ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Following the Taliban's rise to power, many law students and lawyers from Afghanistan have reported that "[i]t is not the application of Islamic criminal law that frightens [them], it is that it is applied without due process." Haroun Rahimi, a self-exiled Afghan who was a professor of law at Kabul … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
By Mehdi Berriah This is part four in a series of four posts on the financing of jihād during the Mamlūk period. As noted by Ibrāhīm b. ʿAlī al-Hanafī al-Ṭarsūsī, the possibility of resorting to the imposition of new taxes or the requisition, on the order of the sultan, of goods to finance a war effort … Continue reading A Lack of Resources in the bayt al-māl: A Sine Qua Non Condition for the Imposition of a Tax?
Leading scholars of Islamic law, including Editor-in-Chief, Professor Intisar Rabb, were invited by the University of Bergen for a roundtable on "the use and usefulness of the concepts of canonization and codification in Islamic legal studies." The panels on canonization and codification, respectively, were held online and can be accessed here. "Sharia Law in the … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
By Mehdi Berriah This is part three in a series of four posts on the financing of jihād during the Mamlūk period. In the cases presented in the sources discussed in the previous post, sultans and amīrs met, in general, with firm opposition on the part of several ʿulamāʾ to the imposition of additional taxes on … Continue reading The Sharīʿa on the Financing of Jihād
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
By Mehdi Berriah This is part two in a series of four posts on the financing of jihād during the Mamlūk period. First Episode The first episode took place in dhū-l-qaʿda 657/November 1259, after Quṭuz dismissed al-Manṣūr ʿAlī, the son of his former master, the first Mamlūk sultan al-Muʿizz Aybak (d. 655/1257), and proclaimed himself sultan. The … Continue reading Episodes in which the ʿUlamāʾ, according to Islamic Law, were Opposed to the Tax
Suzanne Schneider, deputy director at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, commented that the Islamic State and the US far-right, including groups such as QAnon, share the same roots - failed governance. Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, urged the new Afghan government to uphold sharī'a. Islamic scholars have warned that comparing Texas' … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
At a press conference following the Taliban's capture of Kabul (Afghanistan), senior commander Waheedullah Hashimi commented that the country would be governed by sharī'a. The King Abdul Aziz Endowment of Ain Al-Aziziah installed four new drinking and wuḍūʾ (ablution necessary for prayer) stations in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). Haruna Ibn-Sina, the head of the sharī'a police … Continue reading Islamic Law in the News Roundup
For the month of August, we are featuring one, in-depth post by our guest editor, Professor Hossein Modarressi, of Princeton University, and will resume our regular schedule of guest editor contributions in September with the start of the new academic year. By Hossein Modarressi* This paper aims to demonstrate how a religious worldview on the … Continue reading Theology of Delegation and Its Impact on Islamic Legal Thought
In "Immunity, Independence and Accountability of Judges: An Islamic Law Perspective" (Majallah-yi Talim o Tahqiq 3, no. 2 April-June (2021)), Muhammad Munir (International Islamic University, Islamabad) discusses the concept of immunity of judges in Islamic law. In "Intellectual Property Through a Non-Western Lens: Patents in Islamic Law" (Georgia State University Law Review 37, no. 3 … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup
