Table of Contents

Letter from the General Editor Acknowledgments Introduction A Note on the Text Notes to the IntroductionEpistle on Legal Theory Notes Glossary of Names and Terms Bibliography Further Reading Index of Qur?an Passages Index About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute About the TypefacesAbout the Editor-Translator

About the Author

Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i (d. 204H/820AD) was the eponym of the Shafi'i school of legal thought, one of the four rites in Sunni Islam. Joseph E. Lowry is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His books include Early Islamic Legal Theory: The Risala of Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafiʾi. His research and publications focus on the Qurʾan, Islamic law, and Arabic literature. Before becoming an academic he was an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

This is a very accurate and eloquent translation.The translators use of suitable English terms makes the text easy to read, unburdened by transliterations or overly cumbersome terminology.
*Ahmed El Shamsy,University of Chicago*

The Epistle on Legal Theory represents one of the earliest complete works on Islamic law, one that is centrally important for the formation of Islamic legal thought and Islamic legal tradition.
*Islamic Horizons*

Lowry has made a new and assertive offering with his translation of conceptual terminology... a significant achievement.
*Journal of Near Eastern Studies*