ABSTRACT
This chapter will discuss the effects of emerging Muslim nation states on the interpretations and practices of Sharia, and vice versa. It will show that since the late nineteenth century, legislative and judicial authority over Sharia has shifted from the religious scholars to the state, but from the late 1970s it was reclaimed by a third party, lay Muslims. In connection with these developments it will also be described how the authority of Sharia itself has evolved from a source of normativity in the private domain into a source of codification, and then into a driving force of morality in the public domain. Consequently, the rising status of Sharia within the framework of the nation state opened up a Pandora’s box of interpretations, ranging from conservative to liberal. Generally speaking, these developments took place in three stages: codification as a modernization project, codification as an Islamization project, and Sharia as a source of public morality.
