Islamic Law in the News Roundup

ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS

  • According to data from India‘s Darul Qaza, or Islamic arbitration center, more divorces have been sought through khula, whereby the woman petitions a judge for divorce and surrenders hew dowry, rather than through triple talaq, whereby the husband unilaterally divorces his wife.
  • “Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (Markazudawa), [an Islamic organization operating in the Indian state of Kerala] has asked the government not to support any demand to amend the Sharia law to give equal inheritance to women.”
  • Some pundits have voiced their opposition toward guardianship laws in the Middle East, arguing that “[i]f Gulf countries can reinterpret Islamic law when it comes to Islamic finance so that they can still charge interest by simply calling it ‘bank charges’, then they can relook at male guardianship while staying in line with religion.”
  • “When news broke two weeks ago that Texas had a new law on the books requiring public schools to display donated ‘In God We Trust’ signs,” William White, “the director of operations for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Houston, said the law should be amended such that schools have the choice to display the sign or not.”
  • The Sultan of Sokoto (Nigeria), Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar, in a recent speech he delivered, declared that Islamic law implemented throughout the state “is not binding on non-Muslims in the state.”
  • Ibrahim Khan, the co-founder of IslamicFinanceGuru, recently spoke with Kitco News on Islamic banking and finance and why and how it bans interest.
  • “While China is not considered a major halal food manufacturing hub, halal food and drinks production has witnessed great growth in China.”
  • “‘The federal list of extremist materials includes a specific edition of ‘Sahih al-Bukhari,’ and not the collection itself,’ announced the Dagestani Muftiate [in Russia],” responding to comments on why a version of the collection was included on a list of banned books.
  • Cryptocurrencies have either been banned or their use severely restricted across many countries in the world, including some Muslim-majority countries, at times based on justifications relating to Islamic law. For more content and context on Islamic debates over the permissibility of using cryptocurrencies, consult the contributions by our Research Editor Raha Rafii here and here.
  • According to a memorandum circulating among the Taliban government and bureaucracy,  it was announced that the Afghanistan Attorney General’s Office will no longer investigate or prosecute crimes. 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

  • “A British bereavement charity is set to resume a series of workshops next month to teach young people the Islamic practice of washing and shrouding a dead body, following an increase in demand after the COVID-19 pandemic.”

UPCOMING EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES

PIL & Harvard Calendar:

  • Position opening: Tenure-Track Harvard Professor in the History of Modern Africa, Harvard University, September 19, 2022.
  • Student work opportunity: Research assistant, Widener Library, Harvard University.
  • Call for Papers: The 22nd Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies, Harvard University, November 28, 2022.

Global Calendar:

  • Society of Legal Scholars, 113th Annual Conference, King’s College London, September 6-9, 2022.
  • International Conference: Historicizing the Shiʿi Hadith Corpus, Leiden University, September 12-14, 2022.
  • Position opening: Assistant Professor in Islamic Studies, Occidental College, September 15, 2022.
  • Position opening: Temple University Beasley School of Law, Fall 2023.
  • Call for Papers: “Succession in Islamic Law,” Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, September 15, 2022.
  • Panel: Religion after Roe, John Carroll University, September 19, 2022.
  • Position opening: Assistant Professor in Islamic Studies, Stanford University, September 30, 2022.
  • Conference: Materiality, Rituals and the Senses in Shi‘i Islam, Georgia, October 19-21, 2022.
  • Call for Papers: The Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law’s Forthcoming Volume 22 (2022), October 21, 2022.
  • Conference: American Society for Legal History 2022, November 10-12, 2022.
  • 2022 ASLH Conference: The Johnson Program for First Book Authors (American Bar Foundation), November 10, 2022 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.
  • 2022 ASLH Conference: Shifting Criminal Legal Landscapes in 19th-Century Habsburg and Ottoman Borderlands (Missouri), November 11, 2022 @ 1:15 pm – 2:40 pm.
  • 2022 ASLH Conference: Many Peoples, Many Laws: Legal Pluralism Across the Medieval World (Ontario), November 12, 2022 @ 2:05 pm – 3:35 pm.
  • 2022 ASLH Conference: Islamic Law and Agriculture in Global History, 1850-1950 (Superior A), November 12, 2022 @ 10:15 am – 11:45 am.
  • Call for Papers: Regulative Verses of the Qur’ān (āyāt al-aḥkām), Al Mahdi Institute, November 25, 2022.
  • Position opening: Assistant Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of Tennessee, Fall 2022. Deadline: until an appointment is made.
  • Position opening: Columbia University, The Department of Art History and Archaeology Barbara Stoler Miller Assistant Professor, Indian and South Asian Art History. Deadline: until an appointment is made.
  • Position opening: Associate Director, Center for Religious and Spiritual Life and Muslim Chaplain, Macalester College (priority given to applications by August 1, 2022).
  • Position opening: Adjunct lecturer, Babson College.
  • Call for Applications: Interdisciplinary Scholars of Places, Movement and Cultural Practices Professor, New York University Abu Dhabi. Deadline: until the position is filled.
  • Research Project: Historian/Researcher – Tudor Period/Elizabethan Era, and the Ottoman Empire during the Suleiman the Magnificent Period. Deadline: until the position is filled.
  • Call for Submissions: The UCLA School of Law’s Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law (JINEL).
  • Call for Manuscripts: Advances in the Study of Islam, Edinburgh University Press.
  • Request for Open Submissions: AALS 2023 Annual Meeting, January 4-7, 2023. Submission deadlines vary.

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