Foreword by Frank Vogel Foreword by Ridwan Al-Sayyid Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Transliterations and Abbreviations 1. The Classical Islamic Law of Property The Classification of Lands in the Shari?ah ?Ushri Lands Kharaji Lands State Lands: The Private Domain Mawat Lands Public Lands and Servitudes Waqfs Land Tenure and Property Rights Private Property: Mulk Land Enjoyment of the Right of Ownership Acquisition and Disposition of the Right of Ownership Waqf Lands Holdings of State-Owned Lands Later Development of the Islamic System of Tenure in Egypt 2. Traditional Islamic Law in the Modern Era The System of Land Tenure Created by Muhammad Ali Kharaji Lands Masmuh Lands Rizqah Lands Ab?adiyah Lands Usiyah Lands The Traditional System of Land Tenure Prior to the Civil Codes State Lands Mulk Lands: Private Property Waqf Lands 3. The Introduction of a Western Civil Code System Ottoman Sovereignty and the Capitulations Tribunals of the Reform: The Mixed Court System Mixed Courts Consular Courts Native Courts Mahkamahs Millah Courts The Civil Codes 4. Property Law Under the First Civil Codes State Lands Kharaji Lands Mawat Lands The Public Domain The Private Domain Waqf Lands Waqf Law in the Civil Courts The Law of Waqf State Administration of Waqfs Private Property The Right of Ownership Ownership and Other Real Rights Enjoyment of the Right of Ownership The Transfer of Ownership Rights Inheritance and Testament Gifts Accession Appropriation Prescription Preemption Agreements and Contracts 5. The Development of a National Legal System Unity of Jurisdiction The Civil Courts The Administrative Courts The Courts of Personal Status Law Reform The Shari?ah Law of Personal Status The Law of Waqf The Civil Law 6. Property Law Under the Civil Code of 1949 Rules of Property Law in the Civil Code Private Property The Principal Real Rights The Right of Ownership The Transfer of Ownership Rights Inheritance Testamentary Dispositions Accession Appropriation Prescription Preemption Contract Pledge and Mortgage State Lands Waqfs Developments Under the Revolutionary Government Notes Appendix Bibliography Index

Islamic Law and Civil Code is an extraordinary book by a remarkable man. It is a welcome event for those studying or working in fields requiring an understanding of Islamic and Middle Eastern law relating to landed property. For those doing business in current-day Egypt, Arab societies, and Muslim countries, and for scholars working on social, economic, and cultural issues rooted in the Islamic sphere, this work is indispensable. Richard A. Debs combines the theoretical with the evolving, practical aspects of a field of law that has been too little studied for its impact on the Egyptian economy and society. He has produced a book of inestimable and lasting value. -- Vartan Gregorian, president, Carnegie Corporation of New York This is more than simply a historical exposition of the law of property in Egypt, a great achievement in itself: it is also a remarkably clear and jargon-free analytical exposition of how Islamic law and civil law have operated together in the Egyptian context and by extension in much of the Muslim world. It is a rare work on Islamic law by a trained lawyer, even rarer in being easily accessible to the non-specialist. The book deserves to be consulted by readers across a broad spectrum, from legal experts to scholars of classical Islam and the modern Middle East. -- Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies, Columbia University Richard A. Debs has produced a thoughtful and well-researched history of Egyptian property law. I recommend the book to serious historians and all those interested in understanding the role that Islamic religious principles have played in the evolution of the legal treatment of property in Egypt. -- Samuel Hayes, Harvard Business School