ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS
- In the USA, “Conservative crusader Jake Lang attracted hundreds of protesters Tuesday accusing the city of Dearborn, MI of discriminating against Christians and being run by Islamic Sharia law.”
- During a meeting with the Secretary-General of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said, “Pakistan is seeking to identify specific products, sectors and international markets to expand its presence in the growing global halal economy.”
- “Strict measures to prevent terrorism financing are prompting Muslim charities in Canada to withdraw humanitarian assistance from countries in need, such as Syria and Yemen, because they fear losing access to banking services if they operate there, a new study warns.”
- “Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is making the [public wudu] stations a target. He sent a letter Friday to the heads of the Houston airport and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport that said facilities aimed at serving one religious group are discriminatory against everyone else.”
- “UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has called on the international community to continue supporting Afghan women and girls, saying they must not be abandoned as restrictions on their rights persist.” 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.”
- “Liquidity across the GCC’s outstanding U.S. dollar sukuk market broadly matched conventional bonds as of August 12.”
- “Afghanistan has lately renewed its demands to be included among countries being represented at the United Nations, terming reports of the Taliban regime forbidding women from taking up jobs as “propaganda outside 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.”
CASES, FATWĀS, LEGISLATION ON ISLAMIC LAW
- “Portugal has enacted a controversial law banning the concealment of faces in public spaces… Although its final wording does not explicitly mention Islam, the measure was originally proposed by the far-right Chega party with the stated aim of banning full-face Islamic veils.”
- In Pakistan, “The Supreme Court on Thursday emphasised that, as an Islamic Republic, Pakistan’s constitutional duty was to ensure that society exhibited exemplary behaviour in protecting, honouring and upholding the rights of women, treating any violation of their sanctity as a betrayal of both divine law and national values rather than simply witnessing an escalation in cases of femicide. The observation came in a 12-page detailed judgment to explain why a three-judge bench on June 4 had thrown away [Zaher] Jaffer’s review petition, thus upholding the death sentence awarded to him for the murder of Noor Mukadam in 2021.”
- “Indonesia‘s staunchly Islamic Aceh province publicly caned two women and two men 100 strokes each for engaging in sex outside of marriage.”
- In Singapore, “[a] security guard was sentenced to 14 days in jail and fined RM7,000 by the magistrates’ court here today after pleading guilty to insulting Islam last month.
- “A group of parents is suing the Palo Alto Unified Schol District and Palo Alto High Principal Brent Kline for allegedly encouraging students to wear Islamic religious attire during a field trip to a local mosque and for distributing photos of students without consent, according to a complaint that was filed last week in federal court.”
- In Pakistan, “The Supreme Court has declared violence against a woman for exercising her right to khula an “attack on the Constitution”, observing that the law would deal with those who subject women seeking dissolution of marriage to violence with full force. The remarks came in a detailed four-page judgment authored by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, through which the apex court dismissed the jail petition of convict Waseem Abbas and upheld his death sentence for murdering his former wife, Shehnaz Bibi.”
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Events:
- Workshop: Archival Abundances and Silences in Islamic Studies, Princeton University, October 2–3, 2026
- Conference: Ruling Bodies: Islamic Law, Embodiment, and the Anthropology of Normativity, The Institute for Islamic Theology, Paderborn University, November 6–7, 2026
- Conference: Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, November 21–24, 2026
- Conference: The Institutional Embedding of Shiʿi Imams: Kinship, Caliphs, Courts and Companions (700-900), University of Leiden, January 13–15, 2027
- Conference: Rupture or Continuity in Sharīʿa: (De)Colonizing Sharīʿa? International Conference, Centre for Islamic Studies (ISAM), Istanbul, Turkey, June 9–11, 2027
Opportunities:
- Award: Student Travel Award, Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies, September 1, 2026
- Call for Papers: Legal Research & Analysis, September 29, 2026
- Call for Papers: Trends in Intellectual Property Research, September 30, 2026