ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS
- “The 2024 Giorgio Levi Della Vida Conference of the Center for Near Eastern Studies, held this past spring at UCLA, brought together a host of scholars to discuss recent scholarship on the early history and development of Arabic, Arab identity and early scriptural and legal discourses.” Our Editor-in-Chief, Professor Intisar Rabb “explored the interplay between plain meaning canons and ordinary meaning canons when interpreting Islamic law.”
- Ethos, a sharī’a-compliant digital bank, “has applied for a UK banking licence and is set to launch a bank, kicking off with mortgages and savings accounts.”
- “KB Bank Syariah (KBBS), the Indonesian subsidiary of Korea‘s KB Kookmin Bank, has secured an exclusive deal to provide digital financial services to Muhammadiyah, a major Muslim group in Indonesia.”
- “Islamic finance-specific rules issued by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) over 2020–1H24 are enhancing Islamic banking regulations to some extent, says Fitch Ratings, through better transparency and reporting requirements, standardisation and sharia governance, and increased consumer confidence in the products’ sharia-compliance.”
- “After months of consultations, a commission tasked with revising the Moroccan family law, or ‘Moudawana,’ handed over its findings to the Moroccan prime minister to be the basis of a potential draft bill.”
- “The American fast-food restaurant chain KFC aims to provide customers with more ‘diverse and inclusive’ options by adhering to Islamic dietary laws. According to reports, the transition began in May. It affected all KFC stores in Ontario province, home to Canada’s largest Muslim community, excluding Thunder Bay City and the capital of Canada, Ottawa.”
- Commenting on human milk banks in Malaysia, International Islamic University Malaysia Family Medicine Department Assoc Prof Dr Nurjasmine Aida Jamani said: “The concern is particularly prominent among Muslims as milk kinship results in permanent marital restrictions. Islamic scholars debate the acceptability of [human milk banks], leading to resistance within the Muslim community. . . . Proper documentation and guidelines could address these concerns.”
CASES AND FATWĀS
- “The Supreme Court’s [India] ruling on alimony to divorced Muslim women was “against the Islamic law (Shariah)”, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said. The board has also authorised its president to initiate as well as explore all possible measures to get the apex court “roll back” its order.”
- “Following the warnings issued by powerful clerics in Saudi Arabia over the publishing of horoscopes, the fatwa section of the Dubai Islamic Affairs and Charitable Services has urged Muslims in the UAE to refrain from believing in astrology.”
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Calendar:
- Call for Submissions: Pedagogy Files in Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā, September 1, 2024.
- Call for Papers: “Islamic Law and Social Movements,” 2025 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), September 9, 2024.
- Call for Proposals: Hot Topics Program, 2025 Association of American Law Schools Meeting, October 14, 2024.
- Conference: Law, colonialism and gender in the Muslim world, December 19-20, 2024.
- Conference: MESA 2025, Westin Downtown, Washington DC, November 22-25, 2025.
- 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.