“A groundbreaking book…a very solid, well-researched and innovative argument which merits recognition in any discussion of the role of religious thought in America's legal traditions.”

– Mark D. McGarvie, former Visiting Professor of Law, William & Mary Law School, USA

“A major contribution to public discourse on this crucial question, having immediate theoretical and practical import.”

– David Novak, J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto, Canada

“Should be essential reading for anyone interested in the intersection of law, religion and politics in US history.”

– Anver Emon, Professor and Research Chair in Islamic Legal History, University of Toronto, Canada

“An impressive work of historical excavation with lessons for the present.”

– Chris Beneke, Professor of Early American Religious and Intellectual History, Bentley University, USA

This is the first comparative study of Mosaic and Islamic law in American history to be published. Constructing a complex picture in trans-Atlantic, trans-European and world historical perspectives, this book elucidates the intersections that lie beneath and behind the rise of the debates in the 1990s and 2000s over the promotion of the Ten Commandments and Mosaic Law as alleged sources of American Constitutional law and symbols of American national identity. These debates have taken shape in close connection with resurgent anti-Semitism, anti-Sharia protests and anti-Sharia legislation throughout the United States and other Western societies.