PREFACE vii

Daube, of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, kindly enlightened me on points of Roman law, and Dr. S. Weinstock of Oxford most obligingly translated for me from the Hungarian a paper by Goldziher. Without the unfailing encouragement and help of Professor H. A. R. Gibb this book would hardly have been completed. Lastly, I wish to thank my wife for her truly invaluable aid in preparing the manuscript; to her I dedicate this book as a δόσις όλίγη τε φίλη τε.

I cannot do better than address the reader in the words of Shafi'i (Risala, 59): 'I lost some of my books but have verified what I remembered from what is known to scholars; I have aimed at conciseness, so as not to make my work too long, and have given only what will be sufficient, without exhausting all that can be known on the subject.'

J. S.

OXFORD

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH IMPRESSION

I HAVE made only a few small changes and additions, incorporating some of my more recent conclusions, but have not attempted to add to the book substantially. It remains a work of research that does not aim at giving a comprehensive account of legal science in the first few centuries of Islam. For a general picture of the development of Muhammadan jurisprudence as a whole, from its beginnings to modern times, I may refer the reader to my Introduction to Islamic Law, second impression, Oxford, 1966.

January 1967