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 communication," which has prompted Princeton University dining services to take additional measures to address student concerns. "Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
UPCOMING EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES PIL & Harvard Calendar: Student work opportunity: Research assistant, Widener Library, Harvard University. Call for Papers: The 22nd Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies, Harvard University, November 28, 2022. Global Calendar: Position opening: Assistant Professor in Islamic Studies, Stanford University, September 30, 2022. Online panel: “Ukraine from Ottoman Times to Today,” MESA … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS The new leader of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama's new chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf, expressed his willingness to fight extremism by focusing on traditional Islamic legal doctrine, particularly on the issue of apostasy. Recent surveys have suggested that roughly one out of five Muslims is in an interfaith marriage, … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
SHARIAsource Editor Katarzyna Sidło’s article in the Marburg Journal of Religion discusses a 2013 study of Jordanians who had converted out of Islam. In Sidło words, “Due to the religious and cultural taboo surrounding apostasy, those who left Islam are notoriously difficult to access in a systematic way and constitute what is known in social … Continue reading Recent Scholarship: Sidło on Apostasy
By Jiou Park As discussed in the previous posts, blasphemy and apostasy laws apply in contemporary Muslim majority societies. The application of such laws, in practice, can take differing forms depending on the legal system and surrounding circumstances. In the Egyptian context, the case of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd provides an excellent example of how … Continue reading Apostasy in Contemporary Egypt: The Case of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd
By Jiou Park This post will provide a survey of pre-modern Islamic law regarding apostasy (ridda), blasphemy, and the related concept of unbelief (kufr). The exploration of such concepts will serve as background for a forthcoming discussion on the application of blasphemy and apostasy laws in contemporary Muslim-majority countries. In classical Islam, apostasy (ridda, or … Continue reading Apostasy and Blasphemy in Islamic Law
