ABSTRACT
This lastjustification for ignoring the law's application is now, l believe, rapid ly eroding du e to the efforts of sch o Iars on many different fronts. Som e, notably Professor Hallaq, are at work countering the exaggerated idea of the "closing of the door ofijtihad," a phrase used to convey the idea that fiqh became utterly stultified at an early stage.2 Other scholars are examining late Shari'ah courtrecords and legal documents lP· 3971 and are findingthat relevant fiqh doctrines were scrupulously applied. Still others are tracing extensive developments in fiqh law, in the interstices of doctrine, and in genres offiqh literature, partieulafly fatiiwä, which are hierarchically lower than the mutiin, or bas i c texts of the legal schools. Lastly, there are scholars studying Shari'ah applications in traditional contemporary societies.
