Das Rechtslexikon Qaw??id al-fiqh und sein Autor

When engaging in the study of the Mamluk period (1250-1517), one will certainly find that neither the theoretical foundations nor the de facto implementation of the law system have been researched extensively. In this book, parts of the 'Qawa'id al-fiqh' ('Fundamentals of Jurisprudence') by Muhammad b. Bahadur az-Zarka?i (died 1392) will be made accessible. The reader is also provided with information on the jurisprudential and the social backround of the text. Under specific headings, az-Zarka?i subsumed case studies and abstract rules which were suitable to further explain the content of the selected term. He then again arranged the key words in alphabetical order. A direct connection between the 'Qaw??id' and legal practices could not be confirmed. According to the author himself, the alphabetical order of the work should help to facilitate working with the book during studies but had not been chosen with regard to fast availability of legal rules or precedents in an actual trial.

Dr. Lutz Wiederhold (1963-2012) befasste sich als deutscher Arabist und Islamwissenschaftler vor allem mit der islamischen Rechtstheorie im spätmittelalterlichen und frühneuzeitlichen Ägypten. Von 1995 bis zu seinem Tode wirkte Wiederhold als Bibliothekar an der Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt und baute dort ab 1998 in leitender Funktion das Sondersammelgebiet »Vorderer Orient einschließlich Nordafrika« auf.