ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the Ottoman reforms had any relation with the European empire's rule over Muslims. the Ottoman Empire, itself a Muslim empire, a similar trend such as curtailment of the jurisdiction of the shari'a court, codification of shari'a-based law, and centralization of the shari'a court system can be observed during the same period. The shari'a judicial system in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire saw similar developments to those of Britain, Russia, and France in their respective dominions. The chapter discusses the nature of the shari'a in Muslim societies before the advent of the European powers. The European colonial powers in Muslim countries would normally abolish the enforcement of the shari'a in the sphere of criminal law. The British policy was conditioned by the European power's experience of administration of Muslims, their understanding of the shari'a, and the notion of the millet system that was created through their own intervention in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire.
