ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS In her opinion piece in Rewire News Group, Aliza Kazmi, commenting on the recently leaked Supreme Court opinion that would overrule Roe v. Wade, wrote: "Islam supports an individual’s bodily autonomy, and we need to advocate for our community’s right to an abortion." Lawyers for the Malian Islamist rebel Al … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law: In "Judicial Crisis in Damascus on the Eve of Baybars’s Reform: The Case of the Minor Orphan Girl (651–55/1253–57)" (Islamic Law and Society (March 23, 2022)), Mariam Sheibani (The University of Toronto Scarborough) "reconstructs a late-Ayyubid court case in Damascus that was litigated repeatedly between 651/1253 and 655/1257, five years … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
By Raha Rafii On March 15, 2022, the Karnataka High Court[1] dismissed petitions against its Interim Order[2] upholding the Government Order[3] dated May 2, 2022 banning ḥijāb in government schools in the state of Karnataka, India. The Court dismissed a few petitions based on lack of sufficient evidence, while dismissing the arguments of the remaining … Continue reading Karnataka High Court Order Upholds Ḥijāb Ban in Government Schools
By Waskito Jati Having remained under the jurisdiction of the Indonesian judicial system, the codified Acehnese Islamic criminal code (Qanun Jinayat) exemplifies the intricacies of incorporating classical Islamic concepts alongside modern and secular government regulations.[1] The case being discussed in this essay is one example wherein a child rape allegation turns into an allegation of … Continue reading From Child Rape to Zinā with a Child: Analysis of Consent to Sexual Intercourse and Minimum Age of Criminal Liability under Acehnese Qanun Jinayat
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS An Islamic clerics board in India, in response to the Karnataka High Court that ruled that hijāb is not an essential part of Islamic law, stated that the court's interpretation was based on an erroneous interpretation of the Qur'ān. The board claimed: "In its impugned Judgment, the High Court of … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
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 The hijāb controversy in India, occasioned by a university administration refusing to admit some Muslim students wearing the Islamic veil, has been ongoing, with a court case regarding the matter still pending before Indian courts. The Karnataka government, the Indian state in which the controversy has taken place, has so … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News 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. 5 (2022)), Intisar Rabb (Editor-in-Chief; Harvard University) traces the origins of Islamic law canons, with a focus on how those canons were utilized in Islamic … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
By Omar Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar This is a summary of the lecture by Professor Marion Katz entitled “Ṭabaqāt al-Fuqahāʾ: What is a Genre?," delivered on October 27, 2021 at 12 noon (EST), 6 pm (Münster) 7 pm (Istanbul) via Zoom. The video recording of the lecture can be accessed here. Professor Marion Katz delivered October’s lecture … Continue reading Monthly Lectures on Islamic Legal Genres: “Ṭabaqāt al-Fuqahāʾ: What is a Genre?” by Professor Marion Katz
