Islamic Law in the News Roundup

ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS

  • “Thousands have taken to streets across Iran to protest against the death of [Mahsa Amini] over Iran’s hijab rules” put in place following the Islamic revolution in 1979.
  • “More and more women, many of whom have not experienced the 1979 revolution, have been risking fines and even prison sentences for violating the hijab rules.”  Some have relatedly observed that “Mahsa Amini‘s death comes from the intensification of repressive state policies under the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi.”
  • In response to widespread protests, the government of Iran has organized “rallies in favor of the ayatollahs – an honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy – and Islamic law.”
  • In an unprecedented announcement by a group of Iranian clerics, “[a] group of seminary students and teachers in Iran said Friday that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was never fit to be the Guardian of the people and a ruler.”
  • Ongoing protests in Iran has renewed attention to clothing laws around the world.
  • India‘s Supreme Court is poised to hand down its decision regarding university bans over Islamic attire, including a case from the Karnataka High Court which upheld a university ḥijāb ban earlier. For more information and context on the recent hijāb ban controversy in Karnataka (India), consult our Research Editor Raha Rafii’s “Snapshot: Karnataka High Court Ruling on Banning Ḥijāb” and the posts listed there.
  • In an opinion piece on the late Muslim jurist Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Professor Mohammad H. Fadel (University of Toronto Faculty of Law) observed that Qaradawi “strived to make Islamic jurisprudence accessible and relevant to contemporary Muslim lives.”
  • Jordan‘s Senate approved the nation’s Children’s Rights Bill, one senator commenting that the bill aligns with Islamic law.

ON COVID-19 AND ISLAMIC LAW

  • Dr.  Peter Hotez of Houston commented that  “the Indo-Vac is in the final stages of receiving a special certification that will make it acceptable within Islamic law. “

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