This book was first published in 2012 by CIDT in Arabic. It was later translated into English, expanded with texts of Nushin Atmaca and Patricia Prentice and edited by Cornelis Hulsman with help of Jenna Ferrecchia and Douglas May. The expanded book was published by Tectum Verlag, Academic publishers in Germany. They also hold the copyright to the English text as printed. The book contains background studies and an opinion poll carried out in 2011 about Article II of the Egyptian Constitution. This Article states that “the principles of Islamic sharī’ah are the primary source of legislation.”  Before the amendment of 1980 the principles of Islamic sharī’ah were a primary source of legislation.”  The amendment of 1980 has been debated ever since then in Egypt. The difference between the two phrases is clear.  Prior to this amendment, the text does not dismiss other sources of legislation, yet after adding the definite article “the” it restricted other sources of legislation.   This debate obtained a new impetus after the revolution of January 25, 2011, since it was agreed that the old constitution needs to be rewritten. Dr. Nabīl Ahmad Hilmī, Professor of International Law, wrote for the Arabic book a study on the Egyptian constitution, highlighting the importance of the discussion on Article II of the Egyptian Constitution. In the English book published by Tectum this was replaced by a review of the Arabic text by Cornelis Hulsman. Dr. Fātimah al-Zanātī carried out an opinion poll of 5000 individuals in 10 governorates. Jayson Casper wrote about the CIDT round table discussions about Article II and Hānī Labīb formulated the conclusions. The book includes earlier work of Patricia Prentice and Nushin Atmaca on Article II of the Egyptian Constitution which has been edited for publication in the Tectum book. 

The expanded book has been published by Tectum - Verlag where it also can be purchased:

Hulsman, Cornelis (Ed.), The Shariah as the Main Source of Legislation? The Egyptian Debate on Article II of the Egyptian Constitution, in: Bechmann, Ulrike, Reiss, Wolfram (Hg.), Anwendungsorientierte Religionswissenschaft - Beitraege zu gesellschaftlichen und politischen Fragestellungen, Bd. 3, Marburg 2012.