis of authority of concensus in Sunnite Islam; 14. Ibn Sina's 'Essay on the secret of destiny'; 15. Averroes on good and evil; 16. Combinations of reason and tradtion in Islamic ethics; Select bibliography; Index.

The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology

Author : Tim Winter
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107494419
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (74 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology by : Tim Winter

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology written by Tim Winter and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-05-22 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This series of critical reflections on the evolution and major themes of pre-modern Muslim theology begins with the revelation of the Koran, and extends to the beginnings of modernity in the eighteenth century. The significance of Islamic theology reflects the immense importance of Islam in the history of monotheism, to which it has brought a unique approach and style, and a range of solutions which are of abiding interest. Devoting especial attention to questions of rationality, scriptural fidelity, and the construction of 'orthodoxy', this volume introduces key Muslim theories of revelation, creation, ethics, scriptural interpretation, law, mysticism, and eschatology. Throughout the treatment is firmly set in the historical, social and political context in which Islam's distinctive understanding of God evolved. Despite its importance, Islamic theology has been neglected in recent scholarship, and this book provides a unique, scholarly but accessible introduction.

Contemporary Bioethics

Author : Mohammed Ali Al-Bar
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319184288
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (191 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Contemporary Bioethics by : Mohammed Ali Al-Bar

Download or read book Contemporary Bioethics written by Mohammed Ali Al-Bar and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-05-27 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses the common principles of morality and ethics derived from divinely endowed intuitive reason through the creation of al-fitr' a (nature) and human intellect (al-‘aql). Biomedical topics are presented and ethical issues related to topics such as genetic testing, assisted reproduction and organ transplantation are discussed. Whereas these natural sources are God’s special gifts to human beings, God’s revelation as given to the prophets is the supernatural source of divine guidance through which human communities have been guided at all times through history. The second part of the book concentrates on the objectives of Islamic religious practice – the maqa' sid – which include: Preservation of Faith, Preservation of Life, Preservation of Mind (intellect and reason), Preservation of Progeny (al-nasl) and Preservation of Property. Lastly, the third part of the book discusses selected topical issues, including abortion, assisted reproduction devices, genetics, organ transplantation, brain death and end-of-life aspects. For each topic, the current medical evidence is followed by a detailed discussion of the ethical issues involved.

The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad

Author : Jonathan E. Brockopp
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521886074
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (218 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad by : Jonathan E. Brockopp

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad written by Jonathan E. Brockopp and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-19 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays by some of the most accomplished scholars in the field exploring the life and legacy of the Prophet.

The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy

Author : Peter Adamson
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107494699
Total Pages : 468 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (74 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy by : Peter Adamson

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy written by Peter Adamson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-12-09 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophy written in Arabic and in the Islamic world represents one of the great traditions of Western philosophy. Inspired by Greek philosophical works and the indigenous ideas of Islamic theology, Arabic philosophers from the ninth century onwards put forward ideas of great philosophical and historical importance. This collection of essays, by some of the leading scholars in Arabic philosophy, provides an introduction to the field by way of chapters devoted to individual thinkers (such as al-Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes) or groups, especially during the 'classical' period from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. It also includes chapters on areas of philosophical inquiry across the tradition, such as ethics and metaphysics. Finally, it includes chapters on later Islamic thought, and on the connections between Arabic philosophy and Greek, Jewish, and Latin philosophy. The volume also includes a useful bibliography and a chronology of the most important Arabic thinkers.

Medicine and Shariah

Author : Aasim I. Padela
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN 13 : 0268108390
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (681 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Medicine and Shariah by : Aasim I. Padela

Download or read book Medicine and Shariah written by Aasim I. Padela and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medicine and Shariah brings together experts from various fields, including clinicians, Islamic studies experts, and Muslim theologians, to analyze the interaction of the doctors and jurists who are forging the field of Islamic bioethics. Although much ink has been spilled in generating Islamic responses to bioethical questions and in analyzing fatwas, Islamic bioethics still remains an emerging field. How are Islamic bioethical norms to be generated? Are Islamic bioethical writings to be considered as part of the broader academic discourse in bioethics? What even is the scope of Islamic bioethics? Taking up these and related questions, the essays in Medicine and Shariah provide the groundwork for a more robust field. The volume begins by furnishing concepts and terms needed to map out the discourse. It concludes by offering a multidisciplinary model for ethical deliberation that accounts for the various disciplines needed to derive Islamic moral norms and to understand biomedical contexts. In between these bookends, contributors apply various analytic, empirical, and normative lenses to examine the interaction between biomedical knowledge (represented by physicians) and Islamic law (represented by jurists) in Islamic bioethical deliberation. By providing a multidisciplinary model for generating Islamic bioethics rulings, Medicine and Shariah provides the critical foundations for an Islamic bioethics that better attends to specific biomedical contexts and also accurately reflects the moral vision of Islam. The volume will be essential reading for bioethicists and scholars of Islam; for those interested in the dialectics of tradition, modernity, science, and religion; and more broadly for scholarly and professional communities that work at the intersection of the Islamic tradition and contemporary healthcare. Contributors: Ebrahim Moosa, Aasim I. Padela, Vardit Rispler-Chaim, Abul Fadl Mohsin Ebrahim, Muhammed Volkan Yildiran Stodolsky, Mohammed Amin Kholwadia, Hooman Keshavarzi, and Bilal Ali.

The Ashgate Research Companion to Islamic Law

Author : Peri Bearman
Publisher : Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN 13 : 1472403711
Total Pages : 361 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (724 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Ashgate Research Companion to Islamic Law by : Peri Bearman

Download or read book The Ashgate Research Companion to Islamic Law written by Peri Bearman and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2014-08-28 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unparalleled Companion provides a comprehensive and authoritative guide to Islamic law to all with an interest in this increasingly relevant and developing field. The volume presents classical Islamic law through a historiographical introduction to and analysis of Western scholarship, while key debates about hot-button issues in modern-day circumstances are also addressed. In twenty-one chapters, distinguished authors offer an overview of their particular specialty, reflect on past and current thinking, and point to directions for future research. The Companion is divided into four parts. The first offers an introduction to the history of Islamic law as well as a discussion of how Western scholarship and historiography have evolved over time. The second part delves into the substance of Islamic law. Legal rules for the areas of legal status, family law, socio-economic justice, penal law, constitutional authority, and the law of war are all discussed in this section. Part three examines the adaptation of Islamic law in light of colonialism and the modern nation state as well as the subsequent re-Islamization of national legal systems. The final section presents contemporary debates on the role of Islamic law in areas such as finance, the diaspora, modern governance, and medical ethics, and the volume concludes by questioning the role of Sharia law as a legal authority in the modern context. By outlining the history of Islamic law through a linear study of research, this collection is unique in its examination of past and present scholarship and the lessons we can draw from this for the future. It introduces scholars and students to the challenges posed in the past, to the magnitude of milestones that were achieved in the reinterpretation and revision of established ideas, and ultimately to a thorough conceptual understanding of Islamic law.

A Companion to Muslim Cultures

Author : Amyn Sajoo
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857735217
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Companion to Muslim Cultures by : Amyn Sajoo

Download or read book A Companion to Muslim Cultures written by Amyn Sajoo and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-11-22 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies Culture shapes every aspect of the relationship between God and the believer in Islam - as well as among believers, and with those beyond the fold. Fasts, prayers and pilgrimages are attuned to social rhythms old and new, no less than the designs of mosques and public gardens, the making of 'religious' music, and ways of thinking about technology and wellbeing. Ancient deserts and modern urban landscapes may echo with the same call for transcendence, but in voices that emerge from very different everyday realities. Scripture itself, as the Prophet Muhammad knew, is ever seen through a cultural lens; both language and what it communicates are intimately tied to context. And the cosmopolitanism that runs through Muslim history from the outset recalls T.S. Eliot's remark that culture is 'that which makes life worth living'. It frames how the deepest religious values are understood and practiced, from modesty in adornment and solidarity with the underprivileged, to integrity and accountability in political life. Muslims have never been content with a passive separation of faith from their daily lives, whether public or private. What are the implications of this holistic view in a diverse world of Muslims and non-Muslims? How do core ethical values interface with the particulars of local cultures in all their complexity, especially when it comes to matters like the status of women and the scope of individual religious freedom? The answers - at a time when secular and Muslim identities appear to be locked in conflict - are explored in this Companion by some of today's finest scholars.

A Companion to Islamic Granada

Author : Bárbara Boloix-Gallardo
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004425810
Total Pages : 598 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Companion to Islamic Granada by : Bárbara Boloix-Gallardo

Download or read book A Companion to Islamic Granada written by Bárbara Boloix-Gallardo and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-11-22 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to Islamic Granada gathers, for the first time in English, a number of essays exploring aspects of the Islamic history of this city from the 8th through the 15th centuries from an interdisciplinary perspective. This collective volume examines the political development of Medieval Gharnāṭa under the rule of different dynasties, drawing on both historiographical and archaeological sources. It also analyses the complexity of its religious and multicultural society, as well as its economic, scientific, and intellectual life. The volume also transcends the year 1492, analysing the development of both the mudejar and the morisco populations and their contribution to Grenadian culture and architecture up to the 17th century. Contributors are: Bárbara Boloix-Gallardo, María Jesús Viguera-Molíns, Alberto García-Porras, Antonio Malpica–Cuello, Bilal Sarr-Marroco, Allen Fromherz, Bernard Vincent, Maribel Fierro–Bello, Ma Luisa Ávila–Navarro, Juan Pedro Monferrer–Sala, José Martínez–Delgado, Luis Bernabé–Pons, Adela Fábregas–García, Josef Ženka, Amalia Zomeño–Rodríguez, Delfina Serrano–Ruano, Julio Samsó–Moya, Celia del Moral-Molina, José Miguel Puerta–Vílchez, Antonio Orihuela–Uzal, Ieva Rėklaitytė, and Rafael López–Guzmán.

The Shari'a

Author : Amyn Sajoo
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1786734044
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Shari'a by : Amyn Sajoo

Download or read book The Shari'a written by Amyn Sajoo and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-03-30 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2019 Choice Outstanding Academic title I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies Why is the term shari?a-the mention of which conjures up images of a politicised religion in many parts of the world-understood in the ways that it is today? For Muslims and non-Muslims alike, much is read into this term, often with scant regard for its historical, cultural or theological underpinnings. The politics of identity has a profound effect on contemporary life, both secular and religious, and this includes our understandings of the shari?a. Yet at the core of this concept, for Muslims, is the quest for a moral compass by which to navigate a path through life (Qur'an, 45:18), informed deeply by revelation and its interpretation by the Prophet Muhammad as well as his closest Companions. Built on this foundation is an ongoing human endeavour to grasp and lend expression to that teaching-elaborately in law, but no less so in devotional, ethical and customary practices in diverse Shi?i and Sunni Muslim communities, including in the West. Popular myths about the shari?a - that it is divine law, that it is contained in a single code recognised by all Muslims, that it is about controlling behavior, that it `defines' Islam - are challenged in this volume by leading scholars, with a view to illuminating how we arrived here and where we might be headed. The claims of the modern state as the custodian of the shari?a are put into perspective, alongside the vital role of a pluralist civil society. From bioethics, human development, family law and finance to constitutional and human rights issues, this fifth volume in the Muslim Heritage Series offers an accessible account of the ideals and realities of the shari?a. As such, it will appeal not only to specialists in the humanities and social sciences, but also to the general reader with an interest in global affairs and informed citizenship.