Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-244) and index.

Can the Shari'a be restored? / Wael B. Hallaq -- Inscribing the Islamic Shari'a in Arab constitutional law / Nathan J. Brown and Adel Omar Sherif -- A typology of state Muftis / Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen -- A contextual approach to improving asylum law and practices in the Middle East / Nadia Yakoob and Aimen Mir -- Internationalizing the conversation on women's rights : Arab countries face the CEDAW committee / Ann Elizabeth Mayer -- Tahlil marriage in Shari'a, legal codes, and the contemporary Fatwa literature / Barbara Fryer Stowasser and Zeinab Abul-Magd -- Egyptian feminism : trapped in the identity debate / Lama Abu-Odeh -- Muslim women and legal reform: the case of Jordan and women's work / Amira El-Azhary Sonbol.

"Since Europeans first colonized Arab lands in the nineteenth century, they have been pressing to have the area's indigenous laws and legal systems adhere to Western models. Although most Arab states now have national codes of law that reflect Western influence, fierce internal struggles regarding how to interpret Islamic law continue, particularly in the areas of gender and family. From different geographical and ideological points throughout the contemporary Arab world, Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Barbara Freyer Stowasser demonstrate the range of views on Islam's legal heritage in the region. For either law or religion classes, Islamic Law and the Challenges of Modernity provides the broad historical overview and particular examples needed to understand this contentious issue."--Jacket.

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