In this video, Sabine Schmidtke, Professor of Islamic Intellectual History at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, sounds the call for work on the Islamic manuscript tradition, which is uncounted and endangered – thus in need of identification, preservation, and digitization to ensure manuscripts are well-maintained and accessible. As Schmidtke explains: For scholars of … Continue reading Schmidtke on the Islamic Manuscript Tradition
Online Resource :: Manuscripts of the Muslim World
The Manuscripts of the Muslim World project recently made available digital copies of 208 manuscripts. This goal of this project is to provide digital editions of more than 500 manuscripts and 827 paintings from the Islamicate world broadly construed. Together these holdings represent in great breadth the flourishing intellectual and cultural heritage of Muslim lands … Continue reading Online Resource :: Manuscripts of the Muslim World
Former PIL Research Assistants Win Senior Thesis Awards
The Program in Islamic Law congratulates Anwar Omeish, winner of the 2019 Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Prize for Best Undergraduate Thesis in Islamic Studies for her thesis, “Toward the Modern Revolution: Frantz Fanon, Secularity, and the Horizons of Political Possibility in Revolutionary Algeria.” PIL also congratulates Hannah Hess, who received honorable mention for her thesis, “Debating Misyār: Temporary Marriage in Contemporary Saudi … Continue reading Former PIL Research Assistants Win Senior Thesis Awards
Islamic Law at the 2019 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting
Each year, the Islamic Law and Society Collaborative Research Network (ILS-CRN) helps compose panels on Islamic law at the Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association. This year’s roster features a host of author-meets-reader book sessions and panels featuring Islamic law. Tamir Moustafa of Simon Fraser University will respond to commentators' reviews of his … Continue reading Islamic Law at the 2019 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting
In the News: Sri Lanka’s Emergency Law
A ban on face coverings in Sri Lanka following the Easter Sunday attacks has once again highlighted the issue of restrictions on religious freedoms in response to public safety concerns. According to the ban: No person shall wear in any public place any garment, clothing or such other material concealing the full face which will … Continue reading In the News: Sri Lanka’s Emergency Law
Islamic Law Scholars’ Round-Up: May 13th
Asifa Quraishi-Landes, who teaches both Islamic law and U.S. constitutional law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was recently interviewed by Wisconsin Public Television on how the media can play a role in correcting misperceptions of Islamic law (the interview can be watched here). Meanwhile, Anver Emon, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies at the … Continue reading Islamic Law Scholars’ Round-Up: May 13th
Round Table :: Tunisian Inheritance Law Reform
Katarzyna Sidło (Center for Social and Economic Research) organized a PIL Forum Roundtable on the Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi's 2017 proposal to amend inheritance laws. She introduces the Roundtable by noting that, under the country’s current Personal Status Code – passed in 1956 – Tunisian citizens may not “allocate their inheritance freely and must … Continue reading Round Table :: Tunisian Inheritance Law Reform
Thoughts on the Draft Tunisian Inheritance Reform Legislation
Mohammad Fadel (University of Toronto, Faculty of Law) takes a pragmatic approach that helps explain why Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi’s 2017 proposal to amend Tunisian inheritance laws has raised so much controversy: "While the new law, if implemented, may not make a substantial tangible difference in people’s lives – especially given the ease with … Continue reading Thoughts on the Draft Tunisian Inheritance Reform Legislation
Because They “Spend of Their Property” No More? An Economic Perspective on Inheritance Rights
Katarzyna Sidło's (CASE - Center for Social and Economic Research) analysis of the Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi's 2017 proposal to amend Tunisian inheritance laws examines the issue with an economic lens. The common argument defending the traditional rules and upholding this type of legal gender discrimination in Tunisia is an interpretation of a Qurʾānic … Continue reading Because They “Spend of Their Property” No More? An Economic Perspective on Inheritance Rights
Recent Scholarship: Kuran on Zakāt
This week’s issue of SSRN’s Islamic Law & Law of the Muslim World eJournal includes an article by Timur Kuran, Professor of Economics, Political Science, and Islamic Studies at Duke University, on the failure of early Islamic governments to use zakāt to advance personal liberties: "Zakat: Islam’s Missed Opportunity to Limit Predatory Taxation" Abstract One … Continue reading Recent Scholarship: Kuran on Zakāt