By Lev Weitz In my last essay on using digitized sources and databases for historical research with Arabic documents, I used the Arabic Papyrology Database (APD) to discern a concentration … Continue reading Tracing the Judicial Infrastructure of a Rural Province
By Lev Weitz For the past three decades, scholars have enriched the study of premodern Islamic law with a growing enthusiasm for ‘law in action’[1]—law not only as the sharʿī … Continue reading Documentary Sources and Islamic Legal History: The View from the Provinces
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Some observers have estimated that up to 80% of Islamic marriages in Ghana remain unregistered because "there are no forms available for Muslims to register … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
By Elizabeth Lhost For my final essay this month, I’ve selected the Deccan Law Reports for analysis. Law reports are a familiar genre for many legal historians, and the Deccan … Continue reading Dekan Lā Ripōrṫ: Familiar genres, unfamiliar stories
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Redha Rajab, his son Mohamed Rajab, and researcher Jalal al-Qassab, members of the progressive Al-Tajdeed Society in Bahrain, are "accused of violating articles 309 and … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law In In the Shadow of the Prophet: Essays in Islamic History (Oneworld Publications, 2023), Roy P. Mottahedeh (Harvard University, Emeritus) "explores such diverse topics as … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
By Elizabeth Lhost In March 1950, Muḥyī-ud-dīn Ṣāḥib sent a request to the dār al-iftāʾ (office for issuing fatwās, judicial opinions) of the Ṣadārat al-ʿĀliya (ecclesiastical department) of the princely … Continue reading Naql-i Rejisṫarḋ khaṭ: Letters, postcards, and telegrams as sources of law
By Elizabeth Lhost The first farmān (order) (pictured below) in a volume titled Farāmīn-i Niẓāmat-i dār al-qażāʿ-yi balada, min ibtidāʿ–yi sana-yi 1339 H li-ghāyata-yi sana-yi 1350 H, daftar-i Senṫral Rikārḋ, … Continue reading Farāmīn-i Niẓāmat: Looking at legal layers in a royal decree
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS "With Ramadan beginning on March 22, Muslim students have expressed concern over the accessibility and variety of Halal food, as well as a lack of … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
By Elizabeth Lhost Like a good social scientist, I begin with a diagram. Mir Basit Ali Khan’s Urdu-language Tārīkh-i ʿAdālat-i Āṣafī (History of the Asafi Courts) (1937) opens with a … Continue reading Raftār-i Taraqqī-yi ʿAdālat: Rethinking “progress” in the history of Hyderabad’s Āṣafī Courts
