Program in Islamic Law Celebrates Its New English Translation of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ

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Earlier this fall, the Program in Islamic Law published the eighth volume in its Harvard Series on Islamic Law, an English translation of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ, the Royal Moroccan Edition, The Recension of Yaḥyā Ibn Yaḥyā al-Laythī. On December 9th, PIL celebrated the book’s launch by bringing together scholars from the accompanying online roundtable in a roundtable … Continue reading Program in Islamic Law Celebrates Its New English Translation of al-Muwaṭṭaʾ

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

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Fajri Muhammadin and Mohd Hisham Mohd Kamal use an 'aqīdah approach to analyze the notion of Islamic universalism in "The Western Universalism v. Cultural Relativism Debate on Human Rights and Islam - An ‘Aqidah-Based Approach," Islamic Law & Law of the Muslim World eJournal (originally published in Afkar: Jurnal of Aqidah and Islamic Thought).  In "Customary … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

The Problem of Slavery in Islamic Law: A Review of Possessed by the Right Hand, by Bernard Freamon

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For my final guest post on this esteemed Islamic Law Blog, I wanted to highlight the publication of a recent book on a subject that has not received the treatment it deserves in the Islamic world. This is the highly charged matter of slavery, which Professor Bernard Freamon tackles admirably in Possessed by the Right … Continue reading The Problem of Slavery in Islamic Law: A Review of Possessed by the Right Hand, by Bernard Freamon

Assembling Clones: Adjudicating Future Bodies in Shīʿī Jurisprudence

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By Emily O'Dell Notions in Shīʿī jurisprudence about bodily interventions, such as the mutability of the body and the permissibility of biotechnology to assemble non-normative bodies, are distinct from Sunnī conceptions on these issues. Sunnī fatwās against cloning have been issued by Al-Azhar in Egypt, the Muslim World League in Mecca, the European Council for Fatwa … Continue reading Assembling Clones: Adjudicating Future Bodies in Shīʿī Jurisprudence

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

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Anika Liversage and Jesper Petersen argue for the importance of local power structures in supporting Muslim women in terminating a nikāḥ in "Etniske minoritetskvinder og skilsmisse – med fokus på muslimske praksisser" (translated from Danish to English as "Ethnic minority women and divorce - with a focus on muslim practices"). The study was commissioned by the Danish … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

The Libyan Supreme Court and the Meaning of Ribā: A New Approach?

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One of the most vexing problems that modern high courts face when interpreting and applying Islamic law concerns the taking of money interest. The framework of the basic problem tends to be the same, whether the state is Egypt, Iraq, or Pakistan. Libya’s most recent foray into this field deserves some attention, however, because it … Continue reading The Libyan Supreme Court and the Meaning of Ribā: A New Approach?

A Pioneering Workshop on Legal Maxims

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By Kumail Rajani Al-qawāʿid al-fiqhiyya – Islamic legal maxims – have received limited attention in the plethora of works on Islamic law and legal theory published in the last two to three decades. With the aim of further advancing the study of Islamic legal maxims, the Exeter-based LAWALISI (LAW, Authority and Learning in Imami Shiʿite Islam) … Continue reading A Pioneering Workshop on Legal Maxims

Will Baghdad’s Government Decide Shi’i Islam’s Future Highest Jurist? Religion-State Entanglements and the Waqf in Iraq

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One largely unnoticed development that has arisen in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003 has been the manner in which the Iraqi state and the Shi’i religious establishment known broadly as the marjaʿiyya have bound themselves rather tightly together in the area of waqf law. This is important, because the waqf business in Iraq … Continue reading Will Baghdad’s Government Decide Shi’i Islam’s Future Highest Jurist? Religion-State Entanglements and the Waqf in Iraq

Welcome to our February Guest Blogger: Haider A. Hamoudi

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It's a pleasure to introduce our February guest blogger: Haider Ala Hamoudi, Professor of Law and the Vice Dean at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Professor Hamoudi’s scholarship focuses on Middle Eastern and Islamic Law. As concerns Islamic law, and specifically Islamic finance, where he has done much of his writing, his approach has … Continue reading Welcome to our February Guest Blogger: Haider A. Hamoudi

Thank you, Necmettin Kizilkaya!

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Thank you to Necmettin Kizilkaya for joining us as the guest blog editor throughout the month of January. In case you missed any of his posts, here they are: Ottoman Shaykh al-Islāms of the Nineteenth Century and their Intellectual Biographies A Literary Bureaucrat Scholar and Shaykh al-Islām: Ahmad Ārif Hikmet Bey Efendi Jāmi‘ al-Riyāsatayn Shaykh … Continue reading Thank you, Necmettin Kizilkaya!

Reading a Century of Change and Transformation through the ‘Ulamā

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The nineteenth century marks a period of major transition for the Ottoman Empire. The changes and transformations that took place during this century differed significantly from those in previous centuries in several respects. First, pre-nineteenth century changes were limited to internal developments that remained within the requirements of the system established by the Empire. In … Continue reading Reading a Century of Change and Transformation through the ‘Ulamā