Shari'a Scripts

A Historical Anthropology

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Middle East Religions, Koran, Islam, History, Middle East
Cover of the book Shari'a Scripts by Brinkley Messick, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Brinkley Messick ISBN: 9780231541909
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: January 2, 2018
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Brinkley Messick
ISBN: 9780231541909
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: January 2, 2018
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

A case study in the textual architecture of the venerable legal and ethical tradition at the center of the Islamic experience, Sharīʿa Script**s is a work of historical anthropology focused on Yemen in the early twentieth century. There—while colonial regimes, late Ottoman reformers, and early nationalists wrought decisive changes to the legal status of the sharīʿa, significantly narrowing its sphere of relevance—the Zaydī school of jurisprudence, rooted in highland Yemen for a millennium, still held sway.

Brinkley Messick uses the richly varied writings of the Yemeni past to offer a uniquely comprehensive view of the sharīʿa as a localized and lived phenomenon. Sharīʿa Script**s reads a wide spectrum of sources in search of a new historical-anthropological perspective on Islamic textual relations. Messick analyzes the sharīʿa as a local system of texts, distinguishing between theoretical or doctrinal juridical texts (or the “library”) and those produced by the sharīʿa courts and notarial writers (termed the “archive”). Attending to textual form, he closely examines representative books of madrasa instruction; formal opinion-giving by muftis and imams; the structure of court judgments; and the drafting of contracts. Messick’s intensive readings of texts are supplemented by retrospective ethnography and oral history based on extensive field research. Further, the book ventures a major methodological contribution by confronting anthropology’s longstanding reliance upon the observational and the colloquial. Presenting a new understanding of Islamic legal history, Sharīʿa Scripts is a groundbreaking examination of the interpretative range and historical insights offered by the anthropologist as reader.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A case study in the textual architecture of the venerable legal and ethical tradition at the center of the Islamic experience, Sharīʿa Script**s is a work of historical anthropology focused on Yemen in the early twentieth century. There—while colonial regimes, late Ottoman reformers, and early nationalists wrought decisive changes to the legal status of the sharīʿa, significantly narrowing its sphere of relevance—the Zaydī school of jurisprudence, rooted in highland Yemen for a millennium, still held sway.

Brinkley Messick uses the richly varied writings of the Yemeni past to offer a uniquely comprehensive view of the sharīʿa as a localized and lived phenomenon. Sharīʿa Script**s reads a wide spectrum of sources in search of a new historical-anthropological perspective on Islamic textual relations. Messick analyzes the sharīʿa as a local system of texts, distinguishing between theoretical or doctrinal juridical texts (or the “library”) and those produced by the sharīʿa courts and notarial writers (termed the “archive”). Attending to textual form, he closely examines representative books of madrasa instruction; formal opinion-giving by muftis and imams; the structure of court judgments; and the drafting of contracts. Messick’s intensive readings of texts are supplemented by retrospective ethnography and oral history based on extensive field research. Further, the book ventures a major methodological contribution by confronting anthropology’s longstanding reliance upon the observational and the colloquial. Presenting a new understanding of Islamic legal history, Sharīʿa Scripts is a groundbreaking examination of the interpretative range and historical insights offered by the anthropologist as reader.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book The Cinema of Latin America by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book Wrestling with the Muse by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book Social Value Investing by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book Corporate Risk Management by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book Being Animal by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book Sinning in the Hebrew Bible by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book The Cinema of Agnès Varda by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book Robert N. Butler, MD by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic Mammals of North America by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book Race and the Genetic Revolution by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Avant-garde by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book The Wise Advocate by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book The Gangster Film by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book The Quest for God and the Good by Brinkley Messick
Cover of the book American Religions and the Family by Brinkley Messick
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy