ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS
- “Iraq is poised to slash the legal age of consent from 18 to to nine, allowing men to marry young children. The proposed legal change also deprives women of rights to divorce, child custody and inheritance. Iraq’s parliament, which is dominated by a coalition of conservative Shia Muslim parties, is preparing to vote through an amendment that would overturn the country’s ‘personal status law.'”
- “Women in Afghanistan are not forbidden from speaking to each other, the Taliban government’s morality ministry told AFP on Saturday, denying recent media reports of a ban.”
- “The Taliban’s vice and virtue minister, Khalid Hanafi, emphasized in his trip to western Afghanistan reiterated the forcement of the Taliban’s controversial morality law. Hanafi, addressing gatherings in Farah and Herat provinces, urged residents to disregard ‘enemy propaganda and the media’ and instead support the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic law.” 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.”
- “Taliban authorities on Wednesday carried out the public execution of a convicted murderer by gunfire at a sports stadium in eastern Afghanistan marking the sixth such execution since regaining power after the departure of US and Nato forces in 2021.” 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.”
CASES, FATWĀS, LEGISLATION ON ISLAMIC LAW
- “The Delhi High Court has directed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) to enable the online registration of Muslim marriages on its official portal within a specified time frame.”
- “In a letter addressed to the leaders attended the extraordinary joint summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League held in Riyadh, the scholars emphasized the severe oppression and systematic starvation policies imposed by the Israeli [o]ccupation regime.”
- “The most prominent Islamic scholar in Gaza has issued a rare, powerful fatwa condemning Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.”
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
PIL & Harvard Calendar:
- Islamic Law Speaker Series: “On Theocratic Criminal Law: The Rule of Religion and Punishment in Iran,” Bahman Khodadadi, Program in Islamic Law, December 10, 2024.
- Call for Submissions: Journal of Islamic Law Special Issue, January 13, 2025.
- Islamic Law Speaker Series: “The Making of the Modern Muslim State: Islam and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa (Princeton University Press, 2024),” Malika Zeghal, Program in Islamic Law, February 11, 2025.
- Islamic Law Speaker Series: “The Genealogy of the Death Penalty for Apostasy and Blasphemy in Islam” by Mohsen Kadivar, Program in Islamic Law, March 11, 2025.
- Islamic Law Speaker Series: “A Cultural History of the Arabic Book: Digital Explorations of Writerly Practices and Text Reuse” by Sarah Savant, Program in Islamic Law, April 8, 2025.
Calendar:
- EUME Berliner Seminar: “Law, Litigation, and Politics of Legitimization: On the Possibilities and Limits of Palestinian Legal Action in Israel” by Suhad Bishara, November 20, 2024.
- Book Roundtable: “Order and Disorder in the Ottoman Empire,” UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, November 22, 2024.
- Fellowship: Abdallah S. Kamel Center for the Study of Islamic Law and Civilization, 2025-2026, Yale Law School (Deadline: November 30, 2024).
- Conference: 12th Global Islamic Microfinance Forum, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, December 2-4, 2024.
- Fellowship: M. C. Lang Fellowship in Book History, Bibliography, and Humanities Teaching with Historical Sources, Rare Book School, 2025-2026, December 9, 2024.
- Conference: Law, colonialism and gender in the Muslim world, December 19-20, 2024.
- Hurst Summer Institute 2025, University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, January 15, 2025.
- EUME Berliner Seminar: “The Politics of Choice: The 2003 Entry Law to Israel, the Phenomenology of Singlehood and Love Across Borders Among Palestinians” by Towibah Majdub, January 22, 2025.
- Fellowship: The University Center for Human Values in Law and Normative Thinking 2025-26, Princeton University, January 22, 2025.
- BRAIS Prize 2025: Call for Submissions, January 24, 2025.
- Call for Editors: Law & Society Review, 2025-2026, February 1, 2025.
- Call for Editors: Book Review Editor for Law & Society Review, 2025-2026, February 1, 2025.
- Workshop: Annual Comparative Law Work-in-Progress Workshop, May 1-3, 2025 (Call for Papers deadline: February 5, 2024).
- Conference: Eleventh Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies, Queen Mary University, UK, May 8-10, 2025 (Paper proposals: October 31, 2024; Panel proposals: November 30, 2024).
- LSA 2025 Annual Meeting: Chicago, Illinois from May 22-25, 2025 (Early registration: December 3, 2024; registration: January 3, 2025).
- Conference: Law, Culture, and Humanities 27th Annual Conference, Georgetown University, June 17-18, 2025 (Call for Papers deadline: January 31, 2025).
- Conference: The Middle Ages in the Modern World, London Strand Campus, King’s College London, June 24-26, 2025 (Call for Papers deadline: January 13, 2025).
- Conference: MESA 2025, Westin Downtown, Washington DC, November 22-25, 2025.
- Position opening: Senior Lecturer in Law, History, and Society, Vanderbilt University, 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.