The Good Muslim

Book excerpt: In this thought-provoking book, Mona Siddiqui reflects upon key themes in Islamic law and theology. These themes, which range through discussions about friendship, divorce, drunkenness, love, slavery, and ritual slaughter, offer fascinating insights into Islamic ethics, and the way in which arguments developed in medieval juristic discourse. These pre-modern religious works contained a richness of thought, hesitation and speculation on a wide range of topics, which were socially relevant but also presented intellectual challenges to the scholars for whom God's revelation could be understood in diverse ways. These subjects remain relevant today, for practicing Muslims and scholars of Islamic law and religious studies. Mona Siddiqui is an astute and articulate interpreter who relays complex ideas about the Islamic tradition with great clarity. These are important attributes for a book, which charts the authors own journey through the classical texts, and reflects upon how the principles expounded there have guided her own thinking and impacted her teaching and research.