Abstract
This chapter tracks how legal problems and questions originating outside of the courtroom intersected with state law and the colonial legal system. Litigation was only one way to solve a legal problem, and it was often costly, time-consuming, and dependent upon the expertise of paid legal professionals. As a result, individuals who were excluded from or faced disadvantages within the courts found other outlets for their legal disputes. This chapter explores the dar-ul-ifta (dār al-iftāʼ) as one of those alternative arenas and presents the mufti as a legal advisor who took complicated personal concerns and translated them into concrete steps for action. Sometimes this work involved translating colonial law into Islamic legal terms; in other instances, it required explaining the next steps for pursuing legal action through the courts; and in some cases, it meant devising ways to keep Islam and state law in productive conversation through creative reinterpretations or redeployments of statutes and legal decrees. Along the way, these muftis provided explanations, offered advice, clarified procedures, and highlighted the next steps that disputants could pursue. This chapter takes inspiration from recent scholarship in legal anthropology to trace why and how individuals approached various legal options.
Published Version
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