Law, Christianity, and Modernism in Islamic Society

This volume presents part of the Proceedings of the 18th Congress of the Union Europeenne des Arabisants et Islamisants, in particular those papers dealing with the three main themes of the congress: continuity and development in Islamic Law, Christianity and Modernism in 18th and 19th Century Islam. It ranges from studies about sari'a in the Koran, in early shi'ite Islam, to its applications in modern countries like Kuwait. The Christian element in the Islamic world is not only analysed from a theological viewpoint; much attention is also given to Arab translations of the Bible and to the juridical, social and political status of the Christians, as reflected in their contacts with the West and in Christian Arab literature. Finally, a series of studies focuses on modernism, taking newspaper articles, cartoons and political satire as their main sources, as well as theatre and schoolbooks.