- In “Women, Violence, and Law: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Rights in Afghanistan,” (Mapping Futures for Afghanistan, ed. Arif Saba et al, Routledge), Nazifa Haqpal (School of Oriental and African Studies) “critically analyzes the complex interplay of law, socio-cultural norms, and gender power relations in Afghanistan, focusing on the persistent issue of violence against women post-2001. [The chapter] argues that while legal enactments are essential, they are insufficient without addressing deeply entrenched socio-cultural barriers and external political dynamics. The chapter highlights the historical context of women’s rights, highlighting recurring cycles of progressive legal reforms followed by regression, often influenced by external interventions and internal power struggles. It explores the debate between universal human rights and cultural relativism within Islamic law, emphasizing the misuse of religion by oppressive regimes like the Taliban 2.0 to justify gender-based violence.” [login required]
- In The Premodern Origins of Jihadi-Salafism (Edinburgh University Press), Jaan Islam (Boğaziçi University) asks “what is Jihadi-Salafism and how does it relate to classical Islam? Scholars of Terrorism Studies argue that ‘Jihadism’ and Salafism are derivatives of Wahhābism and lie on the ideological margins of the Islamic tradition. This book challenges this narrative, demonstrating that concepts associated with the terms – including ‘divine sovereignty’, ‘jihad’ and ‘the caliphate’ – are utilised by Salafi Ulama in connection with the following disparate classical Islamic traditions: Shāfiʿite legal theory during the Mongol invasions; Ottoman and Indian anti-colonial Ḥanafite thought; Mālikite and Shāfiʿite ‘political jurisprudence’; and the literalism of the Yemeni luminary Muḥammad al-Shawkānī (d. 1834).”