Intellectual and Practical Caution as Grounds for Legal Pluralism

By Junaid Quadri* In 663/1265, Sultan al-Ẓāhir Baybars appointed a chief judge from each of the four Sunnī madhhabs. For scholars of Islamic law, this decision has served as a … Continue reading Intellectual and Practical Caution as Grounds for Legal Pluralism

Excavating the Colonial Modern in Islamic Law

By Junaid Quadri How shall we understand the encounter between the sharīʿa and the colonial modern? What have been the responses of Muslim jurists to the twin pressures of colonialism … Continue reading Excavating the Colonial Modern in Islamic Law

Ethical Perfectionism in Fiqh: The Example of Moral Exemplars

By Junaid Quadri* How precisely to understand the ethical material found within works of fiqh has been a recurrent question of Western scholarship on Islamic law since its earliest period. … Continue reading Ethical Perfectionism in Fiqh: The Example of Moral Exemplars

Oakeshott, Originalism and the History of Modern Islamic Law

By Junaid Quadri* In On Human Conduct, the ambitious work he produced toward the end of his career, the philosopher Michael Oakeshott offers a distinction between two kinds of storytelling … Continue reading Oakeshott, Originalism and the History of Modern Islamic Law

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

In Transformations of Tradition: Islamic Law in Colonial Modernity (Oxford University Press, 2021), Junaid Quadri (University of Illinois at Chicago), explores the various ways in which Islamic law was interpreted … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup