Islamic Law in the News Roundup

Posted on by

ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS

  • In her opening remarks at the Opening Ceremony of the International Conference on Women in Islam, the United Nations Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed stated: “Islam clearly calls on us to end all discriminatory laws and practices that hinder access to education.”
  • “Just weeks after UAE changed its laws to permit surrogacy in the country, an Emirati doctor has called on Islamic scholars to pass a fatwa to legalize the practice from an Islamic point of view.”
  • “Iran‘s Islamic Guidance Ministry has banned the promotional use of images of two prominent actresses who have voiced opposition to the mandatory hijab law from the newly released film Popular.”
  • It was announced that in Malaysia, “[m]embers of a special committee to study issues involving federal and state jurisdiction, especially regarding the competency of state legislative assemblies in drafting Shariah laws will be appointed soon.”

CASES AND FATWĀS

  • Speaking on the first day of the international conference by the UAE Council for Fatwa, Dr. Wadeema Al Dhaheri, a professor at the Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities in Abu Dhabi, stated: “Preserving the planet is like preserving the religion. Allah has clearly asked to protect the earth. Pollution and the disease it causes are a type of harm that Islamic law prohibits.”
  • Speaking at the same conference, Mohammad Shawkat Odeh, Director of the Abu Dhabi-based International Astronomy Center, urged Islamic scholars to unanimously issue a fatwā to use astrophotography rather than the naked eye to spot the crescent moon to determine the beginning of a new lunar month.
  • Judge Ibrahim Ahmed Al Hosani from the Federal Court of First Instance in Abu Dhabi, speaking at the same conference on the use of AI in decision-making processes, stated: “What about robots? Passing a Fatwa regarding this is a task of great significance and needs a detailed analysis.”

UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

PIL & Harvard Calendar:

  • Student work opportunity: Research assistant, Widener Library, Harvard University.
  • Talk: “Chasing Floods: the Ottoman Introduction of Rice in the Balkan Peninsula” by Aleksandar Shopov, CMES, Harvard University, November 15, 2023.
  • Seminar: “Revisiting History: Nurullah Shushtari on Shī’ī Historiography, Taqiyya & The Pre-Savafid Era” by Shahrad Shahvand, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, Harvard University, November 16, 2023.
  • Winter Excursion to Tunisia: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, November 17, 2023.
  • Talk: “The ‘Khitat’ of al-Maqrizi: Narrating History on the Tempo of ‘Kharab’” by Nasser Rabat, CMES, Harvard University, November 28, 2023.
  • Talk: “Locusts of Power” by Samuel Dolbee, CMES, Harvard University, November 29, 2023.
  • Seminar: “Ineffability and Adequation: Symmetries between ‘Ayn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī’s Theory of Language, Ontology and Mystical Epistemology” by Nicholas Boylston, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, Harvard University, November 30, 2023.

Global Calendar:

  • Virtual talk: “The New Crusades: Islamophobia and the Global War on Muslims” with Khaled Beydoun, Rutgers Law School, November 14, 2023.
  • Webinar: “Legal Canons as Precedent: The Contested Case of Bughaybigha, 661-883” by Intisar Rabb, Princeton Islamic Studies Colloquium, November 15, 2023.
  • Position opening: Assistant Professor in South Asian Cultural Studies, The Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University, November 15, 2023.
  • Call for Papers: Annual Comparative Law Work-in-Progress Workshop, November 15, 2023.
  • Call for Papers: American Oriental Society’s 234th Meeting, November 15, 2023.
  • Webinar: Revisiting the History of Medieval Libya (7th-16th centuries): The emirate of the Banū Tellīs in the 15th c. CE, November 22, 2023.
  • Call for Papers: EMPIRE: In Theory and In Middle East History, American University in Cairo, December 1, 2023.
  • Book discussion: “Interviewing and Interrogation: A Review of Research and Practice Since World War II,” United Nations Headquarters, New York, December 5, 2023.
  • Call for Papers: Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies, December 14, 2023.
  • Webinar: Revisiting the History of Medieval Libya (7th-16th centuries): Shedding light on some Islamic sites and buildings in Cyrenaica, December 20, 2023.
  • Position opening: Adjunct Lecturer in Modern Middle East, 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.
  • Fellowship September 2024-May 2025: Crown Center for Middle East, Brandeis University, January 1, 2024.
  • Panel on Islamic Law and Constitutionalism: AALS 2024 Meeting, January 4, 2024.
  • Author-Meets-Reader: Sherman Jackson and “The Islamic Secular,” AALS 2024 Meeting, January 6, 2024.
  • Request for Open Submissions: AALS 2023 Annual Meeting, January 4-7, 2023. Submission deadlines vary.
  • Webinar: Revisiting the History of Medieval Libya (7th-16th centuries): The jurisprudential corpus and the history of Ibadism in medieval Libya: additions and difficulties, January 24, 2024.
  • Position opening: Postdoctoral opportunity in History of Islam/Arabic Studies, Leiden University, February 1, 2024.
  • Webinar: Revisiting the History of Medieval Libya (7th-16th centuries): Looking for Libya in Coptic-Arabic historiographical sources, February 21, 2024.
  • Book award: The Sharmin & Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran & Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University, April 1, 2024.
  • Webinar: Revisiting the History of Medieval Libya (7th-16th centuries): Partnership for Heritage. Documentation and heritage management for the protection of the Nafousa Mountains, April 17, 2024.
  • Webinar: Revisiting the History of Medieval Libya (7th-16th centuries): Between Ṭarābulus and Aṭrābulus. The journey of the toponym and difficulties in determining its form, May 22, 2024.
  • Webinar: Revisiting the History of Medieval Libya (7th-16th centuries): Surveying and documentation of the archaeological city of Barca (Al-Marj), June 26, 2024.
  • Symposium on Copyright in Islamic Legal Tradition, Istanbul, June 28-29, 2024.
  • Search for Editor: International Journal of Middle East Studies, until an appointment is made.
  • MEM Fellowship for Graduate Students of Color.
  • Scholarship: Islamic Scholarship Fund CAMBA Law Scholarship 2023.
  • Internship opportunity: The Executive Office of the President, White House, various deadlines.
  • Position opening: Academic mentor and field researcher in Iraq, Cordoba Peace Institute-Geneva (CPI) & ETH Zurich, rolling basis.
  • Position opening: Academic mentor for researcher in Mogadishu, Cordoba Peace Institute-Geneva (CPI) & ETH Zurich.
  • Position opening: Assistant Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of Tennessee, Fall 2022. Deadline: until an appointment is made.
  • Position opening: Postdoc at the Center for Social Concerns and the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion at the University of Notre Dame, July – September 2023. 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.
  • Call for Papers: Special Section – Lifewriting Annual and Islam.

Leave a Reply