ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to explore the nature and implications of the codifications of Islamic law. It examines the relationships between several key concepts and processes that are often associated with the codification of Islamic law. The chapter suggests that the Ottomans and many of their post-Mongol contemporaries sought to regulate the doctrines within the Hanafi school of law that members of the imperial learned hierarchy were supposed to consult and apply. It argues that several codification projects predated the modern period and its codification projects and, in many ways, can be perceived as their precursors. The chapter examines the idea of a code, as a historical phenomenon and as an analytical concept. It discusses the importance of states and non-jurists in the codification process and raises questions about the association of codification with 'modernity' and the modern period by looking at earlier, pre-modern codification projects that were initiated by rulers and states across the Islamic world.
