ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS The Department of Justice announced that Stafford County, Virginia recently repealed an ordinance that prevented the development of a cemetery for people of the Islamic faith. Stacker has compiled a list of abortion laws in 15 countries, including Saudi Arabia, where scholars comment it is easier to obtain an abortion … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "Islam through Objects" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021), Anna Bigelow (ed.) (Stanford University) curates a collection of essays on objects in Islam and how these objects, including, for example, prayer beads, rugs, amulets, clothing, shed light on what the author terms "Islamic material culture studies." In "Violence in Early Islam: Religious … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS After retiring from the NBA, Hakeem Olajuwon launched a successful career in real estate, all the while avoiding borrowing money for his acquisitions that would result in paying or charging interest, which contradicts his faith. Al Barakeh Wheat - a project founded by two Jordanians - teaches people how to … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "The Textual Evolution of the Ottoman Şeyhülislams’ Fetvas: A Cross-Corpora Computational Analysis" (Der Islam 98, no. 2 (2021)), Bogac Ergene (The University of Vermont) and Atabey Kaygun (Istanbul Technical University) "use a mix of computational techniques to identify textual shifts in the Ottoman şeyhülislams’ fetvas between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries." In … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Islamic fintech, or iFintech, witnessed considerable growth recently, with Malaysia described as "the most robust ecosystem supporting the industry." Online and mobile-first fintech companies, sometimes called "neobanks," are increasingly offering sharī'a-compliant services, in a move to accommodate the needs of their Muslim clientele. While many Afghans continue to fear the … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "Experiencing ‘nikah Captivity’ in the West: Gendered Conflicts over Ending Muslim Marriages" (Journal of Muslims in Europe, online, September 16, 2021), Anika Liversage (The Danish Center for Social Science Research), based on a series of interviews with Muslim women, finds that second-generation Muslims in Denmark are more easily able … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Christian Mauder is Associate Professor in the Study of Religions with Specialization in Islam at the University of Bergen. His research focuses on the intellectual, religious, and social history of the Islamic world during the late middle and early modern periods. His recently published second monograph In the Sultan’s Salon: Learning, Religion and Rulership at … Continue reading Welcome to our October Guest Blogger: Christian Mauder
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Following the Taliban's rise to power, many law students and lawyers from Afghanistan have reported that "[i]t is not the application of Islamic criminal law that frightens [them], it is that it is applied without due process." Haroun Rahimi, a self-exiled Afghan who was a professor of law at Kabul … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "Petitioning the Sultan: Protests and Justice in Late Ottoman Sultan" (Bloomsbury 2021), Yuval Ben-Bassat (University of Haifa) discusses the institution of petitioning the Ottoman sultan, specifically Abdulhamid II, as a legal remedy in Ottoman Palestine. Abhishek Gupta (Indian Law Institute) discusses Indian Muslims' demand for interest-free Islamic banking in … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Thank you, Mehdi Berriah, for joining us as guest blog editor in September. In case you missed Prof. Berriah's essays on the financing of jihād in the Mamlūk era, here they are: The Issue of Financing Jihād in Islamic Law: Three Case Studies from the Mamlūk Period Episodes in which the ʿUlamāʾ, according to Islamic … Continue reading Thank you, Mehdi Berriah!
