There is a profound ignorance in Australia about Islamic law. One of the major aims of the Australian Journal of Asian Law is to inform and to encourage debate. At a time when the distance between Islamic and secular traditions seems wider than at any time in living memory, this special issue is our attempt to open serious debate among legal scholars about syarî’ah. We believe the initiative is especially appropriate for Australia, which has no choice but to engage with two states of our area – Indonesia and Malaysia – which have majority Muslim populations. Obviously, however, the space available to us is limited. We have decided, therefore, to choose a number of specialised topics for the articles included in this issue which also have the capacity to introduce the reader to the wider jurisprudence of Islam. This introduction is intended to place these specialised topics in a broader historical, regional and scholarly context, as many of our readers will have had little exposure to Islamic law. It also includes bibliographical notes to basic sources to guide further research. All sources cited themselves have extensive references. Different readers will have different interests and we hope that these are adequately covered. Apart from the section immediately below, however, the focus is South-east Asian Islam.