CALL FOR BOOK REVIEWS

Book Review

Manchester Journal of Transnational Islamic Law & Practice

ISSN 2633-6626

 

**** Call For Book Reviews ****

We invite reviewers to examine a selection of recently published books relevant to Islamic law scholars and researchers. Books are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, with a typical review period of two months. To claim a title or propose a recent scholarly work for review, please contact the Book Review Editor, Dr. Khaled Bashir, at khaled.bashir@abdn.ac.uk.

Submission Guidelines

  • Manuscripts should be in Microsoft Word format
  • Manuscripts should be double‑spaced (including quotations, excerpts, and footnotes)
  • To facilitate our anonymous review process, submissions are to be prepared for anonymous review. Include a cover page with the author’s name, affiliation, title, and email address.
  • Footnotes should be kept to a minimum and when used should follow OSCOLA referencing.

Deadline

Our publication timelines are 1 January, 1 April, 1 July, and 1 October every year.
Please send us your review two months before each date so we can include it in the subsequent Issue.

Recommended Format

A good book review provides a quick overview of the main ideas in the text. Also helpful is an account of how the book fits into, or engages in, an on-going philosophical debate. While not required, a compare and contrast approach can be useful to demonstrate both the main ideas and unique positioning of a book. An overview for a book review is good when it is broad and concise, including all and only the main points of the text. A good book review evaluates the text and deploys an argument regarding how successful the book is in achieving its own goals. This may, but need not, involve substantive disagreement with the argumentation found in the text. Many reviews will be best when they: (i) begin with any important background information (e.g. author biography); (ii) provide a summary of the contents of the book; and (iii) end with the reviewer’s evaluations.

The currently available books (courtesy of our good friends at Brill, Edward Elgar, Palgrave Macmillan, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Oxford and Ashgate Publishers) are:

1. International Law & Global Governance

  • Pakistan and International Law: Dynamics of Identity and State Practice (Routledge, Oct 2025) | Editor: Ahmad Ghouri.
    • Details: 408 pages | ISBN: 9781041077985
    • Link
  • Radical Separation of Powers: A History of Islamic Constitutionalism (Oneworld Academic, Jan 2026) | Author: Wael Hallaq.
  • Details: 592 pages | ISBN: 9781836431176
  • Link
  • Note: Previously Academic Press; current authoritative link is Cambridge Scholars.
  • Link
  • Peace and Reconciliation in International and Islamic Law (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024) | Author: Kaleem Hussain.

2. Human Rights & Constitutionalism

  • Islamic Legal Personhood: A Genealogy of Rights, Responsibilities, and the Juridical Self (Harvard University Press, 2025/26) | Author: Rami Koujah.
    • Details: Part of the PIL-LC series.
    • Link
  • Islam, Religious Liberty and Constitutionalism in Europe (Hart/Bloomsbury, 2024/25) | Editors: Mark Hill & Lina Papadopoulou.
  • Details: ISBN: 9781509966974
  • Link

3. Minorities & Legal Pluralism

  • The Islamic Juridical Vacuum: Parallel Institutions in Denmark (Brill, Feb 2025) | Author: Jesper Petersen.
    • Details: 327 pages | ISBN: 9789004700253
    • Link
  • The Sharia Inquiry: Religious Practice and Muslim Family Law in Britain (Routledge, 2024) | Author: Samia Bano.
  • Details: Paperback Edition | ISBN: 9780367547431
  • Link
  • Details: ISBN: 9781032764405
  • Link
  • Sharia as Informal Law: Lived Experiences of Young Muslims in Western Societies (Routledge, 2024) | Author: Ihsan Yilmaz.

4. Economy & Environment

  • The Cambridge Handbook of Islam and Environmental Law (Cambridge University Press, April 2026) | Editors: Nadia B. Ahmad et al.
    • Details: 450 pages | ISBN: 9781009332118
    • Link
  • Religion and Contract Law in Islam: From Medieval Trade to Global Finance (Routledge, 2024) | Author: Valentino Cattelan.
  • Details: ISBN: 9781138504042
  • Link
  • Details: 464 pages | ISBN: 9780192893796
  • Link
  • Details: Published by Springer Nature | ISBN: 9789819742608
  • Link
  • Islamic Contract Law (Oxford University Press, 2024) | Authors: Ilias Bantekas, Jonathan Ercanbrack, et al.
  • Muslim Legal Pluralism in the West: Transnationalism, Political Participation, Citizenship and Shari'a (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024) | Authors: Ihsan Yilmaz & Denitsa Pirinova Sokolova-Shipoli.

Other Titles:

As suggested above, the list is not exclusive. Please feel free to suggest other books to the Book Review Editor by emailing Dr Khaled Bashir khaled.bashir@abdn.ac.uk