Islamic Law in the News Roundup

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ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS

  • The Department of Justice announced that Stafford County, Virginia recently repealed an ordinance that prevented the development of a cemetery for people of the Islamic faith.
  • Stacker has compiled a list of abortion laws in 15 countries, including Saudi Arabia, where scholars comment it is easier to obtain an abortion compared to some states in the United States.
  • A transgender Muslim woman in Malaysia was prosecuted nearly three years after she wore a hijāb and attended a Muslim prayer session in Kuala Lumpur on charges of “insulting Islam.”
  • Various news outlets have reported that Bill Gates‘ daughter, Jennifer Gates, married her Muslim fiancé Nayel Nassar in both a civil and Islamic marriage ceremony.
  • The headmaster of an Islamic school in Nigeria was dismissed after videos surfaced of a student being whipped for consuming alcohol, with the student’s father commenting that he approved of the whipping as a matter of Islamic law.
  • News outlets have reported that four Muslim men were jailed by Uzbek authorities “after meeting together to learn how to pray, to discuss Islamic topics such as prayer, fasting, peaceful jihad, good deeds and other matters, and to attend a mosque.”
  • A police chief in one of Kabul‘s district, commenting on instituting certain punishments, stated: “If a court decides to cut the hand of a thief, we will support it…God willing, the punishment will be carried out publicly. The people will learn from it, and the thieves will stop thefts. And God willing, if a married woman commits adultery, she shall be stoned to death in public.”
  • A group of Afghan women called on the United Nations to not admit the Taliban as a member.

For more content and context on the recent developments in Afghanistan, consult our Editor-in-Chief, Professor Intisar Rabb‘s “Resource Roundup: Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Islamic Law.“

ON COVID-19 AND ISLAMIC LAW

  • Saudi Arabia dropped social distancing restrictions at the Holy Mosque in Mecca, operating at full capacity and allowing worshippers to pray shoulder-to-shoulder for the first time since the pandemic.
  • In a recent speech he gave, Al-Azhar‘s Grand Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayyeb criticized the unfair distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide.

UPCOMING EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

PIL & Harvard Calendar:

Global Calendar:

  • Call for Papers: “The X Islamic Legal Studies Conference,”International Society of Islamic Legal Studies (ISILS), London, May 19-21, 2022. Deadline: October 31, 2021.
  • Call for Papers: Legal Histories of Empire, Maynooth University, June 29 – July 1, 2022. Deadline: October 31, 2021.
  • Position opening: Assistant Professor – Historian of Early Islam until 1250, University of Chicago, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations. Deadline: November 1, 2021.
  • Position opening: Assistant Professor of Middle East History, Utah University, July 2022. Deadline: November 5, 2021.
  • Call for Workshop: Graduate Student & Early Career Workshop, The Law and Society Association, Summer 2022. Deadline: November 10, 2021.
  • AALS Islamic Law Webinar with Simonetta Calderini – Women as Imams on November 12, 2021.
  • Position opening: Assistant Professor in Modern Middle Eastern History, William & Mary University. Deadline: November 15, 2021.
  • Call for Papers: Comparative Law Work-In-Progress Workshop, University of Illinois College of Law, February 3-5, 2022. Deadline: December 1, 2021.
  • Call for Proposals: Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association Special Issue on Digital Ottoman Studies. Deadline: December 1, 2021.
  • Position opening: Wesleyan University, Art and Art History: Assistant Professor, in the arts and material culture of Africa. Deadline: Applications completed by December 1, 2021 will receive full consideration.
  • Position opening: Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center, Princeton University. Deadline: December 10, 2021.
  • Call for Contributions: “Literary Snippets: Colophons Across Space and Time,” Institute for Advanced Study, April 1, 2022. Deadline: December 15, 2021.
  • Position opening: Open Rank Tenure Track Position, Islamic Art History, Pomona College, July 1, 2022. Deadline: January 1, 2022.
  • Short-Term Fellowships: New-York Historical Society, July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023. Deadline: January 6, 2022.
  • Call for Papers: “The Middle Ages as a Digital Experience,” Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, April 21-23, 2022. Deadline: January 31, 2022.
  • Position opening: Assistant Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of Tennessee, Fall 2022. Deadline: until an appointment is made.
  • Call for Applications: Interdisciplinary Scholars of Places, Movement and Cultural Practices Professor, New York University Abu Dhabi. Deadline: until the position is filled.

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