Recent uclalaw_jinel items

A Brief Survey of the History of Iranian Jurisprudence and the Evolution of Iran's Legal System

Wed, 4 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The following paper will provide a condensed, yet comprehensive overview of the Iranian legal system from the 19th century up to the present day. Its focus will be on both the history of Iranian jurisprudence as well as the evolution of Iran’s legal system. We will examine three specific periods in order to illustrate how the legal system has evolved. These periods include: the Qajar period during the 19th century, prior to the Constitutional Revolution of 1906; the period following the Constitutional Revolution of 1906 and the establishment of the Pahlavi Dynasty; and finally, the period following the Islamic Revolution of 1979 up to the 21st century.

Front Matter

Wed, 4 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Front Matter

The U.S. Constitutional Case "Lochner" in the the Eyes of Islamic Law: Similarities, Differences, Employment Law Values

Wed, 4 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This Article aims to answer two main research questions. The first examines the similarities and differences between the Lochner case and Islamic law to determine whether Islamic law has any counterparts or parallels to Lochne r jurisprudence.

The second research question focuses on examining the core values of the employment relationship, as viewed in both the Lochner case and Islamic legal thought.

To clarify the first question, this Article discusses two themes in Islamic law: government intervention in pricing and its ability to enforce taxes. It additionally considers Al-Hisba legal system as a complementary part of the “pricing” theme. Similarly, the waqf (endowment) system is a fundamental part of discussing the rule of taxes. Regarding the second question, this Article references various Islamic law rulings to illustrate the different core values from both the Lochner case and Islamic law perspectives. Islamic law shares some similarities with Lochner case...

Governance and Constitutionalism in the End Times: A Comparative Study of Islamic Theories

Wed, 4 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Theories of apocalyptic government (the global polity that will govern humanity in the End Times) provide an important lens for differentiating political movements and understanding their legal and political ambitions. These theories comprise a range of questions: What is the time span of the final government—i.e., how long will humanity survive before universal annihilation? Will the final government involve separation of powers? Will its form be democratic, autocratic, socialist, or otherwise? Will it preserve the boundaries of nation-states? How will it relate to existing supranational political entities, such as the United Nations? How will the political leadership be constituted, including its mechanisms of succession? How will its administrative and bureaucratic apparatus be organized? This Article considers such questions within the Islamic context by examining four case studies: (1) the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (“ISIS”), (2) Muḥammad ‘Īsa Dāwūd and his “Awaited...

Uniformity and Standardized Flexibility Under the CISG: Options for Newly Acceding Contracting States Observing Islamic Law

Wed, 4 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Uniformity and Standardized Flexibility Under the CISG: Options for Newly Acceding Contracting States Observing Islamic Law

Comparative Analysis of Islamic Commercial Laws and Modern Banking Law Trends

Wed, 4 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article presents a critical examination of Islamic commercial laws as compared to modern banking rules. The analysis underscores the impact of Islamic banking, its revival, and how its globalization has changed the way of banking in different eras. This article analyses the core concept, meaning, origin and background of Islamic banking laws and focuses on the main principles of Islamic contracts that guide the agreement between parties and ensure smooth functioning of businesses. The overall argument of this article is to reinforce the need and significance of Islamic commercial law as a tool to encourage faithful business conducted in a way which benefits all parties to a contract. By comparing both models of Islamic and conventional banking transactions, this article argues that Shari’ah not only aligns with modern business practices, but also encourages fairness, transparency and accountability. Applications of Islamic commercial law ensure ethical conduct in trading...

Navigating Humanitarian and Human Dignity During Ongoing Violence in Gaza

Wed, 4 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Not merely a philosophical concept, human dignity is a legal and moral imperative—especially in times of conflict, mass displacement, and ethnic cleansing. Looking to the ongoing Gaza Genocide, the denial of dignity and humanitarian aid has become a calculated weapon of war. This Article builds on dignity frameworks and contemporary human rights law to argue that humanitarian aid is an obligation rooted in law and the inherent dignity of the Palestinian people. It critiques the Israeli occupation’s deliberate withholding of aid as a way to dehumanize Palestinians, while also exploring the legal, philosophical, and practical dimensions of how dignity-centered aid can restore not just survival, but agency and justice.

Gazans have endured decades of illegal besiegement where they are both recipients of heavily restricted aid and victims of a system designed to strip them of their autonomy. Israeli officials have explicitly weaponized aid; Defense Minister Yoav Gallant even...

Mughals, Ottomans, and the Question of "Codes" in Islamic Legal History: The Case of the Fatāwā-yi ʿĀlamgīrī (al-Fatāwā al-Hindīyya) from Early Modern Roots to Modern Legacies

Wed, 4 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

As Mughal territorial expansion reached its zenith in the mid-seventeenth century, Shah Aurangzeb ʿAlamgir commissioned a grand council of Muslim legal scholars with a weighty purpose: to compile a comprehensive manual for the use of governors and judges across his Indian empire. Titled after its royal patron, the Fatāwā-yi ʿĀlamgīrī (1672) has in the three centuries since generated a robust commentary and gloss literature in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu. Better known as the Fatāwā Hindīyya in Turkey, the Balkans, and Arab world, the text is considered an authoritative restatement of Hanafi doctrine on a range of devotional, legal, and public administrative questions until this day. Yet, relative to renowned Ottoman “codes” also based on Hanafi fiqh like the Mecelle (1869–1876), there appears to be comparatively less scholarly work on how Mughal law and statecraft engaged the Islamic juristic devices of sīyāsa (public policy) and taqnīn (codification), which this...

Political Legitimacy and the "Public Good" in Islamic Jurisprudence

Wed, 4 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Campaigns highlighting the alleged incompatibility of the Islamic polity with principles of democratic self-governance are longstanding. The basic assumption of the incompatibalist proposition runs as follows: Political legitimacy in Muslim polities can be reduced to a principle of conformity with a set of divinely given rules and norms, the Sharīʿa, occasionally supplemented, and interpreted, by Islamic legal scholars and practitioners. In short, political Islam recognizes the Sharīʿa and Usūl al-fiqh (or, for the purposes of this essay, fiqh, for short) as the Islamic polity’s foundations––those are deemed incompatible with democratic participation. In response, Mohammad Fadel (2018) has argued that the legal instrument of maṣlaḥa, which Fadel summarizes as considerations of the “public good” or “general interest,” can establish the democratic accountability mechanism that critics see missing in political authorities of Sharīʿa–grounded polities. Fadel...

When the Earth is Shaken: Ecocide in the Islamic Tradition

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This paper aims to explore what this responsibility entails with regard to the conservation of the natural balance and the protection of non-human and non-human-made aspects of creation: the natural environment. In doing so, it will explore the possible common ground between the Islamic perspectives and the contemporary call for an international prohibition of the destruction of the natural environment, also known as the call for the prohibition of ecocide. In order to get a clear view of the definition of ecocide and to limit and frame the dive into the Islamic tradition, I will first explore the contemporary call for ecocide law. Then I will revisit the Islamic tradition with a specific focus on historical and contemporary Islamic discourses and practices on ecocide.

Front Matter

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Front Matter

Invalid and Defective Contracts in Islamic Legal Theory: The Rise of a Transnational Islamic Law

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

There are three types of contracts under Islamic law: ṣaḥīḥ, fāsid and bāṭil. Contracts whose essence and attributes are lawful and which have no defects in their elements (aṣl) or characteristics (waṣf) are termed ṣaḥīḥ (valid). It should be stated that in respect of fāsid contracts only the waṣf may be defective, whereas in respect of bāṭil contracts the aṣl of the contract may also be defective. Fāsid is a type of contract permitted by its intrinsic characteristics but not its features. Its irregularity negates its validity, which if cured would make this type of contract valid. The concept of bāṭil relates to a contract whose elements and characteristics are devoid of legality. This difference between fāsid and bāṭil results in a difference of effects. Each of these contracts are divided into different types. Sometimes, the conditions incorporated...

Testing the Constitutional Limits of the UN Charter: Applying a Contemporary Interpretation of the Uniting for Peace Resolution in Syria

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This Paper contends that without accountability for the atrocity crimes committed by the Assad regime, there is no chance that the Syrian people will experience an enduring peace. And when it comes to sequencing justice and peace, justice must—at least as it pertains to Syria—be underway in some manner before a transitional peace process is implemented. In support of this theory, this Paper argues that a resurrection and fresh interpretation of UN General Assembly Resolution 377(V)—the Uniting for Peace Resolution—can best-serve as an avenue for international law to prevail over international politics. In light of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, this Paper builds off the momentum that has been gained in the debate over the balance of power in the United Nations (UN) between the Security Council and the General Assembly. Specifically, a contemporary analysis of the chemistry between the Uniting for Peace Resolution and the UN Charter has become increasingly relevant. Accordingly,...

Analysis of Women's Freedom of Movement and Employment Rights, Pre- and Post-Marriage in Iran

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

According to Iranian family law, marriage restricts women’s rights to employment and freedom of movement. Under specific circumstances, the exercise of these rights is subject to the spouse’s consent. This unbalanced power relation between spouses can be rectified in three ways: reforming existing laws, judicial intervention, and contracts. This article illustrates that the first two solutions are not feasible in Iran’s legal regime. At the same time, marriage contracts allow the parties to lift legal discrimination and agree on equal rights by mutual consent. Case law, jurisprudential and legal principles show that contracts’ potential can reform the status quo more effectively. The conventional Islamic family forms different rights and duties for spouses. These are unbalanced leverages that lubricate family law controversies. Accordingly, this article argues that marriage contracts can balance these forces and create both equality and equilibrium in the family.

Balancing Punishment in Jewish Law: Examining Conflicting Purposes and Inconsistencies within Modern Judaism

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Jewish law—the halakha atop its Pentateuchal understructure (the ‘Written Law’) and its Mishnaic and Talmudic elaboration (the ‘Oral Law’ or ‘Oral Torah’)—is unique in multiple key respects. Its stringent evidentiary and procedural restrictions often prevent conviction of the guilty and entailed the establishment of two pragmatic complementary legal systems—‘the King’s justice’ and ‘courts that administer punishments and beatings without regard to Torah’—that grant the monarch and the judiciary broad discretion to punish as they deem fit. And while modern codes focus on crimes against persons, Jewish law also centers on crimes against God. Many contemporary scholars conclude that the deistic character of Jewish law and its reliance on complementary legal systems rules it out as a model for secular law. If this is so, Jewish law will have nothing to contribute to discussions regarding capital punishment and other crucial topics. We argue contrarily, seeing Jewish law as a pragmatic...

From Gold to Paper: The Applicability of Ribā to Modern Currencies in Shāfiʿī Jurisprudence

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines the Shāfiʿī school’s position on ribā in contemporary fiat currencies. It analyzes the definition of ribā, the underlying legal rationale for its prohibition (ʿillah), and engages with historical debates on the valuation of currencies and the applicability of ribā laws to non-gold-and-silver currencies (fulūs). By tracing the evolution of currency within Shāfiʿī jurisprudence from the 9th to the 20th century, the article identifies key trends among Shāfiʿī jurists regarding the legal characterization of bonds and paper money in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The paper argues that the traditional Shāfiʿī exemption of fulūs from ribā laws is not absolute and does not solely depend on the physical attributes of the currency. Historically, Shāfiʿī jurists have emphasized the subjective value of gold and silver, owing to their longstanding roles as primary mediums of exchange. Furthermore,...

Romantics in Israel's Legal Politics: Arabic Through The Lens of the Partition Plan

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This Paper argues that despite the Israel High Court of Justice's prima facie holding in favor of Arabic being an official language, still the Court has failed to decisively resolve the question concerning the meaning, scope, and consequences of such recognition. Thus, the Court has missed an opportunity, which could have been faithfully addressed had the Court viewed the question at stake romantically, through the genesis of its legal-political premises, upon which it was established; namely, the 1947 Resolution 181 (II) of the United Nations General Assembly (the Partition Plan), wherein the collective rights, including linguistic rights, of the Arab minority citizen, were promised to be constitutionally protected.

Unwilling Co-Wives and the Law of Polygamy in Pakistan

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper is a legal realist endeavor that seeks to uncover a thorough and exhaustive description of Polygamy Law in Pakistan before moving on to a prescriptive analysis. Having an understanding of the stakes involved, background rules at play and the inadequacies within the law can be immensely useful in identifying the harm and redressing it. Thus, in first separating the “Is” from the “Ought”, Part I describes Pakistani polygamy Law and the limited legal remedies available to unwilling cowives. In Part II, the “background rules” driving the bargain amongst the parties’ to enter (or leave) polygamous marriages is discussed. Thereafter in Part III, a distributive analysis is conducted using “ideal-types” to uncover polygamy’s dual nature as a security or a threat for all the parties impacted by the law. Here I rely on the idea that marital partners “bargain in the shadow of the law” with bargaining endowments created in part by the legal rules. By comparing four typical but...

Termination of Contracts and Force Majeure Under Qatari Law and Its Islamic Law Influences: Emergence of a Transnational Gulf Private Law

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

There is a growing interest in the private laws of Gulf states, and particularly Qatar, because of the applicability of such laws in transnational and local contracts that account for a significant volume of global trade, energy and construction. Islamic law has a negligible, if any, impact on the law relating to termination of contracts, including hardship and force majeure. Termination of contracts in Qatar is chiefly regulated by the Qatari Civil Code and other specialist legislation, as well as significantly the country’s Court of Cassation, which has produced a consistent flow of case law that is binding on lower courts. The Civil Code generally follows the rule that the parties may not unilaterally terminate contracts and that in any event sufficient notice is required. As regards unforeseen circumstances, the Civil Code distinguishes between general hardship and circumstances that render performance impossible. The former may be amenable to adaptation by the courts, whereas...

From the Lack to the Requirement: The Public Consultation Reform in Saudi Arabia

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Since the foundation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, there had been a lack of public involvement in the decision-making process. Interestingly, however, the Saudi government has recently introduced a new requirement for most proposed laws and regulations: public consultation (PC). Among the first to address the reform in the Kingdom, this Article offers an overview of the PC concept and its development. This Article compares the U.S. and Saudi PC experiences and further analyzes the Saudi PC adoption to achieve three goals. First, the Saudi reader will gain a better understanding of the PC concept by introducing the U.S. experience (the notice and comment). Second, the U.S. reader, unfamiliar with the Saudi legal system, will gain a better understanding of the Saudi experience, along with a brief but necessary constitutional background. Third, the comparison provides an opportunity to make observations about the two experiences, which paves the road to propose critical recommendations...

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents

Elizabeth Lhost's Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern South Asia

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern South Asia is a thoroughly researched, well-written and important examination of how qazis, muftis and ordinary individuals shaped everyday Islamic law in 19th century South Asia, and how their concerted efforts helped maintain a robust presence of Islamic law in various legal fields. Lhost’s work is a valuable resource to anyone hoping to learn more about the history of Islamic law under colonial rule.

Where Do We Go From Here?: Halal Food Regulation and Monitoring

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

As Muslims continue to settle in this country, there are a number of unique challenges that emerge in the criminal legal system, religious freedom, and much more. But one often overlooked question is that of the dietary rules and requirements that many Muslims adhere to. Many are familiar with the halal carts on street corners in major cities but are unaware of the intricacies of ḥalāl food doctrine and the associated regulatory and monitoring schemes in place. While it may be inconsequential to many, for Muslims, the principles of permissible and impermissible food are essential to understand and practice. However, in a secular nation like the United States, parsing what is or is not religiously compliant can be difficult and may leave room for deception and fraud. With that in mind, this Comment considers the current regulatory framework and identifies its shortcomings, proposing reforms in three distinct areas: inspection, certification, and labeling. These reforms form a quasi-public,...

Using Islam to Protect the Rights of Migrant Workers: Bringing Kafala into Sharia Compliance in Saudi Arabia

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Saudi Arabia is home to thousands of migrant domestic workers who cook, clean, and provide child-care in private homes. These individuals are not only subject to the kafala system, where their visa is strictly tied to their employer, but they are excluded from the protections accorded to other workers (both Saudi and non-Saudi) under Saudi Labor Law. Although Saudi Arabia has promulgated a set of regulations to govern the treatment of migrant domestic workers, these regulations guarantee only the most basic rights and are often not enforced. As a result, the mistreatment of migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia has become a topic of concern for both human rights organizations and the International Labour Organization. In this Comment, I provide a history of kafala in Saudi Arabia, an overview of the role of Islamic law (sharia) in Saudi governance, and an analysis of sharia-compliant labor protections to argue that Saudi Arabia can and should...

Front Matter

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Front Matter

The Protection and Empowerment of People With Disabilities in Islamic Law

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Around the world, the experience of people with disabilities, like many marginalized classes, does not always align with the promises codified in statues and case law. However, inclusive ideals are found in even the earliest of Islamic legal texts, where people with disabilities are included within etymology, storytelling, the duty of almsgiving, and the influence of physiognomy on Islamic Law. People with disabilities are also integrated in contemporary Islamic legal principles, including penal, family, and municipal Islamic law. While it is tempting to contrast the everyday experiences of people with disabilities against the principles declared in laws or religious creeds, this type of analysis requires a sophisticated blend of sociology, theology, psychology, and even anthropology. This Comment seeks instead to survey the protections and power granted to people with disabilities within Islamic law. While this is a primarily legal analysis, the overlap of theology, morality,...

An Evaluation of Pre-Modern Fiqh Rules Pertaining to the Marital Practices of Non-Muslims

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The objective of this paper is to examine certain normative pre-modern Islamic legal rules regarding marital practices of non-Muslims, including those who later accepted Islam, as stipulated by a variety of jurists in manuals of law representing the positions of multiple legal schools. The rules regarding marital practices are particularly interesting because marriage was a highly (perhaps even the most highly) regulated feature of Islamic law, and thus rules pertaining to it shed light on broader concerns that guided the process of rule-making conducted by jurists. In conducting this analysis, I identify three overarching principles that appear to have guided Islamic marital rules pertaining to non-Muslims: (1) First, I found that there was a large degree of autonomy granted to non-Muslims in practicing their own marital customs, as long as they did not seek intervention from Islamic authorities; (2) Second, I found that most non-Islamic practices of non-Muslims that took place...

Mark Fathi Massoud's Shari'a, Inshallah: Finding God in Somali Legal Politics

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In the popular imagination, Somalia conjures images of civil war, terrorism, piracy—in short, chaos. It is one of the last places one would expect to be a laboratory for rule of law. Shari’a, Inshallah upends that stereotype by showing how law and religion play an active and central role in building stability, and rule of law, in the country. In particular, it shows how law and religion interweave in shaping Somali political history, and how Shari'a has been an unavoidable force in building legitimancy for Somalia's political actors. Every political actor and participant in civil society has had to contend with Shari'a in order to assert legitimacy, drive political programs and agendas, advocate for rights, rule, and resist. Although Shari’a, Inshallah focuses on the Somali experience, it carries lessons for the greater Muslim World.

Front Matter

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Front Matter

Heaven or Earth: The Hagia Sophia Re-Conversion, Turkish and International Law, and the Special Case of Universal Religious Sites

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The Hagia Sophia has stood as one of the greatest religious buildings in the world for nearly 1,500 years. During this time, it has taken many forms, first as a church and then a mosque, before finally becoming a museum in 1934 .But in July 2020, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, converted the Hagia Sophia back to a mosque following a ruling by the Turkish Council of State. This re-conversion was received with outrage across much of the world, but whether the decision was legal poses a much more difficult question.

This article analyzes Turkish domestic law and international law to conclude that there are grounds for questioning the legality of the Hagia Sophia’s re-conversion. It then addresses the need to better protect universal religious sites like the Hagia Sophia in the future. The Council of State relied on principles of the Islamic waqf endowment structure to declare the museum status of the Hagia Sophia illegal. But, in reality, waqf legal doctrine...

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Vol 19, Iss. 1

Kidney, Money, and the Shī‘ah Implementation of the Rule of Necessity

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In the U.S., over 43,000 people die every year waiting for a kidney. In Iran, however, monetary incentives have eliminated such a waitlist. Iran is the only country in the world with an unrelated living kidney donor program that has allowed for monetary incentives in the form of an altruistic gift, which has become known as the "Iranian Mode." Nevertheless, the legal details of the system remain vague and scholars both in and outside of Iran continue to debate the nature of the system. Does the Iranian system consider kidneys a commodity? Can you legally buy a kidney in Iran? If not, what is the legal nature of the monetary incentive? The answers to these questions are particularly important as many countries seek to find the right approach in addressing kidney shortages. This Article follows the newly established guidelines of the Iranian Model and seeks to answer these questions. It argues that Iran's peculiarity is neither related to its view on the marketability of the kidney...

Tensions in Tradition: Hadith, Gender, and Reasonable Interpretation

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Given the central role the hadith tradition and sunna of the Prophet play in forming the doctrine of Islamic theology and law, they have been the focus of modern criticism and reinterpretation when it comes to the issues of women and gender in Islam. However, the thrust of the hadith and sunna pull indifferent directions and can be read both to support and to undermine patriarchy. This Article, therefore, begins with a description of “tension reports” in the Islamic narrative tradition, arguing that there is just as much material that celebrates the memory of liberating moments for women as there are reports bolstering male dominance. Tension reports preserve moments defying the institutions of patriarch in early Islamic history. Next, I discuss what I describe as misogynistic traditions in the hadith and the three main interpretive strategies employed by Muslim women scholars in their approach to this material. I assess the merits of these strategies and offer an alternative....

International Human Rights Law and Religious and Cultural Law: Breaking the Impasse

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The international human rights movement is facing an existential crisis—a crisis created in part by its continuing failure to adequately address strong criticism that international human rights law (IHRL) is a form of cultural imperialism designed to destroy local religion and culture. While the debate underlying the crisis is not new, the strength of its threat to IHRL and the liberal democratic order is. One of the primary points of friction is over IHRL’s seeming rejection of a group right to be governed by religious or cultural law—a right IHRL proponents fear would open the doors to discrimination against women, the LGBT community and nonconformists. Already, populist leaders like President Erdogan of Turkey have been able to capitalize on a combination of demands for a role for religion in governance and frustration with economic inequality to claw back on human rights and democratic guarantees.

The debates surrounding group rights have reached an impasse that will...

Sources of Saudi Conduct: How Saudi Family Law and Royal Polygyny Produce Political Instability

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Unlike other areas of law, where rules have either been borrowed from Western regimes or only apply to certain segments of society, Saudi family law touches every member of Saudi society, from ordinary citizens to royalty, and originates in an Islamic legal tradition that predates most modern legal systems by several hundred years. Nonetheless, most writers on Saudi Arabia (the Kingdom) have largely neglected the role of Saudi family law in influencing the Kingdom’s royal family and policymaking, despite the dominance of family businesses, tribes, and family offices in the Saudi economy and state. This Article outlines how Saudi family law produces economic incentives that, without reform, make the maintenance of political stability in the Kingdom unlikely past three generations.

Accordingly, this Article can be understood as an alternative and supplement to the dominant political science theory for understanding Saudi policymaking, Rentier State Theory (RST). Specifically,...

When "Allahu Akbar" Becomes a Crime: The Israeli Case

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This Article examines the constitutionality of an Israeli bill that criminalizes the use of PA systems in prayer houses, punishable by a fine of 5000–10,000 NIS (the Muezzin Law). The Bill was presented to the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) as a religiously-neutral environmental law. This Article asserts that a careful reading of the Bill’s language reveals that it is specifically tailored to apply precisely to Muslim prayer houses, thus criminalizing the Muslim call for prayer (the adhan), especially the call occurring between dawn and sunrise (the Fajer adhan). As such, we perceive the Muezzin law as violating the right to equality and the right to dignity of the Muslim minority in Israel, as well as infringing upon its religious feelings. Additionally, we contend that the Muezzin Law is not truly driven by environmental concern, but rather that it represents a conflict with religious dimension (a CRD)—namely, the perception that...

Emilia Powell's Islamic Law and International Law

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Emilia Powell's Islamic Law and International Law

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents

Front Matter

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Front Matter

China's Repression of Uigher Muslims: A Human Rights Perspective in Historical Context

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This Essay focuses on Beijing’s repression of its Uigher population, a religious and ethnic minority community residing in northwest China. Recent human rights violations have attracted significant attention among journalists, activists and policy makers. Still, this writing argues that Beijing’s tactics reflect worsening human rights violations spanning decades rather than years. In addition to providing historical context, this Essay makes an important contribution to existing literature because it applies Interest Convergence Theory to the instant context. Insofar as its laws, policies and practices create fertile breeding grounds for violent extremism locally and internationally, it is in Beijing’s strategic interest to respect, protect and advance human rights for all citizens.

Globalizing Anudo v. Tanzania: Applying the African Court’s Arbitrariness Test to the UK’s Denationalization of Shamima Begum

Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Under international law, every individual has the right to a nationality. States reserve a sovereign right to deny or revoke citizenship, but only insofar as these practices respect their international legal obligations, including the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality. In the 2018 case of Anudo v. United Republic of Tanzania, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights applied an arbitrariness test based on, inter alia, an interpretation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to determine whether or not Tanzania had arbitrarily deprived the petitioner of his nationality. This Comment considers the potential of applying Anudo’s interpretation of the UDHR in other regional and national contexts. Specifically, the Comment applies the four elements of the Anudo arbitrariness test to the case of Shamima Begum, who joined Daesh (also known as ISIL, ISIS and IS) in Syria as a teenager, and whose British citizenship...

Book Review: What is the Sharia

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Book Review: What is the Sharia

Wilayat Al-Qadi and its Malpractice in Iran, Egypt, and Jordan

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The people play a direct and important role in the Islamic theory of judicial power (Wilayat Al-Qadi). This role begins in participating in the appointment of a supreme judge. The people also ensure the independence and accountability of individual judges and the judiciary as an institution. This article argues that the judicial systems of Iran, Egypt, and Jordan abuse their powers. It offers an account of the malpractice of judicial power in these countries and recommends reforms to conform with Islamic principles.

Front Matter

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Front Matter

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents

The End of Opposition: The AKP's Ten-Year War on Press Freedom in Turkey

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

In July of 2016 there was a coup attempt in Turkey. What followed can only be characterized as a ‘purge’ of certain sectors of society. Included, and arguably central to the post–coup reaction, has been an attack on free press in the country. This Article explains and argues why this post–coup attempt crackdown must not be viewed in isolation, but instead as a quasi-culmination of a ten-year war waged against the press by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey. The decline in press freedom indicators in the absence of any new restrictive legislation suggests that the AKP has intentionally and increasingly suppressed the press using laws predating this ten-year period. Thus, the recent press purge is less a one-off event than the continuation of a systematic suppression. Tangible results of this suppression’s effect on democracy become ever more apparent following the approval of the April 2017 constitutional amendments via referendum and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s...

A Comparative Analysis of European Islamophobia: France, UK, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

A Comparative Analysis of European Islamophobia: France, UK, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden

Front Matter

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Front Matter

Origins of Wahhabism from Hanbali Fiqh

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Origins of Wahhabism from Hanbali Fiqh

Islamic Law, Jihad and Violence

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Islamic Law, Jihad and Violence

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Table of Contents

[Front Matter]

Tue, 9 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

[no abstract]

Tue, 9 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

[no abstract]

The Regulation of Securities and Islamic Finance in Dubai: Implications for Models of Sharīʿah Compliance

Tue, 9 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) has become an important component of an increasingly significant global market for Islamic finance. However, the state of academic discussion has not necessarily kept pace with its growing economic import. This paper improves the current state of literature by (1) examining the current regulatory infrastructure for securities and Islamic finance in the DIFC, (2) comparing its regulatory model with those of other important Islamic finance jurisdictions, and (3) exploring the implications of Dubai’s experience for the notions of legal transplants, convergence, and competition.

PECA 2015: A Critical Analysis of Pakistan’s Proposed Cybercrime Bill

Tue, 9 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

[no abstract]

Early Modern Constitutionalism in Egypt and Iran

Tue, 9 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

[no abstract]

Hate Crimes: Clarification from Emotion Theory and Psychological Research

Tue, 9 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

[no abstract]

Animal Protection Theory in U.S. and Islamic Law: a Comparative Analysis with a Human Rights Twist

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Across geographically diverse Muslim-majority countries, nascent animal welfare movements have recently emerged, culminating in litigation in some instances and calls for legal reform in others. While Islamic legal precepts are often erroneously characterized as conflicting with Western legal ideals, this article highlights their compatibility vis-à-vis a descriptive, comparative and normative analysis of animal protection theory in both U.S. and Islamic legal theory. Moreover, this article argues that the Islamic legal duty to respect, protect and care for animals helps underscore the heightened legal duty to fellow human beings. To that end, it discusses the human rights implications of animal protection theory in Islamic law in relation to chronic maladies in some Muslim-majority societies, such as the unlawful deprivation of life, violence against women, children and religious minorities and mistreatment of the disabled. This article thereby offers a more expansive and necessary...

A Critical Review Essay of Anver M. Emon’s Islamic Natural Law Theories

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The concept of “natural law” is not one that is commonly associated with Islamic law. In his monograph, Islamic Natural Theories, Anver M. Emon attempts to shed light on this issue and uncover a natural law tradition in the legal theories of a number of premodern Muslim jurists. In doing so, Emon draws a distinction between the Hard Naturalists and the Soft Naturalists, two schools of natural law that differ on theological points but ultimately find common ground in their conclusions. For Emon, the conception of natural law concerns the extent to which reason is granted the ontological authority to determine norms, as opposed to a textualist approach to producing law. This essay investigates the primary sources relied on by Emon in his study and questions his reading of the texts, his arguments, and his conclusions. I conclude that Emon’s study, ambitious in its goals and important as a first step, presents a strained reading of the texts and struggles to convince the reader of...

Front Matter

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

[no abstract]

Al-Sarakhsī’s Contribution to the Islamic Law of War

Wed, 28 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines the contributions of the Ḥanafī jurist al-Sarakhsī (d. 483 AH/1090-91 CE) to the development of the Islamic tradition of war. By examining al-Sarakhsī’s treatment of the use of force by both state and non-state actors in al-Mabsūṭ, this paper answers important questions about warfare in Islam. First, it asks whether Islam sanctions offensive war against non-Muslims because of their religious beliefs. Second, it investigates the extent to which Islamic jus in bello rules are consistent with the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols. Third, it examines the circumstances under which it is permissible for Muslims to rebel against their ruler. Fourth, it explores the meaning of terrorism according to Islamic law and whether or not terrorism is punishable under Islamic law. This paper shows that the Islamic law of war has the potential to impact the attainment of peace in our globalized world. More importantly, this paper exposes the need...

[Front Matter]

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

[no abstract]

The Freedom to Believe and the Freedom to Practice: Title VII, Muslim Women, and Hijab

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act nominally affirmed employees’ right to wear hijab in the workplace, the courts have taken an increasingly narrow view of the term “religion” and failed to uphold the right to wear hijab in both private and public sector settings on several occasions. This is because Title VII and its attendant protections are grounded in a framework that presumes Christianity as normative, and religiously mandated accoutrements as communicative in function. The manner in which harassment or discriminatory behavior takes place, however, often occurs outside of existing frameworks for employee protection, leaving employees with little opportunity for recourse. This paper will use a mix of critical race theory and gender studies scholarship to provide an overview and analysis of recent decisions regarding protections for wearing hijab in the workplace. It will also discuss how protections on religious freedoms protect the status quo rather than the rights...

Triadic Legal Pluralism in North Sinai: A Case Study of State, Shari‘a, and ‘Urf Courts in Conflict and Cooperation

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

To the extent that legal scholars have addressed the post-authoritarian transitions underway in the Middle East, the scope of their work has been primarily confined to the formal infrastructure of state-manufactured law. Attention has focused on the activities of high courts, parliaments, and the administrative apparatus of official justice systems, while largely neglecting to acknowledge the importance of non-state institutions and systems of normative rules that operate in the shadow of modern bureaucratic governments. The concept of legal pluralism, defined as the coexistence of multiple legal or normative orders within a common geographical area, has been applied extensively in European, South American, and sub-Saharan African contexts, but is underutilized in analysis of revolutionary and transitional change in the Middle East. Nowhere is the presence of legal pluralism more apparent than in Egypt’s geographically remote Sinai Peninsula, where non-state Islamic courts...

The Moroccan Personal Status Law and the Invention of Identity: A Case Study on the Relationship between Islam, Women, and the State

Sat, 8 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This paper uses Muslim women’s activism against Morocco’s Personal Status code as a case study to challenge widely held notions about the relationship between Islam and women’s rights, and to examine the production of religious knowledge in pursuit of political goals that directly affect women. Using women’s activism against Morocco’s Personal Status Code, I analyze the state’s use of religious symbols and religious discourse to affect constructions of gender in a bid for cultural, as well as political, hegemony. In so doing, I challenge the positioning of gendered citizenship as Islamic,” and tease out the connections between Morocco’s gendered citizenship framework, the political appropriation of religious discourse, and the construction of the “family” as a cultural phenomenon. Additionally, I explore women’s forms of protest, arguing that women’s use of Islamic discourse and jurisprudence was a successful strategy, problematizing the notion that Islam and progressivism are...

Front Matter

Sat, 8 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Front Matter

Errata

Sat, 8 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Errata

A Decade of Progress: Promising Models for Children in the Turkish Juvenile Justice System

Sat, 8 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Turkey has improved its approach to interacting with children in conflict with the law over the past decade, moving closer to a system that ensures its children the opportunity to strive for a better future. This Article focuses on two promising Turkish reforms that hold potential to improve juvenile justice systems internationally, namely: open model incarceration and Turkey’s approach to diversion. This Article demonstrates how a child-centered juvenile justice system can improve public safety and outcomes for youth. It also addresses potential challenges to each model and identifies broader issues that may require reform.