The Application of Islamic Law in Muslim Courts

Abstract

Students of Islamic law sometimes observe that Islamic law is not law in the proper sense. This observation primarily refers to the distinction between 'jurists law' and 'judge-made law', the latter being the only proper law. The observation also reflects that our knowledge of Islamic law is derived more from studying the fiqh texts on legal doctrine than from the actual workings of the qadi courts. One may wish to research the actual qadi judgments, but will quickly notice that few critical studies of these judgments are available.