Authority, Continuity and Change in Islamic Law

In his latest book, Wael Hallaq examines the relationship between authority, continuity and change. He demonstrates how the authority of the law schools and their founders maintained school methodology and hermeneutics. It was this environment that gave rise to a variety of individual legal opinions, ultimately legitimizing changes in the law. Thus the author concludes that the mechanisms of change are embedded in the very structure of Islamic law, despite its inherent conservatism. Scholars and specialists will welcome the intellectual rigor and innovation of this pathbreaking analysis.

1. Juristic typologies: a framework for enquiry
2. Early ijtihad and the later construction of authority
3. The rise and augmentation of school authority
4. Taqlid: authority, hermeneutics and function
5. Operative terminology and the dynamics of legal doctrine
6. The jurisconsult, the author-jurist and legal change