THE CONCEPT OF HARMONIZATION AND UNIFICATION OF THE LAW IN MALAYSIA: AN ISLAMIC APPRAISAL

Abstract

Harmonization and unification of laws is an important topic for all Muslim countries irrespective of the governmental jurisdictions they follow due to the plurality of laws applied therein. Accordingly, this study considers the possibility of harmonizing Islamic law and common law in certain jurisdictions and studying what is the best choice to be applied in different cases, whether harmonization or unification. This paper aims to study both concepts and their application in Malaysia and the EU as an example for greater understanding of these concepts. The main finding of this paper is that harmonization has been applied successfully to harmonizing Islamic law and other legal issues in Malaysia, unlike unification.

KEYWORDS: Harmonization, Unification, Islamic law, Malaysia, The EU.