Widely contested, the shari'a (Islamic law) is a frequently misunderstood concept. Both academic and non-academic discourses often focus on specific rules, a reductive approach emphasizing practices that are foreign—even threatening—to modern audiences. Conversely, this course considers shari'a as a broad system, highlighting its intellectual and moral underpinnings and exploring the origins of particular rules and practices within the social history of the pre-modern Muslim world.