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Heaven On Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law From The Deserts Of Ancient Arabia To The Streets Of The Modern Muslim World (2011)

by Sadakat Kadri(Favorite Author)

3.93 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1847920179 (ISBN13: 9781847920171)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Random House Export

review 1: I received this book as part of Goodreads' First Reads program.In America, there is a strong aversion to shari'a law in any manifestation. Much of that is a misunderstanding of what the shari'a is, characterized by an influx of negative news from various Islamic states, such as Iran or Pakistan. We hear about executions for "blasphemy," about amputations for theft, and stoning adulterers. While those have become some modern manifestations of shari'a, they are a small part, and they are a mostly modern innovation.The shari'a is God's law, and following the shari'a means living one's life in accordance with God's law, as revealed in the Koran (and numerous hadiths). God's law governs everything - personal relationships, dietary habits, commercial transactions, and religious ... morebeliefs, as well as any other aspect of daily life. Most of the shari'a is entirely unobjectionable - it may not be what Christians would choose to believe or practice, but that doesn't mean it's wrong, simply different. Kadri brings this to the forefront of his discussion about the shari'a.He also doesn't shirk from confronting the violence and hatred that seems to be the motivation of much Islamic jurisprudence in the modern world. Kadri seems to almost excuse it, though, dismissing it with an observation that all cultures and religions have their hard-liners and violent factions. But they seem to be particularly virulent in modern Islam, and the religion has to take at least some of the blame for that.
review 2: Not really what the subtitle promised. Kadri writes very well, and seems to have a good command over the subject matter, but it really only skims the surface of actual legal matters. On the other hand, if you know very little about Islam in general, this would be an ideal one stop shop: there's plenty of stuff on the early history, some slightly convoluted/compressed bits, some very well done. I can know name the four traditional schools, at least (Hanafite, Malikite, Shafi'ite, Hanbalite) and have some idea of what they were all up to; I also know just how separate the Shiite tradition is from these Sunni schools. On the other hand, I have no idea whether the differences between those schools have any impact on contemporary Islamic thought or practice, because once Kadri makes the jump from chronological exposition to thematic discussion, he stops bothering to discuss them. The final sections are interesting, but again, I wished for a bit more depth. In short, Kadri faced a real problem: do you just discuss the intellectual matters at hand, and leave yourself open to the problem of ignoring the actual circumstances the ideas were designed to solve? Or do you lay out the social and cultural causes while not really getting to grips with the ideas? He chose the latter, probably for the better in intellectual terms (i.e., he doesn't act as if only ideas exist) but for the worse as far as the book itself goes (because he wanted to write something inviting and short). But it was well wroth reading, if only for the evidence he produces for his own argument: that 'fundamentalist' Muslims, from the Wahhabis to the present, lack the humility, intelligence and humanity of the men they claim to be emulating. less

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