Islamic criminal law in Northern Nigeria
Subtitle: politics, religion, judicial practice
By: Gunnar Jochen Weimann
Contributors: ebrary, Inc
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Amsterdam
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] :
Number of pages: 204
ISBN-13: 9789056296551; 9789048514526
Subjects: Politics and government; Criminal law (Islamic law)
Description: In 2000 and 2001, twelve northern states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria introduced Islamic criminal law as one of a number of measures aiming at "reintroducing the shari'a." Immediately after its adoption, defendants were sentenced to death by stoning or to amputation of the hand. Apart from a few well publicised trials, however, the number and nature of cases tried under Islamic criminal law are little known. Based on a sample of trials, the present thesis discusses the introduction of Islamic criminal law and the evolution of judicial practice within the regions historical, cultural, political and religious context. The introduction of Islamic criminal law was initiated by politicians and supported by Muslim reform groups, but its potential effects were soon mitigated on higher judicial levels and aspects of the law were contained by local administrators.
Notes: Thesis (doctoral)--Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2010.

Includes bibliographical references.

Electronic reproduction. Palo Alto, Calif. : ebrary, 2011. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ebrary affiliated libraries.

Summary in English and Dutch.
Table of contents: title: ch. 1. Judicial practice in Islamic criminal law in Nigeria : a tentative overview; title: ch. 2. Divine law and local custom in Northern Nigeria Zinā trials; title: ch. 3. Islamic law and Muslim governance in Northern Nigeria : crimes against life, limb and property in shariʹa judicial practice; title: ch. 4. An alternative vision of shariʹa application in Northern Nigeria : Ibrahim Salih's Ḥadd offences in the shariʹa; title: ch. 5. The Fatwā and the beast : Islamic authority and Muslim unity in northern Nigeria in light of the 2002 Miss World Crisis.