Islamic Law, Muslims and American Politics

In this article I ask whether and how Islamic law constricts American Muslims in their ability to negotiate the applied socio-political order. Assuming sharī'ah to be their point of departure, I ask if their efforts are religiously legitimate or purely pragmatic and necessarily oblivious to Islamic law. In this context, I explore how Islamic law is negotiated across space and time, the degree of recognition it accords to local (including non-Muslim) custom, and the distinction between jurisdiction of law and jurisdiction of fact. I also investigate the question of sharīah's overall scope and jurisdiction and how this impinges upon Islamic law's relationship with the secular. Among the arguments I make is that numerous aspects of the American socio-political order fall outside the parameters of the strictly shar'ῑ and, as such, Muslims may negotiate these without relying upon or giving offense to Islamic law.