ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses an aspect that distinguishes Islamic law from many comparable systems of law and moral instructions. It provides a complex treatment of how these texts could be both a good starting point and often a misleading indicator of what the law is from certain jurists’ viewpoint. These texts are: Qur’an and Sunnah. The book discusses a central aspect of the legal reasoning of scholars, the formulation of legal canons. It introduces the reader to understand Islamic law’s treatment of a subject, which is bound to appear mysterious to a spectator with no comprehension of how Islamic legal reasoning built its own limits to allow itself to function without breach to reason and practical considerations. The book presents an inevitable limitation that accompanies ‘Islamic law’ as a discourse and as a human exercise.
