guilds, and schools—while at the same time, reduce the nation-state to the minimal functions of defense and tax-collection. It is in such a circumstance that medieval Muslim jurisprudence was developed and functioned best. Despite their romantic appeal, however, such societies came at a price: states and their societies could not thrive without governmental political legitimacy. Hence, the governmentsin most medieval Muslim societies were unrepresentative, disconnected from any basis of legitimacy in the Community, unaccountable to the people, violent, and unstable. Anyone who reads the chronicles of the Mamluk period, for instance, cannot escape the impression that for long stretches of time, life was indeed “nasty, brutish, and short.”

Spring-2008 On page 36 Sunday, December 15, 2013 @ 5:18am