- “A major challenge of Canada‘s ban on adoptions from several Muslim countries is set to play out in the Federal Court — a move some legal observers say wouldn’t be necessary if the government wasn’t upholding what they call a “discriminatory” policy. . . . In 2013, Canada suddenly put a stop to adoptions from Pakistan, arguing Shariah law doesn’t allow for birth ties between a parent and child to be severed and that the Islamic principle of guardianship (kafala) could no longer be recognized as the basis for adoption.”
- “Mansoor Ahmad Hamza, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Education, stated in an interview with national radio and television on Monday, that the ministry has removed lessons that were contrary to Islamic Sharia law from the educational curriculum and replaced them with content consistent with Sharia law.”
- The United Nations recently announced that “the Taliban government in impoverished Afghanistan had recently forced hundreds of females out of their jobs for allegedly not adhering to Islamic law requirements imposed on women nationwide.” 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.”
- “Saudi Arabia launched […] its first administrative enforcement court with jurisdiction over government entities and officials in a bid to boost investor confidence, a Saudi judicial organisation said.”
- “The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) [in India] reiterated the significance of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, against the backdrop of controversies over Muslim places of worship, and stated this law had ‘closed doors’ for changing the nature of places of worship.”
- “Authorities [in Malaysia] have charged [two filmmakers] under strict blasphemy laws, specifically ‘deliberately intended to hurt other people’s religious feelings by uttering words and placing objects in the person’s sight.'” The film is “about a 15-year-old Muslim girl who questions her Islamic faith and explores other faiths.” For more content and context on harsh interpretations and applications of Islamic criminal law, consult our Editor-in-Chief, Professor Intisar Rabb’s “Resource Roundup: Islamic Criminal Law.” For more news blurbs relating to harsh applications of Islamic criminal law, consult our “Islamic Criminal Law in the News Roundup.”