Tarek Elgawhary. Rewriting Islamic Law: The Opinions of the ‘Ulamā Towards Codification of Personal Status Law in Egypt. New Jersey: Gorgias Press LLC, 2019, xi + 223 pages.

Limited academic works focus on the roots and structures of the Middle Eastern legal systems. There is an extra need for more detailed academic studies in order to understand the origin of personal status law and the role of codification in Middle Eastern countries. Within this context, Tarek Elgawhary’s Rewriting Islamic Law: The Opinions of the ‘Ulamā Towards Codification of Personal Status Law in Egypt is an important contribution to the academic literature. Although there has been a great academic literature written about the effects of codification on the nature of law, the impact of modernity on Islam and Islamic legal tradition, the book fills the scholarly gab concerning intellectual discussions of codification process of Islamic law in Egypt. The author’s goal is to provide insight into the initial stage of codification, the gradual alteration of personal status law and sophisticated approaches of scholars (‘ulamā) towards codification of personal status law, especially the issue of divorce. There are academic compilations that focus on codification in Egypt. Leonard Wood, for instance, explains the transformation of Islamic law into codified rulings after encountering European law systems. While he mainly addresses the initiations of scholars for the replacement of European legal influence from Egypt’s Islamic legal system, Elgawhary seeks to reveal the codification procedure concerning personal issues in Egypt. However, comparing the intellectual debates and methodological approaches of Egyptian scholars concerning codification makes Elgawhary’s book different from others. The focus of the book moves from the general attempts of codification ideas in Muslim territories to the codification activities of personal status law in Egypt. Comparing sophisticated/intellectual arguments of scholars from diversified environments and analysing their supportive or rejective arguments towards the codification of personal status law broaden the intellectual mind of the reader. The author not only explains the scholars’ opinions related to codification but also aims to offer background information concerning the major political and religious events of Egypt during the formation period of civil code.