In the House of the Law: Gender and Islamic Law in Ottoman Syria and Palestine, is the title of the book published recently by the American University in Cairo Press, 1999. The book is written by Judith Tucker, Professor of History at Georgetown University. In this work, Tucker digs into primary sources that are unmined by other scholars to examine the relationship between gender roles and Islamic law in Syria and Palestine during the 17th and 18th centuries. Through fatwas and legal opinions regarding issues such as marriage, divorce, mothering, fathering, sexuality and reproduction, Tucker finds out that muftis and qadis of the 17th and 18th centuries adapted their own heritage to the best of their community. Islamic legal thinkers selected from the varied legal schools and textual sources the approach they believed to be the most harmonious with their society and protective of the rights of its weaker members. Depending on the situation, they “molded and modified” gender rights and privileges reaching opinions that often championed women’s rights and softened gender differences. Tucker reaches the conclusion that the Islamic law of the 17th and 18^th centuries was not rigid and stiff as was previously thought; on the contrary, it permitted a good deal of flexibility and adaptability that is not conceivable in contemporary society.