| Muhammad Abduh and his follower, Muhammad Rashid Rida. Muhammad Abduh, the "Father of Muslim Modernism," was a strong advocate of the role of reason, the right of ijtihad, and viewed ijma as a consensus of reason. But Abduh's concept of ijma is less dogmatic than the traditional notion. Syed Ameer Ali (1849-1928) advocated the enlargement of the notion of ijma and its incorporation within the constitutional government of a modern state. This idea became more developed in the writings of Muslim reformers such as Muhammad Iqbal (1875-1938), and Fazlur Rahman. Iqbal described ijma as ‘perhaps the most important legal notion in Islam’. He recommended the transfer of ijtihad ‘from individual representatives of schools to a Muslim legislative assembly’. Fazlur Rahman, the former director of Pakistan's Islamic Research Institute also conveyed a similar idea. Historically, it is possible to view the question of polygamy versus monogamy in the contemporary Muslim world as a point of the ijtihad-ijma dialogue for example in Egyptian Cabinet in 1927 and in 1953, by Article 17 of the Syrian Law of Personal Status enacted the first law restricting polygamy. Since then other countries, such as Pakistan, have passed similar legislation. According to the Tunisian Law of Personal Status polygamy was decreed as prohibited in 1957 in article 18 of the law. The debate about polygamy in the Muslim world today continue where there are two basic reform positions; 1. Limitization/Restriction of polygamy and 2. Prohibition of polygamy. These are against the traditional ijma which supported the right of polygamy. Education is the most important element to bring change. The basic fight against illiteracy and the struggle to reform the educational systems of both secular and religious institutions are essential. An important task in educational reform is the implementation of measures which ensure that the educational system incorporates the best of both scientific knowledge and religious values. Critical Analysis of the Book Although the book tends to target the basic information about the Islamic family laws mainly about women but there are following major technical mistakes and limitations in the academic contribution: Not Representative but Introductory Mode of Writing: Usually, John L. Esposito is considered as the most capable academic person in the West to represent Islam in its writings but the researcher is regret to mention that reality is totally in contrast for example in the following quotation he does not represents the concept of Lordship or tawheed in Islam but simply introduces the God of Islam as the simple concept as of in other religions: “The Central Fact of the Muslim religious |