By Lev Weitz For social historians, legal sources have been among the most captivating, tried-and-true means to get at the microhistorical detail of everyday life in times past. In the final essay of this series, I’ll consider what Arabic legal documents can offer as sources for medieval social history. We’ll return to the region of … Continue reading Fragments of Provincial Life
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law In "Religion Inspired The Nation-State, But Politics Made The Difference" (Eurasia Review, April 14, 2023), James M. Dorsey (Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies) reviews new scholarship that traces the origins of the modern nation state to earlier periods during the Middle Age by arguing that religion … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS " [T]he Foreign Ministers of Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States and … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
The United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the Taliban's subsequent takeover of the country has brought, once again, Islam and Islamic law to the fore in recent news coverage, reports, and analyses. This renewed attention to Islamic law is in part due to the fact that the Taliban identifies itself as a Muslim military organization … Continue reading Resource Roundup: Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Islamic Law
Muslim countries, especially Iran, have shown an increasing interest in establishing "milk banks" whereby preterm infants can receive breast milk as opposed to formula, although the practice is being considered from an Islamic perspective, which provides for a tenet of "milk kinship." The Taliban have stated that women would be allowed to study at university … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
In "Banking on Blind Faith? Islamic Finance, Consumer Protection and Public Policy" (SSRN, February 18, 2021) Faisal Kutty (Valparaiso University Law School) argues that current Islamic finance practices fall short of Islamic ethics and ideals. In "The Promise and Paradox of Women in the Judiciary in Indonesia" (SSRN, June 1, 2021) Melissa Crouch (University of … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
In "On Sacred Land" (Minnesota Law Review, vol. 105 (2021)), Khaled A. Beydoun (Wayne State University Law School) discusses America's "Anti-Sharia Movement" within the context of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person's Act, highlighting the resistance local governments exhibit against the creation of mosques and other Islamic community centers across the country. In "Women … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
We've compiled a list of news sources that show how countries and communities are using Islamic law to respond to COVID-19 (coronavirus).
Monika Zalnieriute and Catherine Weiss analyze the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s (HRC) consideration of legal prohibitions on Islamic face-coverings in Yaker v. France and Hebbadj v. France in "Reconceptualizing Intersectionality in Judicial Interpretation: Moving Beyond Formalistic Accounts of Discrimination on Islamic Covering Prohibitions," Islamic Law & Law of the Muslim World eJournal, (originally published … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
By Kecia Ali (Boston University) As someone who researches and teaches about early Islamic law, I have longed for a translation of the Muwaṭṭaʾ which renders legal terminology with consistency and precision, suitable for skimming, quoting, recommending to interested lay readers, and assigning to students. There have been two “nonacademic” English translations, primarily aimed at “pious … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: The Handmaiden’s Tale
