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Islamic Law of Inheritance in Modern Muslim States

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Change and Authority in Islamic Law: The Islamic Law of Inheritance in Modern Muslim States
Yasir Billoo

This working paper is hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress) and may not be commercially reproduced without the permission of the copyright holder. http://law.bepress.com/expresso/eps/12 Copyright c 2003 by the author.

Change and Authority in Islamic Law: The Islamic Law of Inheritance in Modern Muslim States
Abstract
In traditional Islamic law, the sole repositories of law were the individual muslim scholars and their schools of law, not the Muslim state. This tradition has continued until today, even in the most modern Muslim states. In light of a fast-paced, modern world and heightened international scrutiny of Islamic law, reforms must be made in the traditional system. This paper suggests that the best reform would be to treat the traditional Islamic law as a common law for all Muslim states. With that foundation, the legislatures of those nations can bring about change in their respective countries, while keeping intact the authenticity and authority of the law. The scholars would be repositories of only this common law, further developing undeveloped principles and issuing opinions with which the legislature can work, and the states would be the repositories of modern state law. It is through this readjustment of the Islamic legal structure that the law will retain any relevance in the lives of its followers.

Change and Authority in Islamic Law: The Islamic Law of Inheritance in Modern Muslim States

By Yasir Billoo

Hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press

Introduction “It is not wisdom but authority that makes a law.”1 Law is the necessary tool with which society can properly be ordered and organized. It is the law of a country that gives its government the legitimacy of

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