Adjudication as Official Duty: Regular Activities in a Bureaucratically Governed Structure

By Nahed Samour Bureaucratization demands regular activities and official duties. These duties are a central aspect of a bureaucratically governed structure. Regularity is important particularly in the application and adjudication … Continue reading Adjudication as Official Duty: Regular Activities in a Bureaucratically Governed Structure

Judicial Bureaucracy: Revisiting Modern Theory for the Study of Islamic Law

By Nahed Samour Surely, Max Weber was wrong with his assumptions about Kadi-Justice (kadijustiz).[1] He is rightly criticized as a modernization theorist, placing a protestant work ethics at the centre … Continue reading Judicial Bureaucracy: Revisiting Modern Theory for the Study of Islamic Law

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. … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

Islamic Law in the News Roundup

ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to cut interest rates, arguing that the cut is also in line with Islamic law. In a recent interview, … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup

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

Monthly Lectures on Islamic Legal Genres: “Sijills and Transformations of Qāḍī Documents in Islamic Law” by Prof. Christian Müller

By Omar Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar This is a summary of the lecture by Prof. Christian Müller entitled “Sijills and Transformations of Qāḍī Documents in Islamic Law” delivered at 12 noon (EST), … Continue reading Monthly Lectures on Islamic Legal Genres: “Sijills and Transformations of Qāḍī Documents in Islamic Law” by Prof. Christian Müller

Islamic Law in the News Roundup

Egypt's President Sisi named two new members to the Al-Azhar Council for Senior Scholars, the government institution that is regarded as having final authority to determine whether legislation is compliant … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup

Portals to the Future: Translations of Powers of Attorney

By Nurfadzilah Yahaya Powers of attorney form the basis of the second chapter of my book Fluid Jurisdictions: Colonial Law and Arabs in Southeast Asia (Cornell University Press, 2020). The … Continue reading Portals to the Future: Translations of Powers of Attorney

What does Equality Mean in the Colonies?

By Nurfadzilah Yahaya Two phenomena struck me as particularly incongruous while researching for my book Fluid Jurisdictions: Colonial Law and Arabs in Southeast and plagued me throughout the process of … Continue reading What does Equality Mean in the Colonies?

State v. Waseem et al. – Waiver of Qiṣāṣ and Taz‘īr in Honor Killing

By Zainab Hashmi This post is part of the Digital Islamic Law Lab (DILL) series, in which a Harvard student analyzes a primary source of Islamic law, previously workshopped in the DIL … Continue reading State v. Waseem et al. – Waiver of Qiṣāṣ and Taz‘īr in Honor Killing