In the News: Female Sharīʿa Court Judges

At the end of last year, the BBC compiled a list of “100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.” One of those women was Nenney Shushaidah, who made international headlines in 2016 after she and her colleague became Malaysia’s first female sharīʿa high court judges. In an interview with the BBC, Judge Shushaidah talked about how her position allows her to both uphold religious principles and protect women’s rights, explaining:

You can’t generalise Islamic law and say it favours men and treats women badly … I want to correct that misconception … Islam holds women in high regard and as judges, we must return to its teachings and maintain worthiness using Sharia.

Read the BBC article here. For more on this topic, see our previous blog post on the UK’s first female “sharīʿa court” judge, as well as our online symposium on “The Legal Basis of Female Clerics Among Chinese Muslims” (which highlighted mosques in China that are led by women, and how these mosques are perceived in modern Chinese culture).