SHARIAsource

In Indonesia, the Islamic practice of polygamy is circumscribed by specific provisions in Law No.1 of 1974 on Marriage. Mohammad Insa was a Muslim man who wished to take a second wife without any state interference, and without due consideration for the rights and feelings of his established wife. He argued that polygamy is a religious duty, and one that he was entitled to undertake in accordance with the 1945 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion. He petitioned the court for a judicial review of those legal restrictions on polygamous marriages. This decision to dismiss his petition was handed down by the court on 3 October 2007, after several months of lengthy deliberations and media attention. The court reasoned that art 28J(2) of the Constitution not only authorises the state to regulate religion, but obliges it do so.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the State of Israel (Medinat Yisra'el), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Israel's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status. 

This qanun constitutes the Aceh Islamic Criminal Code. It prohibits jarimah (conduct prohibited under Islamic law, or sharīʿa) and imposes hudud and ta'zir punitive measures ('uqubat) as deterrents for committing jarimah. Specifically, the qanun prohibits khamar (alcohol), maisir (gambling), khalwat (close proximity in private), ikhtilath (non-sexual, pre-marital intimacy), zina (adultery), sexual abuse, rape, qadzaf (false accusation), liwath (sodomy), and musahaqah (lesbian relations).

Article 4(2) of the qanun defines hudud punishment as caning, while ta'zir, according to arts 4(3) and 4(4), is caning, monetary fines, imprisonment, and restitution.

Pursuant to art 5, persons subject to the qanun are:

1. all Muslim offenders in Aceh;
2. all non-Muslim offenders who commit an offence togther with another Muslim and voluntarily submit to the qanun;
3. all non-Muslims who commit an offence not covered in the Indonesian Criminal Code (Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana) or that is outside the Indonesian Criminal Code, but regulated in the qanun; and
4. legal entities carrying out operations in Aceh.

In 2014, a Malaysian federal court invalidated an Islamic state law criminalizing the public behavior and appearance of transwomen (people identifying as women and identified as men at birth). The Court ruled that the Malaysian Constitution’s fundamental rights trumped state-legislated Islamic law. It relied heavily on the notion that the Muslims being prosecuted suffered from Gender Identity Disorder (GID), over which they had no control. Evidence of the plaintiff’s GID and information about GID was provided to the Court by two psychiatrists, a psychology, and a sociologist.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de Espana), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Spain's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of Bermuda, based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Bermuda’s Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Republic of Kenya (Jamhuri ya Kenya), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Kenya's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has legal status. 

Plaintiff Leila Diab, an observant Muslim teacher who was hired to teach social studies and English as a second language, filed a suit against the Respondents, the Chicago Board of Education and John F. Kennedy High School Principal George Szkapiak, alleging that the Respondents discriminated and retaliated against her, and further subjected her to a hostile work environment, on the basis of her Islamic faith. The Plaintiff alleged that she was forced to resign from her teaching position following anti-Islamic comments made by the principal and various teachers at the Kennedy high school. The Plaintiff further claimed that she received a hate mail note (which read: “Israel is doing OK) and that her Qur'an was desecrated on school property [in violation of norms taken to be governed by Islamic ritual law, of treating the Qur'an with respect]. In response, the Respondents filed a motion for summary judgment, seeking dismissal of the complaint. The District Court determined that in order to prevail on her discrimination claims, the Plaintiff had to show that the Respondents subjected her to an adverse employment action, such as: "(1) termination or reduction in compensation, fringe benefits, or other financial terms of employment; (2) transfers or changes in job duties that cause an employee's skills to atrophy and reduce future career prospects; and (3) unbearable changes in job conditions, such as a hostile work environment or conditions amounting to constructive discharge." Barton v. Zimmer, Inc., 662 F.3d 448, 2011 WL 4921603, at *4 (7th Cir. 2011). The Court granted the Respondent’s motion as to the Plaintiff’s hostile work environment claims, finding that it could not conclude that a reasonable jury would find the note, taken together with the Qur'an incident nine months later, to create a hostile work environment. While the Court acknowledge that the incidents may have proved upsetting to her, it observed that the two incidents were not repeated and did not involve any physical contact or verbal abuse.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Republic of San Marino (Repubblica di San Marino), based on research produced by GlobaLex at the NYU School and the Library of Congress. Under San Marino's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status.

Plaintiff Leo Pittman-Bey, a Muslim inmate, sued Texas prison officials for allegedly violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and his constitutional right to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment by denying him after-sunset meals during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Previous prison regulations allowed practicing Muslim inmates to receive after-sunset meals during Ramadan, but only if they had attended jumuʿa (Friday prayer) services in the 60 days prior to Ramadan or had received a special exception from the Muslim chaplain. Pittman-Bey did not attend the services because, as an adherent of the Ḥanafī school of Sunnī Islam, he said he believed that jumuʿa services are not proper if conducted in nonpublic settings like prisons. The District Court granted summary judgment for the defendants, determining that denying Ramadan meals in accordance with the jumuʿa attendance policy did not violate the First Amendment.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Republic of Ghana (Ghana), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Ghana's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has some legal status. 

The court sentenced Tajul Muluk, a member of the Shi'a Muslim community in Madura, to two years' prison for conducting himself in a manner that defamed Islam. Tajul was found guilty of teaching his students 'unorthodox' religious teachings, including questioning the authenticity of the Qur'an in its current form. Tajul and multiple witnesses disputed and denied the allegations, but the court found him in contravention of the Defamation of Religion Law, regardless.

The prosecution would appeal the leniency of the sentence before the higher court of East Java, which subsequently increased Tajul's sentence from two years to four. This four year sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in Decision 1787 of 2012.

The plaintiff, Dominic Ali, a Muslim inmate at the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility, sued several prison officials for allegedly violating his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), and the state's constitution. The plaintiff alleged that the prison failed to provide jumu'a (Friday prayer) services for Muslim inmates, failed to ensure that he was provided with healthy food during Ramadan (the Islamic month of fasting), and denied him the ability to observe Ramadan by removing his name from the prison's internal Ramadan fasting list. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the plaintiff's claims should be dismissed because he did not exhaust his administrative remedies before bringing suit. The Court agreed: it found that the plaintiff had not brought his grievances to the attention of the prison's commissioner, and therefore granted the defendants' motion.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the United Kingdom (UK), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under the United Kingdom's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status. 

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Czech Republic/Czechia (Ceska Republika/Cesko), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under the Czech Republic's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status.

The primary purpose of this presidential determination is captured in art 1, which prohibits all persons from intentionally and publicly conveying, endorsing, or soliciting public support for an interpretation of a religion followed in Indonesia, or conducting religious activities that resemble the religious activities of that religion, where such interpretation and activities deviate from the fundamental tenets of that religion. Article 4 also amends the Indonesian Criminal Code to include art 156a, thereby criminalising such behaviour.

The elucidation lists the six religions to which the vast majority of Indonesians adhere: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. The elucidation clarifies, however, that this list is not exhaustive, and that other religions such as Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Shintoism, and Taoism are not prohibited. That said, the list of religions to which the vast majority of Indonesians adhere would subsequently become the base definition for the term 'religion' in Indonesia.

This presidential determination was later exalted to the status of a statute (undang-undang) after the enactment of Law No. 5 of 1969 on the Declaration of Various Presidential Determinations and Presidential Regulations as Laws.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Shri Lanka Prajatantrika Samajavadi Janarajaya/Ilankai Jananayaka Choshalichak Kutiyarachu), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Sri Lanka's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has some legal status. 

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Republic of Namibia, based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Namibia's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status. 

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Kingdom of Denmark (Kongeriget Danmark), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Denmark’s Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status.