Close analysis on issues of the day from a scholar weighing in on a particular issue. Contributors are either invited or send in one-time submissions that feature a close analysis of a single issue or publications—including a new fatwā or case, research findings from a single study, or reviews of a new library or AI tool. All pieces pair content and context on Islamic law.
Case: Translation of the Court Record The woman called Radiya bt. Abd Allah, of Georgian origin and medium stature, appeared in the courthouse. She is known as the former slave … Continue reading Commentary :: Raziya bt. Abdallah v. Hafiza bt. Receb: A Former Concubine Wins her Manumission in Court
By Ebrahim Moosa (University of Notre Dame) It is one of those twists of history that in a region famed for hosting the largest number of followers of the Ḥanafī … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Journey of the Muwaṭṭaʾ in different periods of the history of South Asia: Shāh Walīyullāh’s Pursuit of Mālik
By Jonathan Brown (Georgetown University) I once found myself trapped on a phone call with an exercised adherent of the Ḥanafī school of Islamic law who made it clear that … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Mālik, the Muwaṭṭa’, and Sunni Identity
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 … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: The Handmaiden’s Tale
By Mariam Sheibani (Harvard Law School) Muslim jurists unanimously agreed that Mecca and Medina were the most sanctified places on earth. They nonetheless debated which of the two was greater. … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Which is Superior: Medina or Mecca? The Muwaṭṭaʾ on the Unique Status of Medina and Its Scholarly Community
By Jocelyn Hendrickson (The University of Alberta) As scholars of Islamic legal history, one of the most enjoyable questions we ask ourselves from time to time is, “Should I acquire that … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: The Virtues of Translation
By Maribel Fierro (National High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain) Mālik’s Muwaṭṭaʼ in the recension by the Cordoban Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā al-Laythī includes many references to Medina.[1] This is hardly … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Medina, the Mashriq, and the Maghrib in the recension of Mālik’s Muwaṭṭaʼ by the Cordoban Yaḥyā b. Yaḥyā al-Laythī*
By Delfina Serrano-Ruano (National High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain) Reading the Muwaṭṭa’ on the eve of the Almohad invasion of the Far Maghrib and Al-Andalus: The interplay of … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Debates on free will and predestination in the 12th century Islamic West: Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (468/1076- 542/1147 or 543/1148) Kitāb al-Qabas fī Sharḥ Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik Ibn Anas
By Mahmoud El-Gamal (Rice University) In Book 16 of the Muwaṭṭaʾ, nestled between Chapter 9 regarding alms taxes on merchandise and money and Chapter 11 regarding alms taxes on livestock … Continue reading :: Muwaṭṭaʾ Roundtable :: Zakāt, Wealth Tax and Extreme Inequality
By Shaheen Ali and Justin Jones A number of recent academic studies dealing with the marriage and divorce practices of British Muslims have picked up on a number of themes that … Continue reading Muslim marriage and divorce practices in contemporary Britain :: Part 7 :: Conclusions and further observations
