The Program in Islamic Law (PIL) has curated a list of panels from the American Society of Comparative Law's (ASCL) 2020 Annual Meeting schedule that feature speakers whose submissions are related to the Middle East, Islamic law and history, or Muslim-majority countries.* ASCL's annual meeting this year, cosponsored by UCLA School of Law International and … Continue reading Comparative Law and the Middle East at ASCL 2020! (A PIL Guide)
Faculty-student collaboration during Covid-19
By Mona Oraby This essay is the final of three essays on Islamic law and pedagogy written by Mona Oraby. The first is “Islamic law and the liberal arts” and the second is “Why we should start with women.” Amherst College, where I teach, announced on 9 March 2020 that it would move to remote … Continue reading Faculty-student collaboration during Covid-19
Islamic Law and the Liberal Arts
By Mona Oraby This essay is the first of three essays on Islamic law and pedagogy written by Mona Oraby. The second is “Why we should start with women” and the third is “Faculty-student collaboration during Covid-19.” I teach a course called Islamic Constitutionalism at Amherst College. Colleagues at other institutions are often surprised and flattered when … Continue reading Islamic Law and the Liberal Arts
Conjoined Twins: Human Rights and Islam in the Constitutional System of Pakistan
By Zubair Abbasi Ever since Pakistan’s creation as an independent state in 1947, Islam has continued to permeate its constitutional and legal system. From the confines of the personal law of Muslims at the time of independence, Islam has become the grundnorm of Pakistan’s constitutional system.[1] Curiously, the gradual elevation of Islam in the formal … Continue reading Conjoined Twins: Human Rights and Islam in the Constitutional System of Pakistan
Islamic Judicial Review in Practice (2): Strategic Islamization of Laws
By Zubair Abbasi The most significant impact of Islamic judicial review is the incorporation of qiṣāṣ and dīyah in the legal system of Pakistan. During the colonial period, the British replaced Islamic criminal law with the Indian Penal Code 1860. There are two important components of Islamic criminal law: ḥudūd and qiṣāṣ. Ḥudūd are fixed … Continue reading Islamic Judicial Review in Practice (2): Strategic Islamization of Laws
Islamic Judicial Review in Practice (1): Decolonization through Islamization of Laws
By Zubair Abbasi In my previous blog posts, I identified Islamic judicial review as the distinctive feature of Pakistan’s legal system. In my next three posts, I shall scrutinize how Islamic judicial review works in practice through the analysis of a few important judgments related to criminal law and family law. In this first post, … Continue reading Islamic Judicial Review in Practice (1): Decolonization through Islamization of Laws
The Impact of Islamic Judicial Review in Pakistan
By Zubair Abbasi Since its beginning in 1979, Islamic judicial review was unlikely to cause major constitutional and legal changes because of its inherent design to maintain the status quo. This can be explained by a number of factors. Firstly, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) did not have jurisdiction over the provisions of the Constitution. … Continue reading The Impact of Islamic Judicial Review in Pakistan
Islamic Constitutionalism in Pakistan: Is it Theocratic?
By Zubair Abbasi Despite assigning a significant role to Islam, the Pakistani constitutional model does not propose a theocratic order. Rather, the theocratic tendencies resulting from the substantial role of Islam in the legal system are checked by a curious synthesis of Islamic constitutionalism and liberal constitutionalism. Instead of assigning the interpretative authority of Islamic … Continue reading Islamic Constitutionalism in Pakistan: Is it Theocratic?
Islamic Constitutionalism in Pakistan: Does it Matter?
Pakistan came into being through a constitutionally governed election when Muslims in British India voted for an independent state that comprised the Muslim-majority parts of India. It had two wings: East Pakistan (currently Bangladesh) and West Pakistan, geographically separated by more than a thousand kilometers. Since Islam was the only common link between the two … Continue reading Islamic Constitutionalism in Pakistan: Does it Matter?
Lunch Talk: Judicial Review in Iran
On Apr 16, Marzieh Tofighi Darian gave a talk on "Judicial Review in Iran: Whose Guardian: Constitution or Sharia?" in which she examined the role of Iran's Guardian Council in evaluating claims of sharīʿa compatibility and constitutional violations. She detailed the Guardian Council’s place in Iran’s constitutional design and the controversies that arise with Parliament … Continue reading Lunch Talk: Judicial Review in Iran