The Changes in Islamic Law

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How much of biblical legal and moral codes have changed over time. Here i'm thinking that in christianity went through the enlightenment and became much more liberal and tolerant and open, and eventually joined the civil rights movement. I mean, even conservative christians to day, now, six years after the supreme court legalized same sex marriage in the united states, hardly ever talk about it any more. So the changes may but the sense is that islam didn't go through an enlightenment like that, where they'd become more liberalizing. But that's probably an unfair characterization. Probably depends on which moslem groups you're talking about and which countries, or whatever.

Rulers throughout history have used laws to impose order. But laws were not simply instruments of power and social control. They also offered ordinary people a way to express their diverse visions for a better world. The variety of the world’s laws has long been almost as great as the variety of its societies.

In this conversation, Shermer speaks with Oxford professor of the anthropology of law, Fernanda Pirie, who traces the rise and fall of the sophisticated legal systems underpinning ancient empires and religious traditions, showing how common people — tribal assemblies, merchants, farmers — called on laws to define their communities, regulate trade, and build civilizations. What truly unites human beings, Pirie argues, is our very faith that laws can produce justice, combat oppression, and create order from chaos.