In many majority Muslim countries, classical Islamic law, Shari'a, is by law either a source or the primary source of their national legislation. 1 While the substantive compliance with this Shari'a mandate by these countries is questionable, 2 there has been an enor-* This article examines the Islamic Law of Bankruptcy in Sunni jurisprudence. There are two primary denominations in Islam: Sunni and Shi'i. The substantial majority of Muslims (87-90%) in the world belong to the Sunni denomination, of which there are four schools of jurisprudence, as discussed below. Given the dominance in the most traditional Muslim communities of one of them, the Hanbali School, this article will primarily rely on its usages. While the Islamic Law of Bankruptcy according to Shi'a jurisprudence is very similar to Sunni jurisprudence, and the four Sunni Schools are also similar, there are differences. This article does not address these differences.

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