Fahmy, K., In Quest of Justice: Islamic Law and Forensic Medicine in Modern Egypt: [Review]

In recent years, common wisdoms about Ottoman and Egyptian socio-legal change in the long nineteenth century have been turned upside down thanks to a series of revisionist studies focusing on "law in action" and legal culture. The notion that the passage to modernity in the Middle East was a matter of competition between secular and religious forces is a case in point. Revisionist scholarship has refuted this narrative by historicizing and problematizing the concept of "secularization"; by showing that the ulama (Muslim learned class) were deeply involved in legal and administrative reform; and by highlighting the enduring importance of the sharia, albeit in new forms. In Quest of Justice makes a significant contribution to this scholarly momentum by offering a historical reconstruction and analysis of the connection between medicine and law in nineteenth-century Egypt. [from the article]