[HOME] [BOOKS] [ORDERING] [JOURNALS] [ABSTRACTS] [LINKS] [SPECIAL OFFERS]

John Strawson, "Islamic Law and English Texts", Law and Critique Vol. VI/1 (1995), 21-38: This essay argues that the constructive character of the English narrative of Islamic law can be traced to the British imperial engagement with India in the eighteenth century. Current English images of Islamic law draw on the scholarly work of Schacht, Coulson and Mayer. From this discourse Islamic law appears irretrievably backward, unchangeable and limited to family and personal status matters. In reviewing some critical texts in the moments of construction the essay traces how Islamic jurisprudence is drawn on to the English terrain. Through this process the English texts enframe Islamic law, define it and judge it. This process can be seen in the translation into English of al-hidaya by Charles Hamilton in 1791 where in his introduction, Hamilton shows deftness and subtly in establishing an English 'superior location.' The text is subsequently re-edited in the nineteenth century omitting the references to international law and public law (al-siyar) which illustrates colonial power in constructing the character of legal systems which it occupied. This is placed in the context of Alexander Dow's History of Hindustan (1772) which demonstrates the contradictions of conquest and show how Islamic practices in law and government are drawn by colonialism into the web of the theory of oriental despotism. The essay's reference point is Edward Said's methodology in Orientalism and argues for recognition of a legal orientalism which has stamped jurisprudence from the European enlightenment. It is significant that Said's work as become central to the debates in legal theory in the l990's as postcolonial discourse begins its engagement with law. This article is part of longer project on the English narrative of Islamic Law. John Strawson, School of Law, University of East London, Longbridge Road, Dagenham, Essex, RM8 2AS, U.K. (e-mail: j.strawson@uel.ac.uk).

[HOME] [BOOKS] [ORDERING] [JOURNALS] [ABSTRACTS] [LINKS] [SPECIAL OFFERS]