The formative period - Legal theory : epistemology, language and legal reasoning - Legal education and the politics of law - Law and society - The circle of justice and later dynasties - The legal pillars of religion - Contracts and othe obligations - Family law and succession - Property and ownership - Offenses - Jihad - Courts of justice, suits and evidence - The conceptual framework : an introduction - The jural colonization of India and South-East-Asia - Hegemonic modernity : the Middle East and North Africa during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries - Modernizing the law in the age of nation-states - In search of a legal methodology - Repercussions: concluding notes.