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This book explores the relationship between custom and Islamic law and seeks to uncover the role of custom in the construction of legal rulings. On a deeper level, however, it deals with the perennial problem of change and continuity in the Islamic legal tradition (or any tradition for that matter).

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PART I Custom and Islamic Law in Modern Scholarship Normative Foundations of the Concept of Custom in the Islamic legal Tradition From ´�dah to ´ Urf, Theological Foundations of the Concept of Custom As reflected in the Debate over Causality Custom between the Theoretical School and the Applied School PART II The Expansion of Legal Theory Custom and Legal Maxims al-Qaw†´id al-Fiqhiyyah Custom and the Objectives of Sharí´ah, Maq†ßid al-Sharí´ah Custom, Legal Application, and the Construction of Reality

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"Shabana´s work is an immensely important contribution to the study of the Islamic legal tradition. It provides a sound basis for more explorative examinations of custom as a source of Shar??ah, particularly its potential to contribute to the progressive reform of Shar??ah." - Waheeda Amien, University of Cape Town

"This book will be very useful to students and specialists in Islamic law who need to understand the historical development of the custom, its relationships with other significant legal theological concepts and institutions, and its status in different genres such as the qawa´id and maqasid. This focus makes technical discussion in technical terms inevitable. However, the book´s general and comprehensive outlook should also interest non-specialists. In addition, it should pave the way for new and more specific studies on ´urf. Finally, the role of the ´urf and ´ada in the evolution of Islamic law in the modern period, is also highly important, and we need more studies in this field by serious and competent scholars like Shabana." - Ismail Cebeci, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Journal of Islamic Studies

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Ayman Shabana is Visiting Assistant Professor at Georgetown University s School of Foreign Service, Qatar

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