The Shape of Islamic History

By Ovamir Anjum How should one imagine the shape of Islamic history? What bearing does that have on the shape of Islam’s future? The West thought the future was Star … Continue reading The Shape of Islamic History

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law Khairudin Aljunied (Georgetown University) reviews Mahmood Kooria's Islamic Law in Circulation: Shāfiʿī Texts across the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean (Cambridge University Press, 2022). In "The … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

The Endangered Sharīʿa

By Ovamir Anjum Murder is afoot, and modernity stands accused. The victim is the Sharīʿa, and the autopsy is grim: temporal lacerations, institutional mutilations, a missing heart. Not merely a … Continue reading The Endangered Sharīʿa

Madhhab as Law

By Yavuz Aykan This is the fourth essay in a series of four essays on "Why the Ottoman fiqh? Reading Ḥanafī jurisprudence in its historical longue durée." In my previous essay, I have … Continue reading Madhhab as Law

Modest Yet Crucial: The Work of a Provincial Muftī

By Yavuz Aykan This is the third essay in a series of four essays on "Why the Ottoman fiqh? Reading Ḥanafī jurisprudence in its historical longue durée." In my second essay, I described … Continue reading Modest Yet Crucial: The Work of a Provincial Muftī

Weekend Scholarship Roundup

SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law In "Islamic Law and Colonialism" (in Cambridge Companion to Islamic Law, Cambridge University Press, under review), Rabiat Akande (Osgoode School of Law) and Halimat Adeniran … Continue reading Weekend Scholarship Roundup

The Madhhab Administration in Kurdistan and the Banal Affair of a Kurdish Tribe

By Yavuz Aykan This is the second essay in a series of four essays on "Why the Ottoman fiqh? Reading Ḥanafī jurisprudence in its historical longue durée." Before revisiting the legal drama of … Continue reading The Madhhab Administration in Kurdistan and the Banal Affair of a Kurdish Tribe

Introduction: On the Authority of the Qāḍī’s Judgment

By Yavuz Aykan This is the first essay in a series of four essays on "Why the Ottoman fiqh? Reading Ḥanafī jurisprudence in its historical longue durée." In my essay series, I will … Continue reading Introduction: On the Authority of the Qāḍī’s Judgment

Freedwomen in Ibn Abī Shayba’s al-Muṣannaf

By Elizabeth Urban In my previous essay, I wrote about how ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s (d. 211/827) al-Muṣannaf features freedwomen in “tricky” inheritance cases; in this essay I turn to Ibn Abī … Continue reading Freedwomen in Ibn Abī Shayba’s al-Muṣannaf

Freedwomen in ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s al-Muṣannaf

By Elizabeth Urban Scholars who have studied manumission in early Islamic contexts have usually focused on male freedmen (mawālī).[1] Conversely, scholars who have studied unfree women have usually focused on … Continue reading Freedwomen in ʿAbd al-Razzāq’s al-Muṣannaf