Islamic Law in the Age of Colonialism
Project Profile
The Harvard Law Library is pleased to make available a collection of legal writings, compendiums, and related studies commissioned by, or in relation to, colonial empires that ruled over Muslim societies during the 19th and 20th centuries. The documents date from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s prior to the onset of World War 1, and are classified by seven regional divisions: British India, Dutch East Indies, East Africa, North Africa (Maghreb), North Africa (Egypt), West Africa, Ottoman Turkey (Asia Minor and the Caucasus).
The material is written primarily by professors, judges, lawyers, and ministers residing within or outside colonized lands, and in some cases commissioned on behalf of colonial administrators of the region. It includes comprehensive legal compendiums of Islamic law, in addition to tracts on family and inheritance law, contract and commercial law, as well as international and comparative law. An array of languages are employed including English, French, Italian, and German.
The study of Islamic law in the era of colonialism represents an important anchor-point in the transition from pre-modern to modern conceptualizations of Islamic law and it’s practice in majority and minority Muslim contexts. The collection reveals that while colonial authorities had to contend with Islamic law in their newly acquired territories, they sought not only to understand, but also introduce new or modify existing systems of legislation; in some cases occurring in collaboration with elites of the colonized region, such as Anglo-Muhammadan law in British India. The Islamic Law in the Age of Colonialism collection contains writings for further exploration of this complex and pivotal period in the development of Islamic law.