This thesis examines the state of Islamic law in the modern context as perceived by the Muslim scholar Abdullahi an-Na`im, assessing its suitability for contemporary society, with particular emphasis upon its relationship to international human rights standards. The first part of this work reviews the impact of the nation-state upon the current international structure and then considers Islamic law as it was classically conceived and developed. The focus of this discussion addresses the importance of clear and definite texts in the Qur'an and the roles of ijtihad and naskh in us&dotbelow;ul al-fiqh, exploring the dimensions of flexibility and change allowed in this system. The second part involves an investigation of the development of international human rights standards and provides an appraisal of their authority and validity by which the Shari'a is today judged. The areas in the Shari'a that are seen to conflict with these modern standards, specifically the status of women and non-Muslims, and criminal punishment, are examined. Finally, the methodology for the reform of Islamic law proposed by an-Na'im is then evaluated, with due consideration given to the importance of hermeneutics and historical context. The value given to the difference between the Meccan and Medinan verses for the construction of a new understanding of the Qur'an within the framework of legal methodology is presented, as are the methodological tools that an-Na'im employs for modern legal reform.

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The purpose of this study is to investigate how religious ethics, while retaining its identity, can contribute to political debate and to the understanding of justice. The inquiry addresses these issues by focusing on theological perspectives which challenge the solutions offered to these questions by the liberal paradigm. Three kinds of challenges are studied, each of which is represented by one thinker from the Islamic tradition and one from the Christian tradition, in order to enable a comparative perspective on the contributions of religious traditions. The thinkers studied are: 1) modified liberalism, represented by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im and Duncan B. Forrester; 2) liberationism, represented by Ali Shariati and Gustavo Gutierrez; and 3) radical traditionalism, as developed by Tariq Ramadan and John Milbank. The study is organized around three main questions. First, how can innovative interpretations of religious tradition be plausibly justified? Second, what role should religious arguments and reasons play in the political sphere? Third, what can religious ethics and theological thought contribute to the understanding of social justice? The questions are engaged by means of a critical and reconstructive engagement with the six thinkers. The suggested solutions are assessed in terms of the criteria of authenticity, communicability, and potential for transformation. It is argued that a religious ethic can rely on a tradition without accepting conservative understandings of that tradition. Furthermore, it is argued that the coherence of religious ethics can be made available for public discourse but that the hospitability of the public forum to such contributions needs to be realized through a deepened democratic culture and a critique of power structures which condition perceptions of rationality. While religious ethics do not articulate complete alternative understandings of justice, they articulate contributions by relating justice to human sociality and to transcendence.