Islamic Law in the News Roundup

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ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS

  • The BBC recently reported that a leading U.S. doctor has called for cancer warning labels on alcoholic beverages. Similarly, in 2026, Ireland will become the first country to implement a nationwide alcohol health labeling policy. This development led one expert to suggest that Western nations are gradually aligning with an Islamic perspective on alcohol, as Islamic law strictly prohibits its consumption.
  • “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared 2025 as the ‘Year of the family.’ Promoting a conservative image of the family is another attempt by his Justice and Development party (AKP) to shape Turkish society according to its own worldview.”
  • “Dozens of Syrian writers, artists and academics signed a petition posted online on Friday calling for the respect of public freedoms after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December. . . . ‘The state must neither impose nor interfere in people’s customs regarding food, drink, clothing, or other aspects of daily life,’ it added, alluding to fears that the new authorities might impose Islamic law.” “Syria‘s new leaders are recruiting a fledgling police force to replace Bashar al-Assad’s feared, corrupted and now disbanded forces. But their focus on Islamic law and teachings as they recruit has observers and minorities worried.” “Police they brought into Damascus from their former rebel enclave in the northwestern region of Idlib are asking applicants about their beliefs and focusing on Islamic sharia law in the brief training they offer.”
  • “In a shaky video recorded in 2015, a woman cloaked in black and kneeling on a public street begs to see her children for the last time. Instead, a man identified as Shadi al-Waisi, Syria’s new justice minister, motions to a gunman, who shoots her in the back of the head.”
  • “Recently, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim made headlines when he urged young IT developers and tech professionals to incorporate Islamic values into artificial intelligence (AI) systems, arguing that this would ensure that AI serves humanity in a more ethical and just manner.”
  • “Four men were flogged in Indonesia‘s conservative Aceh province on Jan. 30 for engaging in online gambling, local officials said, the first public lashing of the year under the region’s strict Islamic law.” 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.”
  • “Saudi Arabian girls will be allowed to play sports in private schools for the first time, according to a decision announced this weekend, the latest in a series of incremental changes aimed at slowly increasing women’s rights in the ultraconservative kingdom.”
  • “Etiqa Insurance Pte Ltd. has launched Singapore’s first takaful insurance product in more than a decade, as it tries to bridge the market gap in Shariah-compliant funds.”
  • “The 8th World Islamic Economics and Finance Conference (WIEFC), held at Minhaj University Lahore from 25th to 26th January 2025, marked a groundbreaking milestone in the global discourse on Islamic finance.”
  • “Afghan taekwondo star Marzieh Hamidi said the death threats she has received, forcing her to live under French police protection, show how effective her stinging criticism of the Taliban has been.” 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.” 
  • “On January 23, 2025, KH Yahya Cholil Staquf, also known as Gus Yahya, delivered a speech at the Annual Meeting of the European Union (EU) Member States’ Advisors on Religion and Diplomacy. In his address, Gus Yahya underscored the critical role of religion in addressing today’s complex humanitarian challenges, advocating for bold and innovative solutions. He further urged EU member states to collaborate with Nahdlatul Ulama on various initiatives designed to promote peaceful religious movements across the globe.”

CASES AND FATWĀS

  • In Pakistan, “[f]ormer Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to request the formation of a new judicial bench to hear an appeal against their acquittal in a controversial marriage case. The case involves allegations that their marriage took place during Bushra Bibi’s iddat period, a period prescribed by Islamic law after divorce, which prohibits remarriage.” “On July 13, 2024, the additional sessions judge had acquitted Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi of charges related to their alleged marriage during Bushra Bibi’s iddat (a waiting period prescribed by Islamic law after a woman’s divorce or husband’s death).”
  • “The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) top prosecutor has announced plans to seek an arrest warrant for the leader of the Taliban over the alleged persecution of Afghan women and girls.” “Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban on Friday condemned the International Criminal Court’s request for arrest warrants against their supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and his chief justice for alleged persecution of women and girls.” 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.” For the ICC arrest warrants against Abdul Hakim Haqqani and Hibatullah Akhundzada, consult the SHARAIsource portal.
  • “The Supreme Court [India] . . . asked the Centre to provide the details of the number of . . . charge sheets filed against men for pronouncing instant triple talaq to divorce spouses in violation of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights in Marriage) Act 2019.”
  • “Addressing th[e] issue [of marital disobedience], Dr Khairul Azhar Meerangani, a senior lecturer at the Academy of Contemporary Islamic Studies, Universiti Teknologi Mara, explained that Islam grants a wife the right to leave a marriage filled with abuse to ensure her safety. He said a husband who commits oppression violates his responsibilities as the leader of the family. Therefore, leaving a toxic marriage is not an act of disobedience (nusyuz); instead, it is a form of self-protection permitted by Islamic law.”
  • “From Monday in Uttarakhand [India], polygamy is outlawed, marriage is not allowed until the age of 21 for men and 18 for women, and sons and daughters must have equal inheritance rights.”
  • “On January 21, 2025, the Iraqi Parliament passed several laws, including the amended personal status law and a general amnesty law. . . . The Personal Status Act (No. 188 of 1959) set up the minimum age for marriage at 18 years for women and men, with a legal exception allowing for the marriage of girls at the age of 15 years. The amended law has the effect of lowering this threshold with traditional Islamic jurisprudence suggesting puberty of a girl as an indicator of her capacity to be married and not any formal age.”

UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

PIL & Harvard Calendar:

Calendar:

  • Lecture: “Law, Ethics, and the History of the Islamic Marriage Contract” with Marion Holmes Katz, University of California Irvine, February 13, 2025.
  • Writing Workshop: The American Institute for Maghrib Studies Graduate Student Writing Workshop, February 27-28, 2025 (Application deadline: January 3, 2025).
  • Conference: The 2025 Annual Conference of the Humanities and Social Sciences at LUMS, Lahore, April 18-20, 2025.
  • Workshop: Annual Comparative Law Work-in-Progress Workshop, May 1-3, 2025 (Call for Papers deadline: February 5, 2024).
  • Call for Papers: 39th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference (MEHAT), University of Chicago, May 2-3, 2025 (Deadline: January 31, 2025).
  • Call for Papers: “ Islamic and Jewish Law in the Modern Economy,” University of Villanova School of Law, Villanova, Pennsylvania, May 5-6, 2025 (Abstract submission deadline: January 31, 2025).
  • 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).
  • 2025 Hurst Summer Institute: Legal History, University of Wisconsin Law School, June 15-27, 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).
  • Summer Language Intensive Program: Istanbul University Institute for Islamic Studies, July 7 – August 8, 2025.
  • Conference: MESA 2025, Westin Downtown, Washington DC, November 22-25, 2025 (Proposal deadline: February 13, 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.

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