ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS The 1989 fatwā imposed by Iran's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Salman Rushdie has sparked a more general debate on fatwās in Islamic law and their implementation. Some scholars have drawn attention to the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia in terms of political ambitions in the region as well … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: Nobuaki Kondo’s studies on Islamic law in Qajar Iran has been published in Persian. In "The Immorality of Incarceration" (Journal of Islamic Law 3 no. 1 (2022)), Adnan Zulfiqar (Rutgers Law School) "shows how perspectives from the Global South, in this case Islamic law, might inform new approaches to abolition … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In Islamic Law in Circulation: Shafi'i Texts across the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean (Cambridge University Press, 2022), Mahmood Kooria (Universiteit Leiden and Ashoka University, India) "explores how certain texts shaped, transformed and influenced the juridical thoughts and lives of a significant community over a millennium in and between Asia, … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
By Raha Rafii Grand Muftī Shawky Ibrahim Allam of Egypt’s Dār al-Iftāʾ issued a fatwā in December 2017[1] stating that any and all uses of cryptocurrency was ḥarām, or forbidden—including purchasing, selling, and leasing. The al-Azhar-affiliated Dār al-Iftāʾ was established in 1895 with the Grand Muftī as its head; throughout its history it served a … Continue reading Fatwās on Cryptocurrency: Egypt’s Dār al-Iftāʾ
By Sohail Hanif Ritual prayer (ṣalāh) is a pillar of Islam. It functions as a pillar that upholds the daily routine and spiritual journey of a believer. However, the spiritual dimension of prayer is not a topic of investigation in works of Islamic law. There is, on the other hand, another overarching interest of Muslim … Continue reading A Prayer-Based Civilizational Order: The Social Dimension of the Rules of Ritual Prayer
By Sohail Hanif My research has centred on unpacking layers of argumentation in works of Islamic law, particularly legal commentaries. As one unpacks these layers, one comes to learn that what actually is ‘law’ is not always clear, and that it is within the arguments that one finds the principles and reasoning for the sake … Continue reading Social Dependencies of Islamic Law: A View Through the Legal Commentary
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Carpenter Wellington PLLC published a brief but comprehensive introduction to Islamic finance and how it interacts with traditional Islamic law. A recent review published by Chatham House found southeast European Muslims to be instrumental to democratization efforts in their countries. February 1, 2022 marked the ninth annual World Hijab Day. … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
By Junaid Quadri* In 663/1265, Sultan al-Ẓāhir Baybars appointed a chief judge from each of the four Sunnī madhhabs. For scholars of Islamic law, this decision has served as a signal moment in the story told about the normative pluralism found within Sunnī Islam. I say that this was a signal moment, but it was … Continue reading Intellectual and Practical Caution as Grounds for Legal Pluralism
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
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
