The basic thesis of Patricia Crone's Roman, Provincial and Islamic Law is that the sharia is, at least in part, derived from what the author calls "Roman provincial law", and not from pre-Islamic Arabian cultures, other Near-East cultures (Egyptians, Akkadians and Jews among others) or from proper Roman law. She uses the example of the Islamic institution of wala, the Islamic form of clientage, and what she believes are its origins, and concludes that the practice comes largely from "Roman provincial law".
[...] I do tend to agree with the reviewers of the book in that it does seem that saying wala comes largely from “Roman provincial and saying that sharia comes largely from the same source is a bit of a jump. It seems that there must be more proof and more examples in order for one to make such a broad claim. However, as the author points out several times throughout the book, oftentimes sources are scarce or even non-existent. The author also makes a statement at the end of the book that says that outcome of this book is a working hypothesis, not a hypothesis vindicated” (Crone 99). [...]
[...] Therefore, in the author's opinion, while she admits that previous and surrounding cultures might have been influential, the majority of what became law originated from Roman provincial law, and was manipulated and changed to fit the later Muslim community. The author uses many sources, as can be seen by the size of the notes section of the book (nearly the same size of the book itself). The three reviews of the book which I obtained all held the book in some regard as a work of impressive research, and well thought out too. [...]
[...] It seems that “Crone's agenda is to show the abjectly dependent nature of Islamic and ultimately show that sharia was simply a work derived and reshaped from previous traditions and cultures (Reinhart 216). It seems odd that the author does not attribute more credit to Arabian culture or early innovation in the formation of sharia, but she does not that there is no solid proof one way or another for the entire sharia, and so it could still be an open question. [...]
[...] It has been proposed that the practice of wala, and sharia as a whole, or in great part, came from Roman, Jewish or other Near-Eastern cultures. In the beginning of the book Ms. Crone dismisses several theories regarding the Roman source of sharia. The book offers challenge not only to arguments about Islam's indebtedness to Rome for the sharia, but also to the doctrinally inspired counter- arguments which hold that the sharia is either a modified version of Arabian practice or merely an enactment of ruling(s) by the Prophet or his immediate successors” (Shereef 128). [...]
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