''This Law of Ours and Other Essays'' is a book written by

Muhammad Asad Muhammad Asad, ( ar, محمد أسد , ur, , born Leopold Weiss; 2 July 1900 – 20 February 1992) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Pakistani journalist, traveler, writer, linguist, political theorist and diplomat. He was a Jew but, later conve ...

, first published by Dar al-Andalus, Gibraltar in 1987. The book is a collection of Asad's writings, lectures and radio broadcasts—some written as far back as the 1940s—which aims to clarify some of the confusion in the Muslim

Ummah ' (; ar, أمة ) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from ' ( ), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history. It is a synonym for ' ...

about the scope and practical implications of

Islamic law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

. The book's preface was written by Pola Hamida, Asad's wife, who first gathered his writings and radio talks and persuaded him to publish a book. In the preface, Hamida points out that the reader will be struck "not only by the extraordinary timeliness and timelessness of these thoughts and predictions, but also by their great consistency."

Argument

Asad points out what is incumbent on a Muslim: namely, belief in the "Oneness of God" — indivisible in His existence, unattainable by human thought, all-embracing in His wisdom and power — and in the apostleship of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

. A large portion of the book elaborates on Islamic and western civilization and Muslim law. In particular, it deals with the role of

ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...

and the creative outlook of

Muhammad's companions The Companions of the Prophet ( ar, اَلصَّحَابَةُ; ''aṣ-ṣaḥāba'' meaning "the companions", from the verb meaning "accompany", "keep company with", "associate with") were the disciples and followers of Muhammad who saw or m ...

and the great jurists of the past, on the necessity for independent thinking grounded in the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...

and the

Sunnah In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...

of Muhammad. It also contains the author's perspective on the ideological basis of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

as well as on Islam's encounter with the west.

The essays contained in the book represent Asad's work and thought from the mid-1940s to 1987. The following essays are included: * This Law Of Ours :* Prolegomena :* A Time of Change :* Talking of Muslim Revival :* Whose is The Fault? :* A New Approach :* The Basis of our Civilization :* Islamic Civilization and Islamic Law :* Discussing a Proposition :* The Companions and the Law :* A New Development :* Imitation of Thought :* A Voice from Nine Hundred Years Ago :* Creative Acceptance :* Summing Up * What Do We Mean By Pakistan :* Looking at Ourselves :* The Uniqueness Of Pakistan :* Evasion and Self-deception :* The Choice Before Us :* The Time for a Decision :* Our Moral Stature * Calling All Muslims * The Encounter of Islam and the West * Islam and the Spirit of Our Times * The Answers of Islam * Jerusalem: The Open City * A Vision to Jerusalem * The Meaning and Significance of the Hijrah * The Message of the Quran

References

{{reflist 1987 books Sharia Muhammad Asad

Argument

Table of contents

See also

References