Summary
[Noah Feldman] presents the shari'a state of the past as very positive. He quotes Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), "a brilliant social theorist", to the effect that the purpose of the shari'a was "the preservation of civilization through the protection of private property from government depredation ... and the most important worldly function of law is its aspiration to restrain the ruler from the inevitable temptation to expropriate and exploit."
The idealized Islamic state, which functioned smoothly, even harmoniously under the scholars' tutelage, began to erode under the Tanzimat, the "reorganization" begun in 1839 by the Ottoman Turks who wished to modernize their empire by aligning it more with the West and by diminishing the role of Islam.As for Feldman's use of the term "scholars" in his eloquent defense of their role in guaranteeing the stability of the shari'a state, one must ask what he means by the word scholar.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Return of the Idealized Islamic State
The return of the idealized Islamic state
STUDY CLAIMS SCHOLARS' USE OF SHARI'A IN THE PAST ASSURED BENEFITS TO ALLA Harvard Law School professor who is an authority on contemporary politics and law in the Muslim world, has recently published a study of the recrudescence of "Islamist" thought, which advocates the return to a shari'a state, an entity mediated by the authority of sc...See the full content of this document
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