Book excerpt: This critically-acclaimed treatise provides both newcomers and experts with clear, accessible, and comprehensive materials and critical comparative analyses for the study of Islamic Law. It embraces the entire history, religion, and law of Islam, both Sunni and Shī'a, and covers all pertinent fields: banking and finance, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, family law, inheritance, international law, and property. The book includes a user-friendly Glossary of Arabic terms, in English, with diacritical marks to assist in pronunciation. Balanced, logically organized, and well-written, the text can be used without supplementation in a one-semester Islamic Law course, and it has been used in law schools and graduate programs around the world and in programs for United States Special Operations Forces. Every chapter is thoroughly updated to incorporate recent developments and scholarship, with new chapters on the Constitution of Iran, the Taliban, and the Afghanistan War.