research paper on islamic law

The Journal of Islamic Law   is a peer-reviewed online Journal—published together with a regular Forum —that features new scholarship in Islamic legal studies. Focusing on historical, comparative, and law and society approaches to Islamic law, we  also have a keen interest in featuring  data science tools and primary sources that inform the scholarly analysis. The  SHARIAsource Portal  houses both the tools and the sources, and it provides an opportunity for scholars to curate an online companion to their scholarly contributions to the Journal or the Forum . The  Journal  welcomes long-form articles, essays, book reviews, and notes on cases and other new developments in the field. The more dynamic and slightly less formal  Forum provides space for timely scholarly engagement and debate: invited roundtables on thematic issues of the day, essays on underexplored manuscripts or recent articles, and presentations of data science tools developed for or applied to the field. The  Journal  is on an annual schedule, and its related  Forum  will feature new content throughout the year. Our editorial board and peer reviewers select scholarship on the basis of excellence and novel contributions to the field. For submission details, see the  submission guidelines .

Current Issue

Editor’s Introduction to the Special Issue Scholarly Debates: Moving Past Structural Death

Debating sharīʿa in egypt’s national courts, forging a habsburg islamic legal system legal transformation and local agency in habsburg bosnia and herzegovina (1878-1918), “emancipating” muslim women in early nineteenth-century russia ākhūnd fathullah bin huseyn al-uriwi, ḥanafī law, and muslim women’s rights.

This article explores debates about the role of Islamic law ( sharīʿa ) in the early development of the native courts in Egypt, established in 1883. Current literature focuses on the impact of European influence, arguing that the native courts and the codes they implemented broke away from a past dominated by Islamic law, sidelined pre-modern juristic ( fiqh ) understandings, and reflected an importation of European norms in service of a growing modern state. Using periodicals published within the first ten years following the establishment of the native courts, this article argues that, for both supporters and detractors, the question was not whether the sharīʿa  was being implemented but how it should be understood and utilized. Ideas informed by external influences, such as the rule of law and the creation of an independent judiciary, were significant and helped to shape the development and operation of the native courts. However, these ideas were viewed by observers through a broader conceptualization of the  sharīʿa  that included the work of the political authority to achieve a central goal: to nationalize the  sharīʿa  and establish justice in a rapidly changing social and legal environment.

Forging a Habsburg Islamic Legal System

The integration of Islamic law into the Habsburg administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the 1878 occupation marked a significant shift in the existing Islamic legal system. This paper examines the impacts of the legal reforms implemented by the Austro-Hungarian government, focusing on the agency of local  qāḍī s and plaintiffs in the process. The Habsburg bureaucracy reduced the application of Islamic law to the private sphere of family and marriage and established a two-tier court system, including a Supreme Sharia Court in Sarajevo, under state control. The analysis suggests that the integration of the Sharia courts into the Habsburg administration began a process of translation of legal norms, knowledge, values, and practices, resulting in a unique blend of Ottoman Islamic legal practices and Habsburg legal structures and values. The paper argues that this created new opportunities for legal claim-making by local plaintiffs.

Editor’s Introduction to the Special Issue

This special issue explores the interactions between Islamic law and other legal traditions during the modern period, particularly in the contexts of colonialism, imperialism, and centralized bureaucratic states from the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. The three essays in the issue contribute to the ongoing scholarly debates that present contrasting views on the fate of sharīʿa during this period. Between the two sides of this debate, there is a space ripe for exploring the fitness and movement of Islamic law in the contested period between tradition and modernity.

“Emancipating” Muslim Women in Early Nineteenth-Century Russia

This paper examines the legal authority of Fathullah Huseyn ughli, a prominent jurist ( ākhūnd ) of the Volga-Ural region between the 1820s and his death in 1843. The analysis focuses on the fatwās he issued and legal cases he resolved regarding women’s divorce. Huseyn ughli’s fatwā s reveal several significant points. Firstly, despite increased regulation of Muslim marriage and divorce by the Russian Empire during this period, Huseyn ughli maintained his legal authority and made independent legal decisions with the authorization of the Orenburg Assembly. Secondly, his fatwā s highlight his support for women who were suffering and his efforts to find solutions for each unique case with the assistance of local Muslim communities. He utilized his legal authority to identify loopholes and deliver rulings that diverged from mainstream Ḥanafī opinions, particularly regarding divorce based on non-maintenance. However, his flexibility was limited after 1841–42, when Muftī Suleymanov intervened, establishing the mainstream Ḥanafī position that prohibited divorce in such cases and enforcing it as a rule for all Volga-Ural ʿulamāʾ .

Islamic Law: Its Sources, Interpretation and the Translation of It into Laws Written in English

• Published: 21 March 2016
• Volume 29 , pages 251–260, ( 2016 )

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• Rafat Y. Alwazna 1  

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1 The Qurʾān and the Sunna

The two primary and transmitted sources of Islamic Law are the Qurʾān and the Sunna (Prophetic traditions and practices). This combination of the two crucial sources of Islamic Law is seen as a link between reason and revelation. Indeed, the marriage between these two sources has resulted in the emergence of Islamic Law [ 8 : p. 15]. The Qurʾān is considered the most sacred and important source of Islamic Law, which contains verses related to god, human beliefs and how a particular believer should live in this worldly life. The human conduct that should govern the believers’ life, which is clearly stated in the Qurʾān, is indeed the domain of Islamic Law. The Qurʾān comprises about five hundred legal verses that explicitly set out legal rulings that need to be applied by all believers [ 8 : p. 16]. Even non-legal verses in the Qurʾān do support the establishment of the legal system of Islam, as will be expounded by Professor Almatroudi. The second primary and transmitted source of Islamic Law is the Sunna, which represents the Prophet Mohammad’s (peace be upon him) deeds and sayings, which were formulated in the form of narratives and became known as Prophetic Ḥadīth [ 8 : p. 16]. The Sunna also comprises a number of legal provisions that must be applied by all believers of Islam. Certain legal rulings in these transmitted Islamic sources are definitive. In other words, the law-giver (God) has formulated them in such a way which does not need personal legal reasoning and is not open to different interpretations as they are clear and definitive. Conversely, there exists a corpus of legal contents stated in both the Qurʾān and the Sunna, the application of which requires reasoning. The law-giver who has formulated certain legal rulings stated in the Qurʾān and the Sunna in such a way that never accepts two different interpretations, could have also done the same with regard to the rest of legal contents laid down in the aforementioned Islamic sources. However, there has been a pivotal reason behind making a huge bulk of legal contents mentioned in the Qurʾān and the Sunna open to legal reasoning. This flexibility in the law qualifies it to be legally valid for all legal cases regardless of time and place as it is amenable to development and change, a matter which will be further discussed in Sect.  3 . Furthermore, the difference in the interpretation of a particular legal issue is deemed amongst jurists a kind of mercy. The de facto corpus of legal contents stated in the Qurʾān and the Sunna, the application of which demands independent legal reasoning leads us to another source of Islamic Law known as legal reasoning.

2 Legal Reasoning

Legal reasoning (ijtihād) is an untransmitted source of Islamic Law, whose emergence is due to the fact that Islamic jurists could not always interpret the language of the Qurʾān and that of the Sunna in the same way arriving at the same legal result, rather they frequently differ in their interpretations of certain Qurʾānic verses and particular Prophetic traditions, reaching different legal rulings. This is owing to the fact that the law-giver has deliberately set out a number of legal rulings in these two revealed legal sources, and formulated them in such a way that makes them open to reasoning and juristic interpretation so that the law becomes legally valid on a permanent basis and is susceptible to development as new legal issues emerge. Hallaq [ 8 : p. 19] points out that certain terms in the Qurʾān and the Sunna can have more than a single legal interpretation. Metaphorical lexical items, for instance, need to be interpreted to convey specific legal meanings. Hence, Muslim jurists develop a corpus of certain linguistic rules in an attempt to surmount such problems. One crucial aim of exercising his personal reasoning is that the jurist would establish a particular legal norm for each legal case he confronts [ 8 : p. 19].

Acts according to the Sharīʿa fall within five different legal norms. The first is represented by the prohibited category, which demands punishing the doer after committing a prohibited act. The second is the obligatory category, which entails punishment on account of failure to perform an act whose performance is deemed obligatory in the eyes of Islamic Law. Other categories are the recommended, permissible and abominable. If the person performs the abominable and not the recommended category, he/she shall not be punished. However, the person, by performing the recommended and leaving the abominable, shall be rewarded in the hereafter. The permissible category involves neither permission, nor prohibition, a matter which entails neither reward, nor punishment. Hence, when the jurist confronts a Qurʾānic verse and/or a Prophetic tradition which may include an imperative or prohibitive form, he is required to specify within which of the five legal norms/categories the legal ruling of the verse and/or the tradition falls [ 8 : p. 20].

2.1 Consensus

Related to legal reasoning is another source of Islamic Law known as consensus (ijmāʿ), which refers to the agreement of jurists, living in a particular age, on a specific legal ruling of a particular act, after being subject to different legal views and opinions. Consensus has to be founded on the Qurʾān and/or the Sunna. Consensus plays a crucial role in ratifying and ascertaining legal rules which may have been grounded in probable evidence. If there exists a particular consensus on a specific probable evidence, such evidence can never be subject to error. Consequently, it can safely be argued that consensus is chiefly based on rules which are grounded in particular methods of reasoning. However, it is worth noting that the legal cases upon which there has been consensus are indeed limited within Islamic Law, though such legal cases have acquired special importance on account of being subject to this extraordinary source of law [ 8 : p. 22]. Such legal cases cannot be stated here due to space restrictions.

2.2 Analogy

Also, categorized within the realm of legal reasoning is another legal source of Islam referred to as analogy (qiyās). This source of law is not deemed a material legal source, the legal content of which can be depended upon by the jurists. However, it is a legal source that can offer ways which can be utilised by the jurist to reach legal norms. Analogy is composed of four crucial components. The first is represented by the new case which demands a legal ruling; the implementation of one of the five legal norms stated above. The second is the original case which may be mentioned in the Qurʾān or the Sunna, or accepted by consensus. The third deals with the attribute to the new case as well as the original one. The last component resides in the legal norm that serves as a legal ruling in the original case, and is applied to the new case on account of the de facto similarity between the original as well as the new cases [ 8 : pp. 22–23].

2.3 Preference

Preference (istiḥsān) is a particular legal practice exercised by jurists, which falls within the sphere of legal reasoning. It is deemed an inference made on the basis of a revealed text, though gives rise to a different legal result from that arrived at by analogy. The main difference between analogy and preference may lie in the fact that while the reasoning behind analogy falls chiefly within the large body of the law with no exception allowed, the reasoning underpinning preference, on the other hand, is to find a particular exception through the jurist’s selection of a revealed text that allows this very exception [ 8 : pp. 25–26]. A clear example for this is a person who has eaten in the day of Ramadan mistakenly. The reasoning behind analogy dictates that the person has to compensate for that day as there is no exception as to whether the person has eaten in the day of Ramadan intentionally or otherwise. Conversely, reasoning via preference does not demand compensation since the person has not eaten intentionally, rather he has done so mistakenly. It is worth pointing out that the reasoning underpinning preference is based on a valid Prophetic tradition and does therefore supersede the reasoning behind the drawn analogy. Not all preference exceptions are founded on revealed texts, some of which are based on consensus, while others are grounded in the principle of necessity.

2.4 Public Interest

Public interest (istiṣlāḥ) is another legal practice which is contained within legal reasoning. The reasoning of public interest does not seem to be founded on the Qurʾān. Public interest, however, plays an undeniably crucial role in the determination of the ratio’s suitability peculiar to analogy. This strong connection between the ratio and suitability has resulted in considering public interest by some jurists an extension to analogy. There are, indeed, certain universal principles on which the Sharīʿa is generally based. These reside in the protection of one’s life, his/her mind, offspring, religion as well as property [ 8 : p. 26]. If the feature of public interest in a particular case is in line with these universal principles, the reasoning in accordance with publish interest must be exercised. It is worth stating that the element of universality is of paramount importance as the law intends to serve interests of Muslims at large [ 8 : p. 27].

3 Interpretation of Islamic Law

As stated above, the two primary sources of Islamic Law are the Qurʾān and the Sunna. These two revealed legal sources have contained certain definitive legal rulings, which require no legal reasoning from the part of the jurist, rather need to be applied as they are. The Qurʾān and the Sunna have also comprised legal contents, the implementation of which demands legal reasoning from the side of the jurist. This legal reasoning points to the maximum effort exerted by the jurist to interpret and apply the rules pertaining to the origins of jurisprudence (ʾuṣūl alfiqh), in quest for the appropriate legal ruling that best fits the legal case in question [ 7 : p. 3]. In deed, a huge bulk of Islamic Law is subject to legal reasoning and is dependent thereon. This is owing to the fact that only limited legal rulings stated in the Qurʾān and the Sunna have a definitive nature, and the rest of the legal body of Islamic Law is contingent upon the jurists’ legal reasoning. This is not at all a defect in the law, since the law-giver who set out definitive legal rulings, was indeed able to enforce a wholly definitive law, the application of its legal rulings is not subject to any reasoning. However, there have been important reasons behind this flexible nature of Islamic Law. This very nature of Islamic Law has made the law flexible and adaptable to all societies and regions. Moreover, the law has become susceptible to develop and change in different ways. Its development can be shown through choosing certain legal views that are more appropriate than others in addressing the legal cases concerned. The development can go even further than that by creating new legal views as new legal cases emerge [ 8 : p. 27]. This aspect does unequivocally make Islamic Law legally valid for all legal cases regardless of time and place. The importance of the interpretation of Islamic Law does not lie in the different legal views held by different jurists with regard to a particular legal case, rather it chiefly resides in the way in which the jurist interprets the law. When interpreting a particular Qurʾānic verse, for instance, the jurist cannot interpret it in isolation. He should, however, consider the verse, its legal and linguistic contexts, its occasion of revelation and all the events that surround the revelation thereof. In other words, a particular legal text never stands on its own according to Islamic legal system, but it is with no doubt influenced by a number of events that scaffold the jurist to extrapolate the most appropriate legal ruling for the legal case in question. Elements of coherence and intertextuality are of utmost significance and should always be in the jurist’s mind during the process of interpretation and extrapolation of legal provisions.

4 Translation of Islamic Law

Language is viewed as the “heart within the body of culture” [ 5 : p. 288]. Culture and language are strongly connected such that the former includes the latter [ 2 : p. 187]. When exercising interlingual translation, differences in linguistics and culture clearly emerge and challenge the translator who becomes required to bridge such gaps between the two languages in question. This is indeed the main foundation on which the majority of research projects on translating and interpreting are intrinsically based [ 9 : p. 201]. More intricacies and complications come to light when a legal text is to be translated from a single language into another, but from a specific legal system into a different legal system. Similar as well as different features between legal systems may exist, a matter which emanates from the difference in legal sources upon which each legal system is built. Engberg [ 6 : p. 11] argues that the search for possible interrelations between the source and target legal systems is considered an important requirement for rendering legal texts from one law into another. Linguistic and cultural problems in legal translation do ipso facto exist due to the difference in legal systems [ 10 : p. 247] and legal cultures.

Islamic Law, like any other law, is replete with a set of legal terms [ 1 : p. 901] with concepts which may not exist in other laws, despite the fact that such legal concepts undergo conceptual developments across different legal systems. This runs in line with Cabanellas [ 4 : p. 78], who asserts that despite the fact that concepts peculiar to legal terms go through certain processes of development across diverse sets of laws, they, however, possess different legal existence in different laws. Consequently, differences in legal systems should be put into consideration by translators in legal translation, as noted by Smith [ 11 : p. 179]. Also, the translator is required to appreciate the accuracy at both word level and sentence level in a legal discourse [ 11 : p. 180]. Based on the foregoing, it seems highly unlikely that there is one-to-one correspondence between terms specific to Islamic legal system and those particular to any legal system written in English, such as Common Law, for instance, as will be addressed by Dr El-Farahaty. However, of course, strategies to surmount such a dilemma are also in place, and legal translators often resort to them to achieve and serve the main purpose for legal translation, for further detail on this issue, please see [ 3 ].

5 Issues Discussed in the Current Issue

The present issue will deal chiefly with Islamic Law, placing special emphasis on five major issues. These lie in the sources of Islamic Law, its interpretation, economics, its finance as well as the translation between it and other laws written in English.

5.1 Issues Related to the Qurʾān and the Interpretation of Its Legal Contents

Professor Abdul-Hakim Almatroudi (University of London, United Kingdom), addresses the Qurʾān as one of the primary sources of Islamic Law, placing special emphasis on the fact that the Qurʾān is interrelated in nature such that its non-legal verses do support its legal issues. He claims that even though a large proportion of the Qurʾān lacks any explicit or implicit legal provisions, it, however, helps establish and support the system of Islamic Law. The contributor has arrived at this conclusion through carrying out profound analysis on the relationship between legal verses and those which do not comprise any legal rulings, assessing, at the same time, certain major themes, namely God, the Prophet and his message as well as the present life and the hereafter.

Dr. Mustafa Shah (University of London, United Kingdom), focuses on a study of the corpus of variae lectiones (Qurʾānic readings) and role that differences among concomitant or two-fold readings played in the interpretation of law. Reviewing the historical processes associated with the textual transmission of the Qurʾān, the contributor assesses the view that these readings were the product of attempts to circumvent legal inconsistencies in the juridical teachings of the Qurʾān. He explores, through an examination of the historical framework of the origin of variae lectiones, and by reference to early literature of grammar, the way jurists interpreted such material. The contributor also reviews different attitudes concerning types of variae lectiones which classical scholars viewed as being anomalous (shādhdha).

Dr. Ramon Harvey (Cambridge Muslim College, United Kingdom), addresses the oral transmission of the Qurʾān, which gives rise to the development of a reading tradition, which leads to diverse vocalizations made on the basis of the main Qurʾānic text of the ʿUthmānī manuscript. Ten readers were chosen by Ibn Al-Jazarī (d. 833/1429) to represent such reading tradition, while the readings of these ten readers are still considered canonical until present. Al-Kisāʾī (d. 189/805) is one of these ten readers, who has been known by his deep focus on the Qurʾānic grammar, compared to the other readers. The contributor discusses the process of selection particular to Al-Kisāʾī when having to choose a specific reading amongst numerous types of readings. He utilizes for his analysis a sample comprising fifty cases in which there are differences between Al-Kisāʾī’s reading and those of the other readers. The contributor claims that it is possible, through carrying out a comparison between Al-Kisāʾī’s reading and the notes given by classical scholars of linguistics of the Qurʾān, to suggest a typology of possible rationale behind Al-Kisāʾī’s differences in his reading from the readings of the others. Such differences in his reading from the readings of others are clearly grounded in grammatical preferences and are consistent. Analysing a range of his readings with the aim of interpreting Islamic Law would further help present the subtlety of his work.

Mr. Shafi Fazaluddin (Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales, qualified 1998, United Kingdom), tackles the concept of conciliation ethics in the Qurʾān as a crucial aspect in Islamic Law, which leads to Islamic legal rulings. It forms an important part in the legal system of Islam, settling disputes among litigant parties. The contributor points out that traditional literature specific to the concept of conciliation in the Qurʾān has often been inclined to the discussion of the process of reconciliation, though Western scholarship has little or no interest in this field. He, examining the notion of conciliation ethics in the Qurʾānic texts, questions its constituents, scope, its focus and purpose. Carrying out a survey on the whole Qurʾān, the contributor claims that the concept of conciliation is not at all restricted to Qurʾānic texts that contain the term ‘ṣulḥ’, rather it is deemed a pervasive notion that exists within social relationships. It is particularly accomplished through good behaviours, positive attitudes, dispute avoidance, etc.

5.2 Abductive Legal Reasoning and Islamic Economic Thought

Dr. Valentino Cattelan (University of Florence, Italy), pinpoints, through the use of Alice in Wonderland as a hermeneutical device in an attempt to search for the logic of Islamic jurisprudence, a crucial divergence in the implementation of abduction as a primary element of inference in Islamic Law between Western and Islamic legal thinking. Specifically, the contributor, through close examination of the relation between law and fact in symbolic terms, accentuates the fact that while Western legal thinking is characterized by having a dichotomy between fact and law, Islamic jurisprudence presents a strong connection between the ‘real’ and the ‘right’ where exercising personal reasoning ‘ijtihād’ in understanding Sharīʿa often leads to the real legal ruling in God’s creation. Based on the foregoing, He claims that if the law is prescribed by Sharīʿa, not only is the legal ruling derived from primary legal sources, but the right shall also be justified by way of a verdict clarifying the fact that has given rise to the law to be implemented in the given instance. Therefore, abduction, the contributor asserts, can offer an account for the nature of Islamic jurisprudence, its ramifications and its function of the tradition as being important factors of the logic of the legal system of Islam. Uncertainty, however, does exist concerning the compatibility between logic of Islamic Law and deductive logic of Modern State Law, which is viewed as a product of Western legal thinking.

Mr. Sami Al-Daghistani (Double PhD candidate, Leiden University and WWU Münster, visiting scholar, MESAAS Columbia University, The Netherlands and Germany), addresses the concept of maṣlaḥa and its connection to the area of Islamic legal and economic thought as discussed by eminent Muslim scholars both in the past and at present time. The contributor indeed seeks to tackle a number of issues, such as the way in which maṣlaḥa may be embodied within Islamic legal reasoning, the type of meaning relayed by maṣlaḥa, the economic and/or legal reading it postulates and the notion of whether or not law, ethics and scriptural sources play an equal role in the development of the concept of maṣlaḥa in economic terms. The concept of maṣlaḥa has always been part of the theory of Islamic Law, but has seldom been tackled within the context of economic thought. The contributor offers a historical account of the legal system of Islam and the concept of maṣlaḥa within the context of Islamic economics, placing special emphasis on the work of AlGhazālī. He then investigates the Islamic economic jurisprudence and Islamic economic theory as understood and discussed by influential theoreticians of economic studies in Islam, with credence lent to the view that Islamic economics is strongly linked to the essence of Islamic legal reasoning. The contributor makes use of Mohammad Al-Sadr’s thoughts in viewing Islamic economics as a principle and not a science. He examines legal foundation of Islam with its normativity, casting lights on the notion that legal norms have been included within Islamic economic reasoning, an idea which resides in the concept that patterns of Islamic Law have been constructed socially alongside certain features of Islamic economic reasoning. He claims that in spite of the fact that literature of Islamic Law and that of Islamic economics are founded on primary Islamic legal and economic sources ‘The Qurʾān and Prophetic Traditions’, they, however, lie in ethical cosmology which is even more than just being an exact theological matter.

5.3 Custom as a Source of Islamic Law and Juristic Views of an Early Andalusian Mālikī Jurist

Dr. Abbas Mehregan (Independent Scholar, Germany), deals with the relationship between law and society and its crucial role played in the formulation of women’s law within Islamic legal system from the sociological point of view. The contributor examines the economic, political and social structures specific to women’s law in the Arabian Peninsula in the pre-Islamic era, presenting certain laws based on Arabs’ customs which were rejected by Islamic Law and others which were modified and then accepted by Islamic jurisprudence. Certain legal issues have been particularly tackled, such as marriage, polygamy, rights to inheritance, blood money, the process of testimony and accepted forms of evidence in legal cases, the system of giving fatwā, the exclusion of women from the judiciary, rules concerning the veil and right of guardianship of children in the case of divorce. The contributor claims, through close examination of the way in which the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) introduces Islamic Law, that custom should be regarded as a source of Islamic Law alongside other commonly known legal sources of Islamic jurisprudence.

Dr. Daniel Vazquez-Paluch (House of Wisdom, United Kingdom), collects the juristic opinions held by an early Andalusian jurist: ʿĪsā ibn Dīnār (d. 212/827), in an attempt to explore and analyse his legal views and thoughts. The contributor closely examines his detailed and explanatory notes and comments written on Almuwaṭṭaʾ as documented in the legal juristic issues which he had elaborated on in Mustakhraj by Alʿutbī (d. 255/869), beside profound analysis of his lengthy discussion with his student Ibn Muzayn. There has been a great focus on the Mālikī Muwaṭṭaʾ in Alandalus since a very early era where the Mālikī School of Law had been the dominant legal authority and Ibn Alqāsim had been the reliable interpreter of the Mālikī Madhhab. The contributor claims that the foregoing represents challenges to Calder’s dating of the Mālikī Muwaṭṭaʾ and Melchert’s dating of Western Mālikism.

5.4 Islamic Finance and Legal Translation Between English and Arabic

Dr. Fahad Al-Zumai and Dr. Mohammed Al-Wasmi (Kuwait University, Kuwait), address the industry of Islamic finance as being relatively new, though growing rapidly to be the prevailing finance industry in the Middle East as well as North Africa. Islamic finance industry is chiefly built upon Sharīʿa provisions, including the prohibition of usury. The contributors point to the emphasis accorded by Islamic Law scholars to the ethical dimension of Islamic finance industry to the extent that it can be viewed as a fruitful solution to the de facto crony capitalism. The present financial crisis has created crucial challenges to the industry of Islamic finance, but has, at the same time, given this industry a golden opportunity to merge into prevailing finance and be an influential industry. The contributors evaluate the industry of Islamic finance in relation to the current financial crisis, in an attempt to explore whether or not the ethical foundation of Islamic finance institutions can distinguish these institutions from conventional finance institutions. They offer a relatively succinct account of finance in Islam, followed by discussion of the governance framework structure of Islamic finance institutions and the crucial role played by the organs thereof. A comparison is made between the ethical construction of Islamic finance institutions and that of conventional finance institutions. The contributors claim that there exists a great ethical failure of the present universal financial system in coping with the current financial crisis.

Dr. Hanem El-Farahaty (University of Leeds and University of Mansoura, United Kingdom and Egypt), addresses the concept of legal translation between English and Arabic as there has been a global pressing need for legal translation due to asylum seeking and immigration reasons, a matter which demands further research to be conducted on this particular field. Owing to the fact that there are clear differences between legal English and legal Arabic at diverse levels, different translation problems often arise when a particular legal text is rendered between the aforementioned languages, ranging from linguistic problems, culture-specific problems to system-bound problems. The contributor examines different ways of rendering lexical elements between legal English and legal Arabic. She explores and analyses different problematic areas in legal translation between English and Arabic, suggesting plausible strategies in coping with such acute translation areas. These include culture-specific and system-bound terms, specialized terms, archaic terms, doublets as well as triplets. The contributor tackles the common problems confronting the translator when rendering a particular legal text from English into Arabic and vice versa, with some light cast on the lexical problems encountered in English–Arabic and Arabic–English legal translation. Also, she presents certain procedures that need to be followed when rendering legal terms between English and Arabic. The contributor claims that the translation of lexical legal terms between English and Arabic demands strong acquaintance with the linguistic and legal systems of both English and Arabic, professional training, well-defined corpora and up-to-date electronic dictionaries.

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Alwazna, R.Y. Islamic Law: Its Sources, Interpretation and the Translation of It into Laws Written in English. Int J Semiot Law 29 , 251–260 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-016-9473-x

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Islamic Law

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, a note about translations, the sources, hadith collections, al-jami' al-kabir li-kutub al-turath (digital book collection), a note about books and catalogues, bibliographies, introductory books in english, introductory books in arabic, related books in the harvard libraries, subject-specific and multidisciplinary indexes for articles, topical journals, legal indexes for journal articles and books (multiple jurisdictions), a note about the sources highlighted, regional sources, saudi arabia, muslim law systems, fatawa - religious rulings, islamic law collections and islamic legal studies programs, subject guide, contact us, introductory sources.

The sources recommended in this guide are only a sample of what's available in our collection on Islamic law.  If you don't see what you need, contact us using the information to the left!  We are available for quick questions or for private research consultation by appointment.

• The Encyclopaedia of Islam Available in print and electronic formats with three editions dating back to 1913.
• Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an Encyclopedia covering all aspects of the Qur’an including qur’anic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis as well as essays on important themes and subjects within qur’anic studies. more... less... English language encyclopedia covering all aspects of the Qur’ān including qur’ānic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis as well as essays on important themes and subjects within qur’ānic studies. This site also includes 62 Early Printed Western Qur’āns Online and the Electronic Qur’ān. Concordance.
• Encyclopaedia of Islam editor-in-chief, M. Mukarram Ahmed
• Encyclopaedia of Islamic law and jurisprudence Multi-volume set: v. 1. Basic aspects of Islamic law; v. 2. Dimensions of Islamic law; v. 3. Islamic law and society; v. 4. Islamic law and family; v. 5. Islamic law and marriage; v. 6. Islamic law and divorce; v. 7. Islamic law and security; v. 8. Islamic law and criminology; v. 9. Jurisprudence under Islamic law; v. 10. Islamic law and endowment; v. 11. Islamic law and human rights
• Encyclopaedia of Islamic law v. 1. Concepts of Islamic law; v. 2. Foundations of Islamic law; v. 3. Islamic law in practice; v. 4. Civil law in Islam; v. 5. Family law in Islam; v. 6. Law of marriage and divorce in Islam; v. 7. Law of Waqf in Islam; v. 8. Criminal law in Islam; v. 9. Jurisprudence in Islam; v. 10. Law of governance in Islam
• Encyclopedia of Islamic law: a compendium of the views of the major schools Based on two main Arabic sources: al-Fiqh alal madhdhab al-arbaah and al-Fiqh alal madhdhab al-khamsa
• Oxford Islamic Studies Online This authoritative, dynamic resource brings together the best current scholarship in the field for students, scholars, government officials, community groups, and librarians to foster a more accurate and informed understanding of the Islamic world. Oxford Islamic Studies Online features reference content and commentary by renowned scholars in areas such as global Islamic history, concepts, people, practices, politics, and culture, and is regularly updated as new content is commissioned and approved. more... less... Oxford Islamic Studies Online features articles, biographies, primary texts, Qur'anic materials, and books by scholars in areas such as global Islamic history, concepts, people, practices, politics, and culture. Articles come from The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, The Islamic World: Past and Present, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, The Oxford History of Islam, and What Everyone Needs To Know About Islam. The Koran Interpreted (a verse translation by A.J. Arberry) and The Qur'an (a prose translation by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem) are included, as is the first electronic version of Hanna E. Kassis's A Concordance of the Qur'an.

• A dictionary of Islam by Thomas Patrick Hughes
• Qāmūs al-muṣṭalaḥāt al-dīnīyah = Dictionary of religious terms / ʻIzz al-Dīn Muḥammad Najīb
• "Hukukı islâmiyye ve ıstılahatı fıkhiyye" kamusu / Ömer Nasûhi Bilmen In Turkish, with some Arabic text.
• Muʻjam muṣṭalaḥāt alfāẓ al-fiqh al-Islāmī / Sāʼir Baṣmahʹjī
• Farhang-i vāzhagān va iṣṭilāḥāt-i Islāmī / Parvīz Āzhīdah Persian and English.
• Muʻjam al-muṣṭalaḥāt al-fiqhīyah / taʾlīf Ibrāhīm Ismāʻīl al-Shahrakānī
• Farhang-i fiqh : muṭābiq-i maẕhab-i ahl-i bayt, ʻalayhim al-salām / taḥqīq va taʼlīf Mūʾassasah-i Dāʻirat al-Maʻārif-i Fiqh-i Islāmī ; zīr-i naẓar-i Maḥmūd Hāshimī Shāhrūdī

Primary Sources - Qur'an and Hadith

There are many authoritative translations in other languages available in our collection.  Please consult the reference staff if you have a specific title or would like to inquire about translations in another language.

The sources of Islamic Law are the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the traditions of the Prophet).   Most of these texts have been digitized in various translations and are available on the web. 

In addition to the web collections below, the Harvard University Libraries hold tremendous collections on the sources--in Arabic and English as well as Western European Languages.   Please consult HOLLIS or a reference librarian for further assistance.

• The Noble Qur'an Translations of the Qur'an.
• Al-Tafsir.com Translations of the Holy Qur’an in various languages. Please note that not all of the following translations are authentic.
• The Holy Qur'an : text, translation & commentary / by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. English and Arabic in parallel columns.
• The Gracious Quran : a modern-phrased interpretation in English / Ahmad Zaki Hammad. Arabic-English parallel ed.
• Collections of Ahadith Collections include: Sahih Bukhari صحيح البخاري Sahih Muslim صحيح مسلم Sunan al-Nasa'i سنن النسائي Sunan Abi Dawud سنن أبي داود Jami` al-Tirmidhi جامع الترمذي Sunan ibn Majah سنن ابن ماجه
• al-Jāmiʻ al-kabīr li-kutub al-turāth al-Islāmī wa-al-ʻArabī [CD-ROM] : akthar min 30000 mujallad ḥāsūbī, akthar min 2600 ʻunwān kitāb, akthar min 1400 ʻunwān yanfaridu bi-hi al-barnāmaj, al-iṣdār 5.0, al-naskhah al-dhahabīyah al-muṭawwarah, 9Extrenal H.D) A large collection of Islamic and Arabic heritage books Ver 5.0. Law School Islamic Ref - hard disk is installed on both PCs next to Islamic Law Collection in L1N.

A good place to start is the Harvard online public catalogue called Hollis .  General books dealing with Islamic law are catalogued under Islamic Law .   Other topics are catalogued with the topic-- marriage for example and Islamic law.  To find the application of Islamic law in a specific country, search for Islamic Law and a particular country like Egypt .   At Harvard, most materials on Islamic law will be found in HLSL, Widener and Andover-Harvard Theological Library . If you are interested in knowing about books at other libraries, WorldCat is an excellent resource.  Here you will access to the collections at major research libraries all over the world.  Search terms are the same as for Hollis.

• Islamic Law: A Bibliography of Recent Works Published in English This bibliography covers English-language books and articles within books that discuss Islamic law. The titles have all been published since 2003 and are held in the Library of Congress. The listing is divided into three sections: works on Islamic law in general, works on the history of Islamic law, and works devoted to a specific area of law.
• Oxford Bibliography on Hadith by J.A.C. Brown Lists major hadith collections in Arabic and translations.
• An Introduction to Islamic Law by Joseph Schacht
• An introduction to Islamic law by Wael B. Hallaq
• A history of Islamic law by N.J. Coulson
• Between God and the sultan : a history of Islamic law by Knut Vikør
• Islamic law : from historical foundations to contemporary practice by Mawil Izzi Dien
• al-Madkhal ilá dirāsat al-Sharīʻah al-Islāmīyah / Rābiḥ Bin Gharīb
• al-Madkhal li-dirāsat al-fiqh al-Islāmī / li-Ṣalāḥ Muḥammad Abū al-Ḥājj
• al-Sharīʻah al-Islāmīyah kamāl fī al-dīn wa-tamām lil-niʻmah / Muḥammad Riyāḍ
• al-Madkhal ilá al-sharīʻah wa-al-fiqh al-Islāmī / ʻUmar Sulaymān al-Ashqar
• Madkhal li-dirāsāt al-sharīʻah al-Islāmīyah / Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī
• Materials from the Harvard libraries on Islamic law and jurisprudence Preset catalog search so you can browse the Harvard libraries' collection.
• Islamic Manuscripts (HathiTrust Digital Library) Over 900 Islamic manuscripts from U. of Michigan.
• Index Islamicus, 1665-1905: a bibliography of articles on Islamic subjects in periodicals and other collective publications Print edition of the above index for earlier years (1665-1905).
• JSTOR This full-text database spans many disciplines, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. more... less... Includes all titles in the JSTOR collection, excluding recent issues. JSTOR (www.jstor.org) is a not-for-profit organization with a dual mission to create and maintain a trusted archive of important scholarly journals, and to provide access to these journals as widely as possible. Content in JSTOR spans many disciplines, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. For complete lists of titles and collections, please refer to http://www.jstor.org/about/collection.list.html.
• PAIS International (Harvard Login) Multidisciplinary resource. "PAIS indexes publications in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. The database is comprised of abstracts of thousands of journal articles, books, directories, conference proceedings, government documents and statistical yearbooks." more... less... PAIS International indexes the public and social policy literature of public administration, political science, economics, finance, international relations, law, and health care, International in scope, PAIS indexes publications in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. The database is comprised of abstracts of thousands of journal articles, books, directories, conference proceedings, government documents and statistical yearbooks.
• Academic Search Premier (Harvard Login) A multi-disciplinary database that includes citations and abstracts from over 4,700 scholarly publications (journals, magazines and newspapers). more... less... Academic Search Premier (ASP) is a multi-disciplinary database that includes citations and abstracts from over 4,700 scholarly publications (journals, magazines and newspapers). Full text is available for more than 3,600 of the publications and is searchable.
• Islam in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa The bibliography contains several thousand references to secondary literature in European languages about Islam in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa, published between 1960 to 2005. more... less... The bibliography of Islam in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa has been prepared in conjunction with the African Studies Centre (ASC) and the Centre d’Etude d’Afrique Noire project “Islam, the Disengagement of the State, and Globalization in Sub-Saharan Africa,” that was funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which resulted in a Conference held at the UNESCO in May 2005. ####The bibliography contains several thousand references to secondary literature in European languages about Islam in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa, published between 1960 to 2005. Many of the entries also have abstracts produced by the ASC library. Select entries have abstracts from the authors, publishers, and journals themselves.
• Berkeley Journal of Middle Eastern & Islamic law The Berkeley Journal of Middle Eastern & Islamic Law is a US-based law journal that covers relevant topics in Middle Eastern, Islamic, and comparative law.
• Arab law quarterly Published on behalf of: the Society of Arab Comparative and International Law.
• Islamic law and society Provides a forum for research in the field of classical and modern Islamic law, in Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Articles are published in French or English.
• UCLA journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law The UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law contains the full text of documents that are dedicated to the scholarly review of legal issues that are of importance to Muslims and Near Easterners.
• The journal of Islamic law & culture The Journal of Islamic Law & Culture contains the full text of documents that are dedicated to the understanding of Islamic law and culture in America's legal, religious, and Muslim communities.
• Majallat al-sharīʻah wa-al-dirāsāt al-Islāmīyah Alternate title: Journal of shari’a and Islamic studies. Articles are mainly in Arabic with some in English.
• Islamic Law & Law of the Muslim World eJournal The only Social Science Research Network (SSRN) journal that focuses on this area of law, the Islamic Law and Law of the Muslim World Research Paper Series at New York Law School.

Legal periodical indexes generally only allow you to search the title, citation, abstract, keywords (sometimes author-supplied), and subject terms given to a journal article, rather than the full text.  A benefit to using a legal periodical index is that it will include all issues and volumes of a given journal, without any gaps in coverage, back to a certain date. (For example, Legaltrac's contents go back to 1980.  Full text databases can have gaps in coverage, sometimes many years' worth, for an individual journal.

• Index to Legal Periodicals and Books [Harvard Law only] Provides citations to articles in over 800 legal periodicals such as law reviews, bar association journals, yearbooks, institutes, and government publications from August 1981 to the present. Focus of content is mainly on journals from Anglo-American countries.
• Legal Journals Index, only on Westlaw [Harvard Law only] Indexes articles from legal journals published in the United Kingdom and Europe as well as journals covering topics pertaining to the laws of the European Community and its Member States. Coverage is from 1986 to present.
• Le Doctrinal Indexes French language law journals.

Domestic Legal Systems

This tab includes the sources on opinions, judgments and finding aids such as digests or indexes from the various states with Islamic law component (historical and/or contemporary).  Most of the compilations include domestic relations cases in the vernacular and English translations, if available.

• al-Fatāwá al-Islāmīyah min Dār al-Iftāʼ al-Miṣrīyah Fatwas issued by Dār al-Iftāʼ al-Miṣrīyah. 39 volume set; coverage period 1895-2012
• Official Gazette - al-Jarīdah al-rasmīyah
• al-Maḥkamah al-Dustūrīyah al-ʻUlyā - Egyptian Constitutional Court cases Egyptian Constitutional Court cases are also available on the Court's website, http://hccourt.gov.eg/Pages/Rules/Rules_Search.aspx.
• Mawsūʻat al-fatāwá al-muʼaṣṣalah min Dār al-Iftāʼ al-Miṣrīyah Fatwas issued by Dār al-Iftāʼ al-Miṣrīyah. Coverage 2013 supplements the above set.
• Himpunan putusan kasasi peradilan agama Supreme Court’s decisions in cases involving Islamic family law for Indonesian Muslims. Published in 2001.
• Himpunan putusan kasasi peradilan agama Supreme Court’s decisions in cases involving Islamic family law for Indonesian Muslims. Published in 2000.
• Official Gazette - Rūznāmah-ʾi rasmī-i Jumhūrī-i Islāmī-i Īrān. Official Gazette
• Ḥudūd : jarāʼim-i khilāf-i akhlāq-i ḥasanah
• Iran Criminal Code
• al-Qarārāt al-istiʾnāfīyah fī al-aḥwāl al-shakhṣīyah
• al-Qaḍāʼ al-sharʻī al-Jaʻfarī: ijtihādāt - nuṣūṣ
• Muṭālaʻāt al-niyābah al-ʻāmmah al-istiʼnāfīyah ladá al-maḥkamah al-Sharʻīyah al-Sunnīyah al-ʻUlyā
• Shariah law reports Quarterly case reporter of Malaysian shariah judgments.
• Mudawwanat al-usrah wa-al-ʻamal al-qaḍāʾī al-Maghribī Covers cases on domestic relations.
• Toma Legal Retrieve IP access. Access may be limited to users with a valid Harvard ID. Full text of all legislation in force (1990- ); full text of selected judgments of Court of Appeal of Nigeria, federal high courts of Nigeria, and states’ high courts of Nigeria; legal precedents and business letters; Supreme Court of Nigeria judgments (1956- ); investment, petroleum, company, and taxation laws of Nigeria; court rules; judgments of West African Court of Appeal (WACA) and appeals from WACA to Privy Council.
• 37 years’ excellent digest on family laws, 1961 to 1997: with digest of Islamic laws on family matters
• Complete digest on Mahomedan law
• Select ruling on family laws in Pakistan
• Twenty eight years’ digest on Muslim laws, 1947-1974 : containing custody of minor, dower, gift, guardianship, maintenance, marriage, pre-emption. Muslim personal law (Shariat) application act (X of 1973), Muslim family laws ordinance (VIII of 1961)
• The Board of Quazis’ law reports: with a digest Cases from the Board of Quazis from 2001-2010 on domestic relations.
• al-Mawsūʻah al-ḥadīthah fī al-anẓimah al-Saʻūdīyah
• Istanbul Kadi Sicilleri Available in print and searchable online, http://www.kadisicilleri.org/index.php, this 40-volume set includes Istanbul court records from the Ottoman period.

Other Resources

Muslim Law Systems and Mixed Systems with a Muslim Law Tradition provided by University of Ottawa

• JuriGlobe - World Legal Systems
• Fatawa - Muslim World League (Makkah) The Muslim World League was founded in accordance with a resolution adopted during the meeting of the General Islamic Conference, which was held in Holy Makkah on the 14th of Dhul Hijjah 1381 Hijra corresponding to the 18th May 1962. Affiliations: - The United Nations Organization: Observer in consultative status with the ECOSOC. - Organization of the Islamic Conference: Observe status in attendance at all meetings and conferences. - ISESCO: Member - UNICEF: Member
• Islamic Legal Studies Program (Harvard Law School) Harvard Law School's Islamic Legal Studies Program (ILSP), established in 1991, is a research program that seeks to advance knowledge and understanding of Islamic law. As stated in its statement of objectives (incorporated into the terms of its major grants), the Program is dedicated to achieving excellence in the study of Islamic law through objective and comparative methods. It aims to foster an atmosphere of open inquiry that embraces many perspectives: Muslim and non-Muslim, scholar and practitioner, contemporary and classical, Sunni and Shi'i, law and religion. It seeks to promote appreciation of Islamic law as one of the world's major legal systems.
• Bibliographic Resources for Middle East & Islamic Studies (Columbia University) This is a selective guide to major reference resources on Middle Eastern history, religion, literature, politics, and culture, available at Columbia University Libraries. The guide includes encyclopedias, biographical and subject-specific dictionaries, foreign-language dictionaries, research guides and subject bibliographies, and relevant databases for periodical articles and other writings.
• Islamic Heritage Project IHP is a multi-disciplinary collection of high-quality digital reproductions of more than 270 Islamic manuscripts, more than 300 published texts, and 58 maps from Harvard's renowned library and museum collections. Subjects represented include religious texts and commentaries; Sufism; history, geography, law, and the sciences (astronomy, astrology, mathematics, medicine); poetry and literature; rhetoric, logic, and philosophy; calligraphy, dictionaries and grammar, as well as biographies and autobiographical works. Coverage 10th-20th centuries CE. more... less... IHP is a multi-disciplinary collection of high-quality digital reproductions of more than 270 Islamic manuscripts, more than 300 published texts, and 58 maps from Harvard's renowned library and museum collections. Subjects represented include religious texts and commentaries; Sufism; history, geography, law, and the sciences (astronomy, astrology, mathematics, medicine); poetry and literature; rhetoric, logic, and philosophy; calligraphy, dictionaries and grammar, as well as biographies and autobiographical works.
• Islamic Manuscripts Cataloging Project (Princeton University) Online Cataloging for the New Series of Islamic Manuscripts at Princeton Cataloging is now available online for the entire collection of the nearly 2200 manuscripts comprising the New Series of Islamic Manuscripts in the Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library. The New Series constitutes the premier collection of predominantly Shi`ite manuscripts in the Western Hemisphere and among the finest in the world. The online records have been created as part of the Islamic Manuscripts Cataloging and Digitization Project, to improve access to these rich collections and share them worldwide through digital technology. Researchers can now locate Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish manuscripts by searching the Library’s online catalog: http://catalog.princeton.edu.

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• Last Updated: Apr 12, 2024 4:50 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/islamiclaw

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• DOI: 10.58812/wsiss.v1i01.284
• Corpus ID: 266949589

Comparison Between Islamic Law and Positive Law in a Judicial Context

• Suprijati Sarib , Syarifuddin , Sabil Mokodenseho
• Published in West Science Islamic Studies 31 October 2023
• Law, Political Science
• West Science Islamic Studies

2 Citations

Legal pluralism in contemporary societies: dynamics of interaction between islamic law and secular civil law, public understanding of the implementation of islamic law in the context of modern life in indonesia, 32 references, qualitative study of the role of islamic law in shaping muslim identity and business ethics, mainstreaming justice in the establishment of laws and regulations process: comparing case in indonesia, malaysia, and australia, legal syncretism or the theory of unity in diversity as an alternative to legal pluralism in indonesia, from living law to national law: theoretical reconstruction of applying islamic law in indonesia, indonesian positive law and islamic criminal law: which is the most comprehensive regulation on anti-corruption, restorative justice-based criminal case resolution in salatiga, indonesia: islamic law perspective and legal objectives, legal protection for termination of employment in the era of covid-19 pandemic (comparative study of islamic law and positive law in indonesia), between adat law and living law: an illusion of customary law incorporation into indonesia penal system, the relationship between religion and the state in indonesia, and its relation to islamic law, maintaining the plurality and sacred value of islamic law through the existence of the sharia banking law, related papers.

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'Understanding Islamic Law' book thoroughly updates text on changing legal world

Thu, 07/20/2023.

Mike Krings

LAWRENCE — The world has changed radically since 2016. The COVID-19 pandemic, Trump presidency, dissolution of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, re-emergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and continued Iran nuclear showdown are among several happenings that have profoundly influenced the Islamic legal world. A University of Kansas international trade law expert has written the third edition of his landmark 2011 text, “Understanding Islamic Law (Shari’a),” thoroughly updating it to account for the shifting legal and geopolitical landscape.

Raj Bhala, Brenneisen Distinguished Professor of Law at KU, spent six years on the latest edition of his comprehensive textbook on Islamic law. Its previous two editions have been used globally: They are noted for the thorough coverage of the history, religion and law of Islam, and he is known as the first non-Muslim American legal scholar to offer such a work. The textbook contains updates to all previous chapters, plus several new chapters exploring Islamic constitutions, changes in and debates about Islamic law, and related topics for law students, professors, practicing lawyers, politicians, diplomats, and interested readers.  The second edition was published in 2016.

Among the updated content is the edition’s first analysis of constitutions of countries that practice Islamic law, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the origins, nature and ideology of the Taliban and its return to power in Afghanistan. Unlike previous editions, this one is accompanied by a publicly accessible website maintained by the publisher, Carolina Academic Press, for further updating. On the website, for example, is a comprehensive tabular summary of America’s longest war, the 20-year Afghan conflict.

“I personally find, and I think many Americans would find, Iran a very interesting case study, given the ongoing, unsteady relationship our countries have had,” Bhala said. “It teaches us a lot about the structure of the Islamic government, and I think it’s good to understand. Lawyers are supposed to be problem solvers, and we need to understand the other side and their thinking – empathize, but not necessarily sympathize — to do that.”

Likewise, the full-circle story of the rise, fall and rise again of the Taliban, coupled with the counter-cyclical exit, entry and withdrawal of American forces, contains lessons in dealing with violent extremist organizations. Bhala examined what that means not only for the nation the hard-line group now governs, but also for those with legal, economic and diplomatic relationships with them. The topic is especially relevant to him as he has taught U.S. Special Forces at Fort Leavenworth for nearly a decade.

“It’s made me wonder, ‘Where is Shari’a headed?’ To me you have no clear trends across the board,” Bhala said. “But it’s heartbreaking to see a violent extremist organization and put things back to where they were before 9/11.”

The textbook also explores contemporary topics such as blasphemy and how it relates to events such as the recent attack on author Salman Rushdie, and alcohol sales in Islamic countries and the fraught issues they can cause, as illustrated by the recent World Cup held in Qatar.

The new third edition, available as an e-book, also takes a look at idiosyncratic governmental developments and their effects on law, such as Islamization of governance in Turkey, but not in Malaysia.

“Understanding Islamic Law (Shari’a)” is necessarily more than a legal textbook, because Islamic law is more than a legal system, according to Bhala It has a rich history, and it is rooted in one of the world’s great religions. So, one need not be a law student or professor, or an attorney to benefit from its contents. The interdisciplinary book is of appeal to those working in business, such as Shari’a-compliant investing, the diplomatic corps, such as the U.S. State Department or foreign ministries in other countries, and humanitarian groups or NGOs that deal with or operate within Islamic countries, Bhala said.

Additionally, those entering the field of international law or practitioners — such as new or long-standing members of the International Bar Association, those working with or within Islamic judicial systems, or seasoned scholars and practitioners within Islamic countries who want to know how Islamic legal issues are viewed in the non-Muslim west — all can find material relevant to their inquiries.

“This remains the only comprehensive textbook that is designed to have everything in one place and assumes no prior knowledge of Islamic law or languages,” Bhala said. “If you want to do a survey or specialty course, or just understand this amazing subject, this is the book.”

Top image: Raj Bhala teaching. Image credit: KU Marketing

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4 A Theory of Islamic Peaceful Resolution of Disputes

• Published: November 2019
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The theory of Islamic Peaceful Resolution of Disputes discusses four distinct legal features that define Islamic law states’ most preferred form of social interaction: a unique logic of Islamic justice, nonconfrontational dispute settlement (sulh), collective embeddedness of the third party, and incorporation of Islamic religious principles into the resolution process. The chapter describes characteristics of negotiations, international non-binding (conciliation, mediation) and binding methods (arbitration, adjudication). Islamic law states engage in forum shopping because of uncertainty associated with dispute resolution. Their preferences toward international resolution methods are not constant across space and time, but depend on the balance between Islamic law and secular law in their domestic legal systems. ILS whose legal systems are deeply infused with tenets of Islamic law embrace international settlement venues that resemble traditional Islamic law: conciliation and mediation. States whose domestic legal systems embrace secular features are drawn to binding resolution methods: arbitration and adjudication.

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Program in Islamic Law

Call for Papers: Journal of Islamic Law Special Issue

The  Journal of Islamic Law   invites papers that explore encounters between Islamic law and other legal traditions from the 18th through mid-20th centuries. Scholarship on encounters mostly focuses on colonial history, presenting a defeating view of shari’a, seen as having “died” against the intruding forces of colonialism. Indeed, European colonialism greatly affected the operation of Islamic law. Colonial officials, targeting the ulema and the courts, transformed the foundational practices and institutions on which the Islamic legal tradition rested. Yet, it is worth revisiting how Islamic law operated given its flexible nature and the agency of its actors. For example—with some exceptions—we know little about processes of negotiation, dependence, borrowing, jurisdictional jockeying, forum shopping, and entanglements between Islamic legal practices and those of other legal systems. Furthermore, a scholarly understanding of encounters between Islamic law and other legal traditions would greatly benefit from explorations of other regional and temporal spaces—and not just European colonialism—where legal encounters unfolded. This special issue is interested in hosting works on such legal encounters broadly from the 18th to the mid-20th century. Thematically, it seeks to present scholarship that looks at metamorphosis, borrowing, and dialogue between Islamic law or shari’a and other legal traditions in the context of foreign/external influences, colonial powers, and imperial interactions.

We seek articles of  up to 25,000 words.  To signal interest, please submit a proposed title and abstract of  250-500 words  by  November 18, 2022 , using our  online submissions portal . Once accepted, soon thereafter, the  deadline for the submission of full drafts is February 1, 2023 , after which we will go through a process of peer review, a final decision on acceptance, and editing and publication. This special issue of the Journal of Islamic Law is edited by  Dilyara Agisheva  ( [email protected] ), Research Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Program in Islamic Law, and will be published in Spring/Summer 2023. For further questions, please contact us at [email protected] .

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Muslim Personal Law and Gender Equality Concerns in India

Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, Volume 162, International Conference on Law and Justice (ICLJ 2017) doi. 10.2991/iclj-17.2018.2

5 Pages Posted: 3 May 2018

Saadiya Suleman

Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia; Symbiosis International University - Symbiosis Law School, Noida

Date Written: April 17, 2018

Personal laws are mired with controversies on questions of gender equality. In India, where each community is governed by its own sets of personal laws, Muslim Personal Law, especially, is perceived to further gender inequality. This paper analyses such gender inequality concerns about the Muslim personal laws in context of property rights and right of dissolution of marriage. This paper argues that gender inequality in India stems from deep rooted cultural patriarchy without having any religious backing and such inequality is further endorsed by discriminatory laws. This paper argues that the despicable condition of Muslim women in India is due to ignorance of usul-ul-fiqh because of which they do not assert the rights guaranteed to them by Islam. Lack of knowledge of usul-ul-fiqh perpetuates the prevalent popular misconception of Muslim personal law as being oppressive to woman when in reality it gives them equal rights.

Keywords: Muslim personal law, India, Gender equality, Islam

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Saadiya Suleman (Contact Author)

Faculty of law, jamia millia islamia.

Jamia Nagar Jamia Millia Islamia(Centre University) New Delhi, Delhi 110025 India

Symbiosis International University - Symbiosis Law School, Noida ( email )

Block A 47/48, Sector-62 SLS-NOIDA Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301 India

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