ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS
- Following King Mohammed VI‘s public statement regarding legal reform, Morocco has been reported to be working on significant family law reform, with ongoing controversies on whether the new amendments would decriminalize adultery currently subject to imprisonment.
- “The Taliban administration in Afghanistan executed two men convicted of murder in a football stadium in the eastern region of the country. . . .” 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.”
- “Reform UK leader Richard Tice has called for Sharia Law to be made illegal.”
- “The Malaysian government has set 31 December as the deadline for individual states to harmonise Sharia (Syariah, Islamic law) with the constitution to iron out the differences between Qurʾānic rules and the country’s constitutional framework.”
- “The Indian state of Assam has repealed a colonial-era law that allowed child marriage among Muslims, in a move that is being seen as contentious just months before the country’s general election.”
- “Uttarakhand [in India] has become the first state in the country to have passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the Legislature, which makes laws on marriage, divorce and inheritance the same for every individual in the state. What this means is that personal laws regarding marriage, divorce, inheritance will not matter irrespective of whether a person is a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain or of any other religion.”
- “The Islamic Emirate spokesperson [of Afghanistan] said that the absence of a constitution does not mean there is a legal vacuum in the country.” 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.”
- “Pakistan has pledged to become fully sharia-compliant in its banking services by December 2027, but still has a long way to go to create a banking sector that provides the services its customers want.”
- “According to the UAE Islamic Finance Report 2023 released by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), the main Islamic financial markets are concentrated in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Southeast Asia, and South Asia. “
CASES AND FATWĀS
- “A two-day conference on contemporary fatwas (Islamic religious edicts) was just convened recently in Singapore. Organised by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), the conference aims to explore the role of fatwas in shaping Muslim communities and guiding them to live effectively and confidently in facing contemporary challenges in plural societies.”
- “In a landmark decision, the Madras High Court [of India] has granted permission to a Hindu woman, identified as Shanti, to perform Hindu rites for her deceased husband, Balasubramaniam alias Anwar Hussain. However, the court ruled that the funeral must be conducted according to Islamic laws, acknowledging the deceased’s conversion to Islam later in life for marrying a Muslim woman, Sayed Ali Fatima.”
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
PIL & Harvard Calendar:
- Roundtable on Transformation and Adaptation of Ottoman Land Law in 19th-Century Successor States, March 4, 2024.
- Islamic Law Speaker Series: “The Rise of Critical Islam: 10th-13th Century Legal Debate” with Youcef L. Soufi, Program in Islamic Law, March 5, 2024.
- Talk: “Palestinian Women in Gaza: War, Health, and Feminist Solidarity,” Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, March 6, 2024.
- Book talk: “The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran,” Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, March 6, 2024.
- Islamic Law Speaker Series: “The Transition of Ottoman Land Law: Theory and Practice between 16th-18th Centuries” with Fatma Gul Karagoz, Program in Islamic Law, April 9, 2024.
- Fellowship: Harvard South Africa Fellowship Program, April 15, 2024.
- Islamic Law Speaker Series: “The Umayyad Empire” with Andrew Marsham, Program in Islamic Law, May 14, 2024.
Global Calendar:
- Award: Julien Mezey Dissertation Award Accepting Submissions, March 15, 2024.
- Call for Panel Proposals: American Society for Legal History, March 15, 2024.
- Conference: The other narratives of early Islam, Goethe-University Frankfurt, March 22-23, 2024.
- Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series: Indian Problems, Yemeni Solutions? Legal Exchanges in the Sixteenth Century, March 25, 2024.
- Book award: The Sharmin & Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran & Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University, April 1, 2024.
- Call for Proposals: The 5th Wallace Johnson First Book Mentoring Program, Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University, April 1, 2024.
- Call for Panel Proposals: Conference by Commission on Legal Pluralism and Universitas Indonesia, April 1, 2024.
- Call for Proposals: Open Source Submissions Program, 2025 Association of American Law Schools Meeting, April 8, 2024.
- Call for Proposals: Discussion Groups, 2025 Association of American Law Schools Meeting, April 8, 2024.
- Summer Course: “Reading Aljamiado Mansucripts,” Mediterranean Studies Summer Skills Seminar, August 12-15, 2024 via Teams (application deadline: April 15, 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.
- Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series: Blessed Aristocracies: Charismatic authority, rural elites, and historiography in Medieval Yemen (6th-9th/12th-15th c.), April 22, 2024.
- MESA Scholarship: MESA Global Academy, 2024-2025, May 1, 2024.
- Call for Proposals: Symposium, 2025 Association of American Law Schools Meeting, May 6, 2024.
- Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series: History of Water Management in Yemen: An Interdisciplinary Study, May 20, 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.
- Call for Papers: The Medieval Academy at 100, The 2025 Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, March 20-22, 2025 (deadline: June 3, 2024).
- Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series: Mapping the Past, Imagining the Future: Heritage Politics in Ḥūthī Yemen, June 24, 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.
- Call for Papers: De Jure: Jurnal Hukum dan Syar’iah, June 2024.
- Call for Proposals: Hot Topics Program, 2025 Association of American Law Schools Meeting, October 14, 2024.
- Search for Editor: International Journal of Middle East Studies, until an appointment is made.
- 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.
- Call for Papers: Special Section – Lifewriting Annual and Islam.
- Call for Manuscripts: Advances in the Study of Islam, Edinburgh University Press.