Contents: Introduction. Methodology: History and nostalgia: reflections on John Wansbrough's The Sectarian Milieu; The limits of Islamic orthodoxy; Law; Tafsir from Tabari to Ibn Kathir: problems in the description of a genre, illustrated with reference to the story of Abraham. Early Islam: The sa'y and the jabin: some notes on Qur'an 37:102-3; Hinth, birr, tabarrur, tahannuth: an inquiry into the Arabic vocabulary of vows; From midrash to scripture: the sacrifice of Abraham in early Islamic tradition; The ummi in early Islamic juristic literature; The qurra' and the Arabic lexicographical tradition; The Barahima: literary construct and historical reality. Jurisprudence: a) Sunnism: Ikhtilaf and ijma' in Shafi'i's Risala; The significance of the term imam in early Islamic jurisprudence; Friday Prayer and the juristic theory of government: Sarakhsi, Shirazi, Mawardi; Exploring God's Law: Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Sahl al-Sarakhsi on zakat; al-Nawawi's typology of muftis and its significance for a general theory of Islamic Law; The 'Uqud rasm al-mufti of Ibn al-'Abidin. b) Imami Shi'ism: Zakat in Imami Shi'i jurisprudence, from the 10th to the 16th century A.D.; Khums in Imami Shi'i jurisprudence, from the 10th to the 16th century A.D.; Accommodation and revolution in Imami Shi'i jurisprudence: Khumayni and the classical tradition; Legitimacy and accommodation in Safavid Iran: the juristic theory of Muhammad Baqir al-Sabzavari (d. 1090/1679); Doubt and prerogative: the emergence of an Imami Shi'i theory of ijtihad. Indexes.