This classic work, an authoritative treatise on Islamic law, examines the law in its social, historical and political context. In the original book Fyzee lucidly explains, apart from the extant law, its background, sources, history, development, and complexities. The fifth edition, revised and updated by Tahir Mahmood, traces changes and modifications that have taken place in the law since the publication of the fourth edition in 1974. It highlights more than three decades of developments in the statutory as well as case law, without disturbing the framework and intellectual design of the original book. While remaining primarily an examination of Muslim law as it is administered in India, the book includes, where relevant, references to the legal position in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Muslim countries in West Asia and Africa. All major topics including marriage and its dissolution, dower and conjugal rights, parentage and guardianship, legitimacy, maintenance, gifts, wakfs, as well as the Sunni and Shia laws of inheritance have been clearly and systematically covered.