In the age of COVID-2019, we at the Islamic Law Blog have curated a set of essays on the theme of pandemics in Islamic history and thought. Leading scholars and advanced students of Islamic law and history comment on the phenomena of plagues and epidemics across centuries and geographic boundaries, giving us an opportunity to … Continue reading :: Pandemic Roundtable :: Introduction
A Field Guide to Digital Islamic Law Resources
Educators and researchers around the world are navigating teaching and learning in response to COVID-19 related disruptions and closures. Below we provide, in the form of a downloadable document, instructive links and annotations to SHARIAsource and other Harvard resources, global online digital resources, and a robust "Digital Islamic Law Collection." For an enhanced browsing experience, … Continue reading A Field Guide to Digital Islamic Law Resources
A Tale of Two Contagions: Science, Imperialism, and the 1883 Cholera in Egypt
By Christopher Rose At Cairo, sanitary matters are nearly at a standstill; the executive administration cannot enforce their orders. On Saturday last, the bad feeling … nearly stirred up a rebellion, so that matters looked very serious. The Egyptian lower classes consider all precautions to be impious; “God is Great,” they cry, and all is … Continue reading A Tale of Two Contagions: Science, Imperialism, and the 1883 Cholera in Egypt
Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Hossein Kamaly details the biographies of some of the most illuminary Muslim women in Islamic history in A History of Islam in 21 Women (One World Publications). Georgetown University Qatar has been hosting "Pandemic Panels," which are virtual discussions, moderated by Dean Ahmad Dallal, gathering faculty experts to reflect on the current global human crisis … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Muslim Scholars Issue Guidance on Eid Prayers During Lockdown
Muslim scholars and religious leaders around the world are sharing guidelines for participating in Eid al-Fitr prayers under lockdown. A recent news article by Islam 21C offers a summary of the fatwā recently joint-issued by international scholars. The community of scholars provide alternatives for Muslims who are excused from performing Eid prayer in congregation, in … Continue reading Muslim Scholars Issue Guidance on Eid Prayers During Lockdown
Canons (Qawāʿid) and Reasoning in Islamic Law and Ethics
By Mairaj Syed Although ethical thought is found in virtually every literary genre of Islamic civilization, it finds the most explicit articulation in works of adab (belles-lettres), akhlāq (virtue ethics), and fiqh (positive law).[1] There are a number of distinguishing features that make fiqh an rich repository of moral thought, especially useful for the types … Continue reading Canons (Qawāʿid) and Reasoning in Islamic Law and Ethics
COVID-19 and Islamic Law Roundup (10/10)
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Indonesia's Ulema Council issues a fatwā allowing Muslims to perform Eid al-Fitr prayers at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Indonesia's Chairman of the Fatwā Board, Hasanuddin, announces stipulations for Eid al-Fitr prayers, where there should be a congregation of at least four people, where one acts as an imam or the worship leader, and the … Continue reading COVID-19 and Islamic Law Roundup (10/10)
The Ḥanafī Israeli Supreme Court
By Jonathan Korn This post is part of the Digital Islamic Law Lab (DILL) series, in which a Harvard student analyzes a primary source of Islamic law, previously workshopped in the DIL Lab. Case Summary: The document discussed in this post is a translation of an Israeli Supreme Court (the “Court”) decision from 2013 in which the … Continue reading The Ḥanafī Israeli Supreme Court
“It was a Memorable Day” – Plague Gatherings and their Critics
By Younus Mirza The Grand Umayyad mosque in Damascus played an instrumental role in the various responses to droughts and plagues. It is here that the great hadith collection of al-Bukhārī was read and various prayers and supplications were organized. In a previous Islamic Law Blog post, Justin Stearns argues that we need to … Continue reading “It was a Memorable Day” – Plague Gatherings and their Critics
Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Leor Halevi's Modern Things on Trial: Islam's Global and Material Reformation in the Age of Rida 1865-1935, Columbia University Press 2019, wins the J. Willard Hurst Book Prize. In "Ideology, Communication, and Response to Terrorism: A Sharia-based Perspective," Islamic Law & Law of the Muslim World eJournal (originally published in the International Journal of Academic … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
COVID-19 and Islamic Law Roundup (9/10)
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Muslim communities around North America create COVID-19 mutual aid task forces during Ramadan. Philadelphia imām grapples with the decision to close mosque amid COVID-19 concerns. U.S Muslim inmates face new challenges, brought on by COVID-19, during Ramadan. U.S based faith groups publish an open letter calling on state officials to release prisoners and to accommodate … Continue reading COVID-19 and Islamic Law Roundup (9/10)
A New Framework for the Analysis of Islamic Tradition-Bound Rationality
By Mairaj Syed My book Coercion and Responsibility in Islam seeks to organize the insights of the four conceptual approaches in the previous blog post into a coherent structure. It proposes an analytical framework that identifies and tracks the interactions of the key features that explain the content and historical development of concepts within technical … Continue reading A New Framework for the Analysis of Islamic Tradition-Bound Rationality