No description available.

This abstract is written on the 11th of September 2006---the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by Al-Qaeda. These attacks are taken to be a turning point in the relationship between Islam and the West. For the author, these attacks, the overwhelming counter-attacks by some of the western states on some Islamic states, as well as the endless Palestinian-Israeli disputes, are the result of misunderstanding and misconceptions that Islam and the West have of each other. / While politics and politicians are destroying means of communication amongst these nations by the creation of such a state of war, scholars should exert their best efforts to build bridges of understanding and tolerance. / This thesis is but a single brick in the much needed bridge of communication and understanding between the great civilisations of west and east. It seeks to show how the world's various legal traditions can benefit from each other. It attempts to do so by introducing the Islamic system of diyah and showing how it can interplay with and impact on the interpretation of international law. The example chosen is the existing set of air carrier liability conventions. 9/11 reminds us that attacks on air transport have been a chosen means of sowing conflict. / Yet peaceful use of air transport is among the most practical ties that bind the world together. Air carrier liability conventions render international air transport possible. The thesis shows how Islamic diyah can productively interact with these conventions. It can act as a median point at which the two extremes of the Warsaw System prescribing limited liability and the Montreal Convention prescribing unlimited liability can meet. The thesis shows as well how diyah can provide a useful methodology for integrating air carrier contractual and extra-contractual liability regimes. / To assist the reader unfamiliar with Islamic-fiqh, the thesis it is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to an introduction to Islamic-fiqh, and the second treats the interaction of diyah with the air carrier liability conventions.