The history of Islamic law from pre-Islamic times across three centuries.Covering more than three centuries of legal history,The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law presents an important account of how Islam developed its own law while drawing on ancient near Eastern legal cultures, Arabian customary law and quranic reform. The book explores the interplay between law and politics, explaining how the jurists and the ruling elite led a symbiotic existence and mutual dependency that--seemingly paradoxically --allowed Islamic law and its application to be uniquely independent of the 'state'. This book will appeal to students, lawyers and legal historians.Covering more than three centuries of legal history,The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law presents an important account of how Islam developed its own law while drawing on ancient near Eastern legal cultures, Arabian customary law and quranic reform. The book explores the interplay between law and politics, explaining how the jurists and the ruling elite led a symbiotic existence and mutual dependency that--seemingly paradoxically --allowed Islamic law and its application to be uniquely independent of the 'state'. This book will appeal to students, lawyers and legal historians.Covering more than three centuries of legal history, this study presents an important account of how Islam developed its own law from ancient Near Eastern legal cultures, Arabian customary law and Quranic reform. The book explores the interplay between law and politics, demonstrating how the jurists and ruling elite led a symbiotic existence that paradoxically allowed Islamic law to become uniquely independent of the state. 1. The pre-Islamic Near East, Muhammad and Quranic law; 2. The emergence of an Islamic legal ethic; 3. The early judges, legal specialists and the search for religious authority; 4. The judiciary coming of age; 5. Prophetic authority and the modification of legal reasoning; 6. Legal theory expounded; 7. The formation of lƒ&