Legal Maxims in Islamic Law: Concept, History and Application of Axioms of Juristic Accumulation
Legal Maxims in Islamic Law: Concept, History and Application of Axioms of Juristic Accumulation
Necmettin Kizilkaya
Vol 15
Brill Nijhoff, 2021, xii + 312 pp. ISBN: 978-90-04-44466-9
Zainab Saleem
 
In this book, Necmettin Kizilkaya traces the development of legal maxim works between 10th (4th Hijri) to 19th (13th Hijri) centuries. The author argues that Islamic law has historically been in a process of change, and he demonstrates this by looking at the historical evolution of the genre of legal maxims. The author’s research reveals that independent works on legal maxims emerged in the 10th century (4th Hijri) and acquired systematization in the 16th century (10th Hijri). The structure of maxim works articulated in the 16th (10th Hijri) century underwent a transformation in 19th century (13th Hijri) when legal maxims were codified in the Majalla. By tracing the historical development of legal maxim works, the author underlines the role of contextual factors, mainly the general interest of the madhabs in the subject, in the development of maxim works. In the conclusion, the author reinstates the importance of context in the development of legal maxim works by responding to the traditionalist view of its development which highlights the formation of maxim works through a mere study of the Qur’?n and the Hadith literature. This book review seeks to explore Kizilkaya’s methodology, argument and situate his argument within other scholarship on historicizing Islamic law. It concludes by providing an evaluation of the author’s argument.

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