Review of M. Cherif Bassiouni: The Shari’a and Islamic Criminal Justice in Time of War and Peace

Excerpt

In his recent work, The Shari’a and Islamic Criminal Justice in Time of War and Peace, Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni has given us a rich and enlightening account of areas of law that are of particular interest to him, most prominently international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and Islamic law. Professor Bassiouni describes his work as having a series of interrelated objectives (pp. 16–17). To this reviewer, however, two objectives in particular stand out. The first is to locate within shari’a material that harmonizes it with modern conceptions of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The second, somewhat related, is to advance a position on shari’a that is at odds with that promulgated by a variety of extremist groups, and thereby rescue shari’a, as it were, from the jihadists. As a renowned scholar of international law, a celebrated and highly respected human rights expert, and a person who has spent decades considering various aspects of Islamic law, Professor Bassiouni is one of the few scholars who is capable of such an ambitious venture. …