Description
This book offers the only detailed presentation available in English of the freedom of expression from both the legal and moral perspectives of Islam. It is informative, in this sense, not only on its particular theme on freedom of expression but also on the cultural tradition of Islam and its guidelines on social behaviour. For the moral teachings of Islam on etiquettes of social interaction and speech are often more far-reaching than its legal rules on the same themes. A detailed examination of the affirmative evidence on freedom of expression in the sources of Sharifah is followed by a similar treatment of the limitations, whether moral, legal, or theological, that Islam imposes on the valid exercise of this freedom.
Notwithstanding the affirmative stance of the Qur'an and Sunnah on such principles as commanding good and forbidding evil (hisbah). independent reasoning ijtihad), consultation (shลซra) and freedom to express an opinion (hurriyyah al-ra'y) nowhere does one find in the scholastic jurisprudence (figh) an exclusive treatment of the freedom of expression as a basic right of the individual. The present work is a pioneering attempt in that direction and offers an original treatment of the source materials of Sharifah on its subject. It also contains useful information on the applied laws of Malaysia and other Muslim countries on certain aspects of the freedom of speech.
Dr. Mohammad Hashim Kamali is Professor of Law at the Inter- national Islamic University Malaysia where he has been teaching Islamic law and jurisprudence since 1985. He has also studied and taught Islamic law in Afghanistan, England, Canada and the United States. He is the author of Law in Afghanistan, A Study of the Constitutions, Matrimonial Law and the Judiciary (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1989), Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (the Islamic Texts Society, Cambridge, 1991) and a number of articles in reputable international journals.
ISBN: 9679693163
