SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "U.S. Tax Law and Sharia-Compliant Financing Structures" (SSRN, August 13, 2022), Ahmed Altawyan (Saudi Electronic University) "overviews the tax rules for Islamic finance to help lawmakers and policymakers in the United States and other countries develop laws or guidance on sharia-compliant financial activities and transactions. On Islam and Data … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
By Sohail Hanif We continue our reflection on social dimensions of Islamic law by turning our attention to the rules of Zakat,[1] the obligatory alms in Islam. Zakat is a social institution, as it represents wealth moving from the ‘rich’ to the ‘poor’. By its very nature, Zakat creates social ties and dependencies. From the … Continue reading When Worship Meets Taxation: Socio-Political Reflections on the Rules of Zakat
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS The East Java branch of Indonesia's largest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama, recently announced its fatwā that forbid the use of cryptocurrency as ḥarām under Islamic law. A wedding in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province turned deadly as the Taliban reportedly shot three attendees over an argument on whether playing music was forbidden … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
By Mehdi Berriah This is part four in a series of four posts on the financing of jihād during the Mamlūk period. As noted by Ibrāhīm b. ʿAlī al-Hanafī al-Ṭarsūsī, the possibility of resorting to the imposition of new taxes or the requisition, on the order of the sultan, of goods to finance a war effort … Continue reading A Lack of Resources in the bayt al-māl: A Sine Qua Non Condition for the Imposition of a Tax?
By Mehdi Berriah This is part three in a series of four posts on the financing of jihād during the Mamlūk period. In the cases presented in the sources discussed in the previous post, sultans and amīrs met, in general, with firm opposition on the part of several ʿulamāʾ to the imposition of additional taxes on … Continue reading The Sharīʿa on the Financing of Jihād
By Mehdi Berriah This is part two in a series of four posts on the financing of jihād during the Mamlūk period. First Episode The first episode took place in dhū-l-qaʿda 657/November 1259, after Quṭuz dismissed al-Manṣūr ʿAlī, the son of his former master, the first Mamlūk sultan al-Muʿizz Aybak (d. 655/1257), and proclaimed himself sultan. The … Continue reading Episodes in which the ʿUlamāʾ, according to Islamic Law, were Opposed to the Tax
By Mehdi Berriah This is part one in a series of four posts on the financing of jihād during the Mamlūk period. While the spirit and laws of jihād have often attracted the attention of researchers, this is not the case for its economic aspect, which remains poorly known. It must be kept in mind … Continue reading The Issue of Financing Jihād in Islamic Law: Three Case Studies from the Mamlūk Period
By Mohammad Sagha The issue this paper seeks to address is how Ayatollāh Sayyīd Rūhullāh Khumaynī (d. 1386 sh./1989) conceptualized the collection of khums under the theory of the “Guardianship of the Jurisprudent” (wilāyat al-faqīh). The theory asserts the spiritual and practical authority of the Shīʿī jurist to govern in the absence of the twelfth … Continue reading Wilāyat al-Faqīh and Collecting the Fifth: A Theory of Khums
By Mohammad Sagha This post examines how two Ṣafavid-era jurists, Ḥussayn b. ʽAbd al-Ṣamad al-ʽĀmilī (d. 985/1577-8),[1] and Muḥammad Bāqir Majlisī (d. 1111/1698) conceptualized the authority to collect and spend the portion of khums[2]allocated for the Imām’s discretion (sahm al-Imām)[3] during the period of occultation.[4] Shīʽī legal reasoning regarding the allocation of khums is important … Continue reading Authority and Khums in the Absence of the Imām: Reflections of Two Safavid-era Jurists
By Mohammad Sagha The main question this study addresses is: how can the delegation of authority within the Shīʽī* community after the Minor Occultation of the Twelfth Imām in 260/874 explain Shīʽī judicial views on religious tax theory?[1] The advent of the Minor Occultation produced an environment of doubt for the followers of the imāms … Continue reading Judicial Authority and Roots of Twelver Shīʽī Tax Theory
