On April 12, Pakistani forces arrested Saad Rizvi, the head of the recently outlawed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), who called for civil disobedience unless the French ambassador is expelled - a reaction against what he considered blasphemous depictions of the Prophet in French media outlets. An Egyptian Ramadan TV series, Al Tawoos (literally, peacock), is investigated … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
Islamic Law in the News Roundup
The Kerala High Court (India) recently overturned a decades-long precedent that had prohibited Muslim women from divorcing their husbands without judicial intervention. In its new decision, the Court noted that judicial intervention was warranted only in faskh cases that involved the intervention of an Islamic judge, thereby recognizing the right of Muslim women to dissolve … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
Weekend Scholarship Roundup
In an opinion piece published on the Jurist, entitled "Nigeria court overturns two blasphemy convictions after international outcry" Marie Feyche (U. Pittsburgh School of Law) reports that the High Court of Kano (Nigeria) overturned two blasphemy convictions handed down by a sharī'a court, after international outcry. In "DNA Evidence and the Islamic Law of Paternity … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Islamic Law in the News Roundup
The High Court of Kano (Nigeria) overturned two blasphemy convictions by a sharī'a court, following weeks of international outcry. The Muslim Spiritual Board of the Republic of Tatarstan launched the "Online Madrasah" project, described as an "online alternative" to popular "sheiks" preaching online.
Islamic Law in the News Roundup
Details of France’s proposed bill to counter what President Macron called “Islamic separatism” began to emerge: the bill seeks to criminalize disclosing data about a person’s location to those who might do harm, to provide for summary trials for perpetrators of online hate crimes, to empower judges to prevent individuals with a certain criminal history … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
Weekend Scholarship Roundup
In a book review titled “Isn’t the Opposite Equally True?” written for the London Review of Books, former Program in Islamic Law fellow Lawrence Rosen (Princeton University) reviews two recent publications, Laurence Louër’s Sunnis and Shi‘a: A Political History (Princeton University Press, 2020) and Kim Ghattas’s Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Islamic Law in the News Roundup
Amid international outcry after a Nigerian religious court sentenced a 22-year old to death for blasphemous statements made on WhatsApp, a well-known imām (Muslim religious leader) in the country, who believes that the person should be punished, asked for a more lenient sentence. Nigerian Senator Smart Adeyemi announced his intention to advance a bill that … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup