CnC Spotlight: Mairaj Syed

The Courts & Canons (CnC) Project at SHARIAsource leverages data science tools to explore questions in Islamic law and society historically through mapping the controversies and values reflected in courts (from taʾrīkh, ṭabaqāt) and legal canons (qawāʿid fiqhiyya). We experiment with ways in which the data science tools we are developing at SHARIAsource (CnC Qayyim) can aid in … Continue reading CnC Spotlight: Mairaj Syed

Experiments in Searching for Islam’s Universal Canons on the CnC-Qayyim Platform

The Courts & Canons (CnC) Project at SHARIAsource leverages data science tools to explore questions in Islamic law and society historically through mapping the controversies and values reflected in courts (from taʾrīkh, ṭabaqāt) and legal canons (qawāʿid fiqhiyya). We experiment with ways in which the data science tools we are developing at SHARIAsource (CnC Qayyim) can aid in that … Continue reading Experiments in Searching for Islam’s Universal Canons on the CnC-Qayyim Platform

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In a special episode of Borderlines, a legal podcast by Berkeley Law, entitled "Interpreting MetaCanons," Editor-in-Chief, Professor Intisar Rabb "talk[s] about her leading research on shared methods of interpretation for textualists across different systems. " In "Mohammedan Law" (The Volokh Conspiracy, August 8, 2022), Eugene Volokh (UCLA Law) discusses the … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

Experiments in Inter-Communal Legal Citation

By Raha Rafii The Courts & Canons (CnC) Project at SHARIAsource leverages data science tools to explore questions in Islamic law and society historically through mapping the controversies and values reflected in courts (from taʾrīkh, ṭabaqāt) and legal canons (qawāʿid fiqhiyya). We experiment with ways in which the data science tools we are developing at SHARIAsource (CnC Qayyim) can … Continue reading Experiments in Inter-Communal Legal Citation

Experiments in Tracking Canons across the Mecelle

By Intisar Rabb & Yusuf Celik The Courts & Canons (CnC) Project at SHARIAsource leverages data science tools to explore questions in Islamic law and society historically through mapping the controversies and values reflected in courts (from taʾrīkh, ṭabaqāt) and legal canons (qawāʿid fiqhiyya). This year, we convened a CnC Research Group to gather a … Continue reading Experiments in Tracking Canons across the Mecelle

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "Legal Canons—In the Classroom and in the Courtroom or, Comparative Perspective on the Origins of Islamic Legal Canons, 1265–1519" (Villanova Law Review 66, no. 5 (2022)), Intisar Rabb (Editor-in-Chief; Harvard University) traces the origins of Islamic law canons, with a focus on how those canons were utilized in Islamic … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

Tools for Interpreting Ḥadīth in Shaybānī’s Ḥujja

By Issam Eido This is part four in a series of four posts on Ḥanafī criteria for using ḥadīth in the ‘courts and canons’ of early Islamic law. Kitāb al-Ḥujja ʿalā Ahl al-Madīna is one of several books attributed to the judge Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Shaybānī.[1] Early Ḥanafī biographical dictionaries used to classify early Ḥanafī … Continue reading Tools for Interpreting Ḥadīth in Shaybānī’s Ḥujja

Canons: Specific and General aṣl

By Issam Eido This is part three in a series of four posts on Ḥanafī criteria for using ḥadīth in the ‘courts and canons’ of early Islamic law. Before the emergence of the canonical ḥadīth books, courts served as one of the main factors in the formative period in impacting the concept of fiqh and … Continue reading Canons: Specific and General aṣl

Early Ḥanafī Jurists, Court Practice, and the Authority of General Afflictions (ʿUmūm al-Balwā)

By Issam Eido This is part two in a series of four posts on Ḥanafī criteria for using ḥadīth in the ‘courts and canons’ of early Islamic law. There are many legal canons (uṣūl or qawāʿid fiqhiyya) pertaining specifically to court evidence, procedure, or conduct, such as “the burden of proof is on the claimant … Continue reading Early Ḥanafī Jurists, Court Practice, and the Authority of General Afflictions (ʿUmūm al-Balwā)

Lived or Non-Lived Ḥadīth? Content vs. Narrator Criteria in Early Ḥanafī Law

By Issam Eido This is part one in a series of four posts on Ḥanafī criteria for using ḥadīth in the ‘courts and canons’ of early Islamic law. In this series of four essays, I examine briefly the interpretive standards that were followed by early Ḥanafīs for analyzing, verifying, or rejecting ḥadīth. The first essay discusses the significance … Continue reading Lived or Non-Lived Ḥadīth? Content vs. Narrator Criteria in Early Ḥanafī Law