- In “Penchants of the polymaths” (Aeon), Mariam Sabri (Aga Khan University) argues for “the recovery of the penchants of polymathy that once thrived in the Muslim world.” Sabri makes this argument using the examples of four polymaths, concluding that “If al-Biruni, Alhazen, Avicenna and al-Khwarizmi could turn scarcity, captivity, patronage and instability into new ways of knowing, then breadth is the necessary preparation for the tremendous work ahead.”
- Naureen Shariff (Blackfords LLP) offers a review of Hadi Enayat (London School of Economics and Political Science) and Mohamed M Keshavjee’s (Independent Scholar) Contemporary Trends in Sharia: Critical Debates in Historical Contexts (Bloomsbury) in in The Law Society Gazette. Shariff observes that “this study is a timely and valuable intervention in debates that are too often marked by anxiety, simplification and political heat rather than legal understanding.” Shariff concludes that the book “does not seek to romanticise sharia, nor does it offer easy recommendations…. For lawyers working in increasingly plural legal environments—whether in family law, mediation, public law or international practice—this is an intelligent and useful guide to a complex legal and ethical concept.”
- In “The Islamic Ethics of Tax Evasion” (Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society), Idris Nassery (University of Paderborn) “explores the ethical dimensions of taxation within Islamic thought, focusing on the interplay between divine command, legal reasoning, and political legitimacy.” Nassery “argues that Islamic fiscal ethics, far from being doctrinally rigid, offer a rich grammar for evaluating contemporary fiscal regimes, particularly in contexts marked by corruption, inequality, or institutional decay.”