- Commenting on Saudi Arabia‘s art scene, one commentator noted: “A paradox remains: how to foster a creative art scene within the setting of state control. Artists are no longer subject to the Inquisition-like Mutawa, the morality police charged with enforcing Islamic law, banned in 2016.”
- “The General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia reiterated its statement from April of last year, which mandates that individuals wishing to perform Hajj must obtain a permit.”
- Commenting on a Muslim housing project, Texas governor said: “To be clear, Shariah law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Shariah cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply[.]”
- Southeast Asia‘s fashion market, observers have argued, reflects a “growing demand for goods and services that are halal (that is, permissible under Islam). It’s fueling a boom in companies that offer halal-certified non-consumable goods like cosmetics; “modest fashion,” which reflects Islamic values of modesty while still being stylish; and tourism packages.”
- “Addressing a gathering in Kabul on Sunday, where filming was prohibited Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s vice and virtue minister, who explained their leader’s recent decree, said that Islamic laws must be applied equally to all citizens, including Taliban officials.”
- “The Islamic Emirate rejected the latest report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) concerning the state of human rights 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.”
- “Religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar [of Malaysia] . . . advised against hastily issued personal opinions on Islamic law without reference to authoritative bodies, amid a row on whether Muslims should delay going on pilgrimage if the dates clash with elections.” Relatedly, another official commented: “Political fatwas such as those issued by PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang are are misleading and confusing and need addressing as they contradict Islamic law and the welfare of the ummah[.]”
- “In Iraq, a conservative, predominantly Shiite country, conversations about sex and pleasure are prohibited. Yet beneath this veneer of modesty, a disturbing trend has emerged under the guise of the longstanding, yet not universally accepted, practice of temporary marriage contracts called mut’ah.”
- “In Bangladesh, Hefazat-e-Islam has cautioned chief adviser Muhammad Yunus against implementing the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission’s proposals, deeming them ‘anti-Islamic.'”
- “Muhammad Mamunul Haque, joint secretary of Hefazat-e-Islam [Bangladesh], an influential coalition of Islamic schools” “said the group will push to implement sharia, or Islamic law, and believes the group’s network of tens of thousands of seminaries — claiming to have some 500,000 members — means they will do well if the vote ‘is free and fair.'”
- “Until the Constitutional Court [of South Africa] finalises a precedent-setting judgment that orders the State, within 24 months, to recognise Muslim marriages under common law, marriages in terms of Sharia (Islamic law) can only be dissolved in accordance with the Divorce Act 70 of 1979.”
- “One thousand prostitutes staged a rally in northern Nigeria at the weekend to demand economic assistance ahead of the planned introduction of Islamic law, newspaper reports said Monday.”