Since my childhood I have developed a keen interest in law. I lived near a courthouse when I was young and always admired the way the lawyers and judges dressed and talked. I loved their professionalism. Later, when I attended university, I decided to specialize in law, and since I carried out my studies in Saudi Arabia I chose to study Islamic law, which is considered to be the pinnacle of all knowledge in Islam. I earned my BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Islamic law. Unfortunately, my father was unaware of my studies. He thought I was studying the Qur’an and Hadith, the subjects most commonly studied by Muslims. When he became aware of my specialization, he voiced his objection to it and discouraged me from practicing law and becoming a judge because of the negative attitude that people had about the lawyers in our community. Unfortunately, lawyers were perceived as agents of colonial rule because of their harsh treatment of their fellow citizens. As a result of my father’s objection, I turned to teaching Islamic law at the University of Sokoto in Nigeria. As I began teaching I found that many Nigerians, particularly southerners (I am a southerner myself), had no clue of what Islamic law is; they thought it was a branch of native law, which is undocumented. They began asking many uncritical questions about the nature of Islamic law and its relevance in Nigeria. This sparked my interest in writing about the history of Islamic law, its application and its critique, especially by non-Muslims. I also found that many people within and outside Nigeria have little knowledge, hold distorted views or make fallacious assumptions about Islamic law.