If you teach Islamic law, chances are that your students are more cosmopolitan than those at the University of Oklahoma, where for thirteen years I have been teaching courses on … Continue reading Teaching Islamic Law in a Red State
Getting a handle on large research projects
I am drawn to big projects. Small projects are easier to manage: if I focus on a single well–defined question, and answer it using a narrowly circumscribed set of source … Continue reading Getting a handle on large research projects
Is Islamic Legal Theory Conservative?
There are plenty of reasons to say that it is. The corpus of revealed prooftexts is closely guarded and ranked by the decisions of hadith critics of old. The meaning … Continue reading Is Islamic Legal Theory Conservative?
Istanbul conference brings postclassical uṣūl al-fiqh into the limelight
The academic study of Islamic legal theory in the English–speaking world has been marked by several landmark gatherings: in Princeton (1983), Alta, Utah (1999), and Istanbul (2016 and now October … Continue reading Istanbul conference brings postclassical uṣūl al-fiqh into the limelight