International Treaties (Mu’âhadât) in Islam Theory and Practice in Light of Islamic International Law (Siyar) according to Orthodox Schools By Labeeb Ahmed Bsoul (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2008. 216 pages.)

Abstract

In the post-9/11 era and with increasing tension between the Islamic and the
non-Islamic worlds due to al-Qa’ida’s purported global jihad, Labeeb Bsoul’s
study of the Islamic law of international treaties is certainly a timely contribution
to an important topic. While this work represents a fairly comprehensive
resource for researchers in this area insofar as it gathers the opinions of
numerous pre-modern (and some modern) scholars of Islamic law on various
issues related to war and peace between Islamic and non-Muslim states,
it is, unfortunately, no more than a simple compilation of their views.
Indeed, the author provides no meaningful historical framework by which one could trace doctrinal development or tie these doctrines to a wider historical
or philosophical tradition of international law. Those looking for
answers regarding the possibilities for mutual co-existence between Muslim
and non-Muslim states on the basis of mutual equality will be severely
disappointed ...