"If the Qur'an is the first written expression of Islam in general, Malik's Muwatta' is arguably the first written formulation of the 'Islam-in-practice' that becomes Islamic law. This book considers the methods used by Malik in the Muwatta' to derive the judgements of the law from the Qur'an and is thus concerned on one level with the finer details of Qur'anic interpretation. However, since any discussion of the Qur'an in this context must also include consideration of the other main source of Islamic law, namely the sunna, or normative practice, of the Prophet, this latter concept, especially its relationship to the terms hadith and 'amal ('traditions' and 'living tradition'), also receives considerable attention, and in many respects this book is more about the history and development of Islamic law than it is about the science of Qur'anic interpretation."--BOOK JACKET.