ABSTRACT
The implementation of the shariah, or Islamic law, often tops the agenda of advocates of an Islamic state. But a return to the shariah formulated in a vastly different historical context would not serve the original mission of Islamic justice; certain aspects of the historical shariah must first be reformed in order to remain true to the spirit of the law. Reconstructing the law will not occur, however, until the Muslim ummah contests the conservative approach of traditional religious scholars who have resisted reform. This article was originally presented in response to the keynote address of the Islamic scholar Abdullahi An-Na'im at the 1994 Kuala Lumpur symposium on the Modern Nation State and Islam, sponsored by Sisters in Islam.
