SHARIAsource

English text of the Constitution (Twelfth Amendment) Act, Act. No. XIV of 1991, amending the 1973 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

English translation of Federal Council Resolution regarding the Constitutional Amendment No. 1 of 2004, amending the 1971 Constitution of the United Arab Emirates

English translation of Constitutional Amendment No. (1) of 1996, amending the 1971 Constitution of the United Arab Emirates.

English translation of a series of amendments to the 1971 Provisional Constitution of the United Arab Emirates from 1976 to 1991.

Text of the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991 (Amendment) Decree of 1997, amending the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone.

English text of the Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act, Act No. XXIV of 1997, amending the 1973 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

English text of the Constitution (Thirtheenth Amendment) Act, Act No. I of 1997, amending the 1973 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

English text of the 1999 Constitution (Sixteenth Amendment) Act, Act No. VII of 1999, amending the 1973 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Text of the Constitution of Sierra Leone (Amendment) Act, 2001, amending the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone.

English text of the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, Act No. III of 2003, amending the 1973 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Text of the Constitution of Sierra Leone (Amendment) Act, 2008, amending the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone.

English translation of the 1923 Constitution/Basic Law of Afghanistan ("Nizamnamah-ye-Asasi-e-Daulat-e-'Aliyah-e-Afghanistan"), with English translation of 1925 amendments appended.

English translation of the 1909 Constitution of the Ottoman Empire (1876 Ottoman Constitution, as amended to 1909).

English translation of the 1958 Agreement on the Arab Union of Iraq and Jordan, with related translated documents.

English translation of Côte d'Ivoire's Ordinance No. 1/99 PR. of 27 December 1999 Concerning the Suspension of the Constitution and Provisional Organization of the Public Powers, which suspended the 1960 Constitution of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire.

The ACLU brought suit objecting to the use of taxpayer money to fund what it termed a religious charter school as a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The defendant academy and its sponsor, Islamic Relief, submitted a motion to dismiss, arguing that they were not a state actor. The Court found that the evidence regarding Islamic Relief’s role as a state actor was not clear, and thus denied the motion to dismiss. The Court of Appeals affirmed this decision in 2011. As of August 2011, the case was still ongoing.

Islamic finance creates financial products specifically aimed at Muslims that are sharīʿa compliant. Many scholars have condemned Islamic finance for condemning ribā (interest) on the one hand, particularly where usurious, but then many others have created workarounds that allow modern big-finance firms to avoid it in name only on the other hand. Those who argue against the workaround argue that nominal interest-avoidance goes against the spirit of the guidelines set forth in Islamic law (sharīʿa). Weighing in on the controversy, University of Toronto Law Professor Mohammad Fadel considers whether ribā might serve a function that goes beyond simple definitions of it as either interest or usury. Historically, the prohibition on interest was a means of regulating medieval financial industries, in ways that have little application to the modern financial instruments. The medieval prohibitions and the modern controversies about Islamic finance then, he argues, are misaligned and need rethinking. This post provides a "plain English" review of the article: Mohammad H. Fadel, Ribâ, Efficiency and Prudential Regulation: Preliminary Thoughts, 25 Wisconsin Journal of International Law 655 (2008).

Amendments to the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961

In December 2021, the National Assembly in Pakistan introduced two amendments in sections 4 and 7 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961. Both these amendments relate to Shia school (Fiqh-e-Jafaria). Under the first amendment a childless widow of a Shia husband is given inheritance right in immovable property. The second amendment clarifies the Shia law on talaq (divorce) by providing that the husband must pronounce Arabic words (seegha) in presence of two witnesses to make divorce effective. It further provides that the pronouncement of talaq (divorce) shall not be effective if it is done “jokingly or under anger, intoxication, insanity, duress or coercion of any kind”.

Both amendments provide that in case of dispute, the parties may have a recourse to “a court of competent jurisdiction or by approaching the Mujtahid-e-Alam from the panel maintained by the Council of Islamic Ideology.” Mujtahid-e-Alam is defined as “a juris-consult, religious scholar or doctor of Shia school of thought well versed with Shariah having international repute and of such recognition.” The decision of Mujtahid-e-Alam shall have a status of an award under the Arbitration Act 1940.

Contributed by Zubair Abbasi.

This ministerial regulation is intended to assist in the implementation of Government Regulation No. 55 of 2007 on Religious Education. It regulates certain facets of religious education in Indonesia, including the requirement on all schools to provide religious education for their students, the mandated curriculum, the study process, required levels of competency, teaching staff, and supervision.

This qanun regulates the education system of Aceh, guaranteeing every Acehnese person's right to a high-quality and Islamic education. The qanun also places an onus on both teachers and parents to contribute to their children's education and understanding of Islam. It also seeks to prioritise Aceh's education sector, ensuring a certain amount of local government funding is allocated to Acehnese schools.