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This article introduces a valuable work of a thousand pages that describes and documents the implementation of Sharia law in twelve states in northern Nigeria. It describes the content of the volumes; it gives some examples of Sharia laws and where and how Sharia differs from the penal law of Nigeria; it discusses a number of aspects of two cases that resulted in the accused being sentenced to be stoned and considers the overturning of the verdicts in appeal proceedings. Hence, the article looks at the ‘hermeneutical space’ that judges have for leniency in applying the sometimes harsh rules, and it explores the question of whether freedom of religion also entails the freedom to establish religious laws or whether legal pluralism might put the freedom of religion at risk.