Outlines of Islamic Jurisprudence

Outlines of Islamic jurisprudence covers a number of topics of usul al-fiqh, sometimes in abridged form, that have been covered in the title on the subject of Islamic Jurisprudence by the same author. The significance of this book can only be understood through a comparison with that book. Islamic jurisprudence focuses on the discipline of usul al-fiqh and deals with it in an exhaustive way. It, thus, covers the different aspects of interpretation and theories of Islamic law. The present book includes some of the topics covered in that book. The bulk of Outlines of Islamic Jurisprudence, however, summarizes the entire law of Islam presenting it in a concise yet effective way. Property, contracts, evidence, procedure, constitutional matters and issues of Muslim personal law (family law) are dealt with efficiently. The last part of the book also includes information on the schools of law and their history. Due to the treatment of the entire Islamic law in a comprehensive way, the book is like a short encyclopedia. The book was first published in 1998 and is now in its sixth edition. It is very popular among law students, lawyers and even the general readers. Minor improvements to the book have been made over the years and it is constantly updated. Parts of the book dealing with property and contracts are taught independently as a one semester course on contracts, in particular for Islamic banking. The section on the history of the schools serves as a brief introduction to the law of Islam.