::Roundtable:: Islamic Legal History & Historiography

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Credit: Muslimheritage.com Credit: Muslimheritage.com

In light of recent developments in the field, we convened this Roundtable on Islamic Legal History and Historiography to take stock of myriad changes developments in approaches to the study of Islamic law and legal history. We invited leading and emerging scholars of Islamic law and history to weigh in on their approaches to questions … Continue reading ::Roundtable:: Islamic Legal History & Historiography

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

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SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "The Textual Evolution of the Ottoman Şeyhülislams’ Fetvas: A Cross-Corpora Computational Analysis" (Der Islam 98, no. 2 (2021)), Bogac Ergene (The University of Vermont) and Atabey Kaygun (Istanbul Technical University) "use a mix of computational techniques to identify textual shifts in the Ottoman şeyhülislams’ fetvas between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries." In … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

Studying Islamic Law in the Mamlūk Barracks

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By Christian Mauder This is part two in a series of four posts on legal culture at the late Mamlūk court. As former slave soldiers (mamlūks) of non-Muslim origin, many members of the military elite of the Mamlūk Sultanate did not acquire a natural familiarity with Islamic legal norms in their childhood and youth. Many … Continue reading Studying Islamic Law in the Mamlūk Barracks

Islamic Law in the News Roundup

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ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Islamic fintech, or iFintech, witnessed considerable growth recently, with Malaysia described as "the most robust ecosystem supporting the industry." Online and mobile-first fintech companies, sometimes called "neobanks," are increasingly offering sharī'a-compliant services, in a move to accommodate the needs of their Muslim clientele. While many Afghans continue to fear the … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

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SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "Experiencing ‘nikah Captivity’ in the West: Gendered Conflicts over Ending Muslim Marriages" (Journal of Muslims in Europe, online, September 16, 2021), Anika Liversage (The Danish Center for Social Science Research), based on a series of interviews with Muslim women, finds that second-generation Muslims in Denmark are more easily able … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

Legal Diversity at the Late Mamlūk Court

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By Christian Mauder This is part one in a series of four posts on legal culture at the late Mamlūk court. Many students of Islamic history are fascinated by the unusual polity that ruled Egypt, Syria, and neighboring regions from about 1250 to 1517 CE. This political entity was dominated by a small elite group … Continue reading Legal Diversity at the Late Mamlūk Court

Welcome to our October Guest Blogger: Christian Mauder

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Christian Mauder is Associate Professor in the Study of Religions with Specialization in Islam at the University of Bergen. His research focuses on the intellectual, religious, and social history of the Islamic world during the late middle and early modern periods. His recently published second monograph In the Sultan’s Salon: Learning, Religion and Rulership at … Continue reading Welcome to our October Guest Blogger: Christian Mauder

Islamic Law in the News Roundup

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ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Following the Taliban's rise to power, many law students and lawyers from Afghanistan have reported that "[i]t is not the application of Islamic criminal law that frightens [them], it is that it is applied without due process." Haroun Rahimi, a self-exiled Afghan who was a professor of law at Kabul … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

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SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "Petitioning the Sultan: Protests and Justice in Late Ottoman Sultan" (Bloomsbury 2021), Yuval Ben-Bassat (University of Haifa) discusses the institution of petitioning the Ottoman sultan, specifically Abdulhamid II, as a legal remedy in Ottoman Palestine. Abhishek Gupta (Indian Law Institute) discusses Indian Muslims' demand for interest-free Islamic banking in … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

Thank you, Mehdi Berriah!

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Thank you, Mehdi Berriah, for joining us as guest blog editor in September. In case you missed Prof. Berriah's essays on the financing of jihād in the Mamlūk era, here they are: The Issue of Financing Jihād in Islamic Law: Three Case Studies from the Mamlūk Period Episodes in which the ʿUlamāʾ, according to Islamic … Continue reading Thank you, Mehdi Berriah!

A Lack of Resources in the bayt al-māl: A Sine Qua Non Condition for the Imposition of a Tax?

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By Mehdi Berriah This is part four in a series of four posts on the financing of jihād during the Mamlūk period. As noted by Ibrāhīm b. ʿAlī al-Hanafī al-Ṭarsūsī, the possibility of resorting to the imposition of new taxes or the requisition, on the order of the sultan, of goods to finance a war effort … Continue reading A Lack of Resources in the bayt al-māl: A Sine Qua Non Condition for the Imposition of a Tax?