Shattering Tradition ─ Custom, Law And The Individual In The Muslim Mediterranean

Few deny that in the Muslim world religion and law are intimately linked. However, local legal realities mean that Islamic law is often pushed out of the picture by customary law, which is usually tribal, and by state law. The three may at times produce similar or identical rulings and it is thus often difficult to identify which is at work under such circumstances. When the different legal systems clash, problems start to emerge. Shattering Tradition concentrates on customary law, which is the least investigated of the three and considers the ruptures and potential for conflict in Muslim law as well as the continuities and interactions. This groundbreaking series of empirical case studies investigates the varying ways in which different forms of law interrelate and it analyzes how the tensions between them are resolved in local settings.

Walter Dostal is Professor Emeritus of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna.

Wolfgang Kraus is Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna.