Book Review: Sociology of Shari'a Case Studies Around the World

This report provides a comprehensive review of the book 'The Sociology of Shari'a: Case Studies from Around the World,' edited by Adam Possamai, James T. Richardson, and Bryan S. Turner. The review explores the book's comparative analysis of Shari'a applications in Muslim-majority and minority countries, offering a sociological perspective on Islamic law and legal pluralism. It delves into the book's strengths and weaknesses, highlighting its exploration of legal pluralism, the application of theories by Eisenstadt and Chambliss, and the inclusion of case studies from various countries. The report also discusses the concept of overlapping consensus, the relationship between Rawlsian political liberalism, and the legal pluralism framework, offering a detailed overview of the book's content and its contributions to the understanding of Shari'a in a global context.

Running head: BOOK REVIEW
The Sociology of Shari: case studies from around the world
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Executive Summary
In this report, the book the Sociology of Shari’a: case study from around the world by Possamai,
Adam, Richardson, James T, Turner, Bryan will be reviewed. In this report, all about the Islam
laws, their strengths and weaknesses will be elaborated and will be linked with the case study of
this sociology book.

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Summary
The Sociology of Shari’a: case study from around the world has been edited by Adam
Possamai, James t. Richardson and Bryan S. Turner, New York, Springer (Edited) 2015. The
Sociology of Shari’a: Case Studies from around the World is a comparative analysis of the
various applications in contrast to the countries that has the Muslim minority and majority. It
also provides a global analysis of Shari’a and his views on the Islamic law from the sociological
perspective. It also explores some ground breaking perspectives that is based on the sociology of
Shari’a that has the applications of the theories of Eisentadt and Chambliss. This book is an
edited volume that has a collection of papers that presents an analysis in a comparative way on
the development of the Shari’a in the different countries that has the maximum Muslim majority.
The countries that follows are Malaysia, Turkey, Tunisia and Bangladesh (Possamai, Richardson
& Turner, 2015).
The book Sociology of Shari’a provides a global analysis of the various important legal
transformations and analyses the topic from the social perspective. This also explores the
examples of the Non Western countries that has the maximum Muslim minority in their
population that also includes China, Singapore, South Africa and Philippines. In the third part of
the book the case study includes the various explorations from the ground breaking theories of
the sociology of Sharia’a like the application of the Chambliss, Black and the perspectives of
Eisenstein.
The Sociology of Shari’a: Case study from Around the World can be bought in one
banner that includes 17 individual and comparative study of the case covers a geopolitical scope
in a spectacular diversity. This diversity is often drawn from the authors that has a range of the
various scientific, social and professional expertise. This edition follows a unified conceptual

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framework that is considered a legal pluralism (Jan Michiel, 2016). This volume has been used
by the editor and the legal pluralism refers to the simple existence that can be found in one or
more legal system. This legal pluralism demands a vast literature that needs to be developed over
several decades that needs to have a considerable debate. The edited version of this book are not
in terms with the literature on the legal pluralism. The editors of this book may be used with the
concept of the legal pluralism that can be used as a framing device (Jan Michiel, 2016).
The framing device that can be used by the editor is to make a complete sense out of the
volume article that has the concept of the political liberalism that can be found in the later works
of John Rawl’ s (Kebede, 2016). This can be considered the work from where the editor drew the
idea or rather the concept of overlapping the consensus in the comprehensive doctrines. This
overlapping of consensus refers to such a state of affairs that has a stable liberal democracy in
which the distinctive group that has their own normative order that includes regulating the vast
areas of their life. There is a need for the affirmation in the political conception of justice that is
based on the principles that is drawn from the integral part of the normative order. The idea of
Rawl that is based on the political conception of the justice that is the central concept based on
the overlapping consensus that also refers to the conception of unattached justice to the
comprehensive doctrines (Jan Michiel, 2016). In many religious sects there is a need to seek
order on the adherents moral and political lives that has been created for a specific purpose. The
editors of the volume made a conclusion that the vision of Rawl is based on the overlapping
consensus of the different comprehensive doctrines that will be difficult to make it secured (Jan
Michiel, 2016).
In further developing the relations of the volumes in the 17 articles there is a need for the
Rawlsian political liberalism and the legal pluralism that requires atleast one volume in its own.

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The framework of the legal pluralism of the editors has to be captured in order to get a variety in
the volumes of the articles. The Rawlsian took up the article on the volume that has an
afterthought that is more than the unifying thread. The fact is that the article of the volume has
studies that is too variegated in order to be summarized in a thematic way or in a group that
needs to be under one methodological heading (Rosen, 2014). It is viewed that each of them
could stand alone. The articles that has been provided has to be pluralistic in their concept of the
methodology that needs to impose on any one of the theoretical perspectives that can be
reductive.
Strengths and weakness
The common themes or the reference points in the Sociology of Sharia’a: case study has
not been stressed and the risk of the volume is that it leaves the readers in an unsatisfied sense on
the various diverse possible theoretical approaches (Bannerman, 2013). The sense need not be
satisfied because it can get the impression by reading the volume by itself that has also
contributed the scholars to never communicate about their work rather what they did is submitted
it through their works from other disciplinary.
Turner and Richardson claimed that the sociological account of pluralism has various
forms that constitutes the theories that has helped to explain the shape and hence eventually even
the course of one’s future course needs to have such accommodations (Bowen, 2016). This can
be considered an excellent point for the students to make an entry into the contemporary Islamic
law that may be helpful for anyone to think that the way Islam is working out needs to be quite
familiar with the way they develop.
Concept

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In the book there is an introduction of the legal pluralism and Shari’a that also includes
the three legal system in one state that has the social cohesion in a multi religious and multi
ethnic way. The modern law is considered as the traditional ‘shalish’ in the activism of the civil
society in Bangladesh. The book also contains the semi official Turkish Muslim legal pluralism
that is based on the encounters between the unofficial Shari’a and the secular official law. Bryan
S. Turner has elaborated on a topic that is the soft authoritarianism and also the legal pluralism
and the social diversity (Bannerman, 2013). The Sharia case study is all about the different study
that can be found all around the world about the boundaries of the religious freedom that needs
to be regulated in those diverse society. The study from around the world that has religious
freedom boundary that has regulations regarding the religion of the nimatullahiya, The boundary
of the religious freedom is about the sociology that can be found around the world in various
factors relating to the religious freedom. The computer science sociology of the case study of
Sharia relates to the freedom that can be found in the religious freedom matters that may be of
the diverse religion societal researches (Kebede, 2016).
Islamic law
Debates about the legal and the law pluralism of Shari’a has come to the forefront due to
the political discourse that is found in the multicultural society. The comments that is about
Shari’a is disengaged from the everyday point of life of the Muslims (Bannerman, 2013). The
legal pluralism and Shari’a that is within the Eisenstadt’s multiple modernity thesis needs to be
argued so that it work towards a new multi faith that is the pragmatic modern project. The
plurality of the law of Islam is probably better than the well known and documented Muslim
legal traditions. In the historical development, several schools of law emerged that helped on the
site that has a variety of the opinions.

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References
Bannerman, P. (Ed.). (2013). Islam in Perspective (RLE Politics of Islam): A Guide to Islamic
Society, Politics and Law (Vol. 6). Routledge.
Bowen, J. R. (2016). On British Islam: Religion, Law, and Everyday Practice in Shariʿa
Councils. Princeton University Press.
Jan Michiel, O. (2016). Sharia Incorporated. A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of
Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present. Leiden University Press.
Kebede, M. (2016). The sociology of shari'a: case studies from around the world, edited by
Adam Possamai, James T. Richardson and Bryan S. Turner: New York, Springer, 2015,
viii+ 328 pp.,£ 72.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-3-319-09604-9.
Possamai, A., Richardson, J. T., & Turner, B. S. (Eds.). (2015). The Sociology of Shari'a: Case
Studies from Around the World. Cham: Springer.
Rosen, L. (2014). Book Review: Family Law in Islam: Divorce, Marriage and Women in the
Muslim World; Self-Determination and Women's Rights in Muslim Societies. Bulletin of
the School of Oriental and African Studies. University of London, 77(1), 208.