Sharia Transformations

Cultural Politics and the Rebranding of an Islamic Judiciary

By: Michael G. Peletz

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Paperback | 6 March 2020 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
308 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.28 x 1.57 x 0.19

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Few symbols in today's world are as laden and fraught as sharia—an Arabic-origin term referring to the straight path, the path God revealed for humans, the norms and rules guiding Muslims on that path, and Islamic law and normativity as enshrined in sacred texts or formal statute. Yet the ways in which Muslim men and women experience the myriad dimensions of sharia often go unnoticed and unpublicized. So too do recent historical changes in sharia judiciaries and contemporary strategies on the part of political and religious elites, social engineers, and brand stewards to shape, solidify, and rebrand these institutions.

Sharia Transformations is an ethnographic, historical, and theoretical study of the practice and lived entailments of sharia in Malaysia, arguably the most economically successful Muslim-majority nation in the world. The book focuses on the routine everyday practices of Malaysia's sharia courts and the changes that have occurred in the court discourses and practices in recent decades. Michael G. Peletz approaches Malaysia's sharia judiciary as a global assemblage and addresses important issues in the humanistic and social-scientific literature concerning how Malays and other Muslims engage ethical norms and deal with law, social justice, and governance in a rapidly globalizing world.

Industry Reviews

"This book is a centerpiece that opens the way to comparison. Hopefully, the same type of inquiry will be conducted in other contexts, showing global commonalities as well as local specificities and epistemologically embodying the need to move from the science of Islamic law to the anthropology of law in Muslim contexts."

* Droit & Societe *
"This wonderful new book by Peletz is a beautifully written and deeply illuminating account of Malaysia, a country not commonly studied in the US. It deserves a wider audience than those who might be first drawn to it from the content suggested by its title. . . .The writing, which flows unerringly and easily through a splendidly constructed series of chapters, does not stint in pulling in relevant theoretical insights from a wide range of sources, thereby expanding the implications of this work and its potential impact and reach, particularly for anthropologists and legal scholars." * CHOICE *
"A highly appreciated scholarly endeavour. . . . Legal scholars, scholars of Islamic studies, and social scientists of Southeast Asia amongst others will certainly find this book very important for their studies." * Pacific Affairs *

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