SHARIAsource

University of Washington, School of Law

University of Kansas School of Law

Examines the history, doctrine, texts, and role of Islamic law throughout the world. The course focuses on the background and birth of the Arab-Islamic Empire, the life and times of the Prophet Muhammad, the development of Islam, the Moghul and Ottoman Empires, the Qurʾān and Sunna and other sacred texts, the principal schools of Islamic law, the status of women and religious minorities, and basic principles of some of the substantive areas of law, including criminal, family, inheritance, contract, business, and banking law.

University of Toronto

This is a draft report of the Somali Criminal Law Recodification Initiative, which includes, in Volume I, the text of the draft penal code, and in Volume II, a commentary on the draft code.

In chapter two of Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, Hossein Modarressi examines procedural differences between criminal and ordinary courts during the ʿAbbāsid period. 

In chapter one of Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, Ahmed El Shamsy examines selected criteria used to exclude the testimony of certain types of witnesses in Islamic courts of the second century AH / eighth century CE. Specifically, the chapter seeks to make three points:

1. In the early second century, Muslim judges presiding over court cases applied a notion of communal enmity among confessional groups as a criterion for determining the admissibility of witness statements by members of one group against those of another. This criterion was used both in cases that crossed confessional lines and in cases involving coreligionists only.

2. Over the course of the second century, this criterion fell out of use and was replaced by other criteria for interconfessional testimony. These criteria included the a priori exclusion of witness statements by members of certain groups as well as individual ascertainment of the probity of potential witnesses.

3. The oral and cryptic nature of the sources from the early second century presented significant obstacles to later scholars’ understanding of the reasoning that underpinned the early criteria. They consequently opened the way for a fundamental reconceptualization of who counted as an acceptable witness.

This volume is a tribute to Professor Roy Mottahedeh, who retired in 2016. The following essays focus on courts and judicial procedure in early Islamic law and society, this book places theory alongside practice in ways that concern events of legal history-as-social history to reflect Mottahedeh's mark on the field. 

English translation of the 1961 Constitution of Mauritania, the constitution adopted after Mauritania's formal independence.

The Muslim plaintiff sued her former employer, Supervalu Holdings, under Title VII, alleging religious discrimination. Specifically, she argued that the company overlooked her for a position with more responsibility because of her religion. The court held that the plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination, as she neither proved that non-Muslims were treated better, nor did she allege that she suffered an adverse employment action (as the higher-level position did not offer additional compensation or benefits). Thus, this Court affirmed the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania’s granting of the defendant’s motion for summary judgment.

A Bangladeshi Muslim worker sued her former employer under Title VII and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, alleging discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin. Specifically, the plaintiff argued that she was fired and not rehired by the defendant because of her religion and national origin. On appeal, the defendant conceded that the plaintiff made out a prima facie case of discrimination, but contended that she did not rebut or rebuff the legitimate, non-discriminatory reason the company had for not rehiring her—which it claimed was due to poor job performance in her previous job assignments. The Court affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant, concluding that the plaintiff offered no proof that she was not rehired due to religious discrimination.

This entry provides a definition and analysis of the term ijtihād, drawing on works by SHARIAsource Senior Scholar Sherman A. Jackson, King Faisal Chair in Islamic Thought and Culture and Professor of Religion and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

Sherman A. Jackson, Legal Scaffolding and the Scope of Legal Injunctions in Post-Formative Theory: Muṭlaq and ʿĀmm in the Jurisprudence of Shihāb al-Dīn al-Qarāfī, Islamic Law and Society 3, no. 2 (1996): 165–92.

*Note: All page numbers used as citations refer to the above article.

A Muslim female teacher sued her former employer, the Board of Education for the School District of Philadelphia, as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under Title VII, alleging religious discrimination. The defendant school board argued that it suspended and ultimately fired the plaintiff under the Pennsylvania Garb Statue (Public Law No. 282) when she refused to remove her headscarf while teaching. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found in favor of the defendant Commonwealth, but against the School Board. The Third Circuit affirmed the decision against the Commonwealth but reversed the decision against the School Board, holding that, while the statute may present conflicts with the First Amendment, to bring a claim under Title VII, as the plaintiff did, requires proving that the accommodation would not be an undue burden for the employer. The Court further held that allowing teachers to wear religious garb would be an example of an undue burden, as it threatens the religious neutrality of the public school system. The Court upheld the conclusion of the District Court that “the Commonwealth was not [plaintiff’s] employer within the meaning of Title VII."

This fatwa states that snails are categorised as hasyarat (insect). The consumption of hasyarat is considered forbidden (haram) according to the Hanafi, Shaf'i, Hanbali, and Zhahiri schools, while Imam Malik states that hasyarat are halal if there is benefit in their consumption, and they are not hazardous. The fatwa, however, states that the consumption of snails is forbidden, as is cultivating and exploiting them for consumptive purposes.

UCLA, School of Law

This course introduces the field of Islamic law. Islamic law is one of the oldest and most significant legal systems in the contemporary age, and this course is designed to give students a firm grounding in its principles, concepts, and doctrines. We will study the history, theory, and the role of Islamic law in the contemporary age. No previous familiarity with the field is necessary, and there are no course prerequisites. All readings are in English. The course will be divided into two main parts: the first will deal with Islamic law in the classical context, while the second will examine the role of Islamic law in the contemporary age. The first half of the course is oriented towards the historical legacy and theoretical framework of the Islamic legal tradition with a special emphasis on the development of the various schools of law. In the second half, we will study the challenges of modernity and Islamic law in the contemporary age, and will examine issues related to Islamic public international law, human rights, women and gender, and violence.

New York University, School of Law

This course will provide an overview of the theoretical doctrines that give rise to Islamic finance and an introduction to its contemporary practice in various market contexts. We will begin with the religious impulse that gives rise to Islamic finance, including, different Islamic critiques of conventional finance and why Islamic finance is claimed to be a superior model. We will then turn to classical Islamic commercial law, and study the two principle classical doctrines of Islamic commercial law that seem to mandate the creation of alternative financing models, ribā (often translated, incorrectly, to “usury”) and gharar (often translated, incorrectly, as “speculation”). We will also cover the basic building blocks of Islamic commercial law, studying rules governing sales, leases, loans, pledges and other fundamental commercial law relationships as well as Islamic rules governing business organizations such as general and limited partnerships.

After completing an overview of historical doctrines, we will turn to how these doctrines were modernized to produce a “modern” Islamic commercial law, something that enabled the rise of contemporary Islamic finance. We will consider a broad range of Islamic financial contracts across various markets, including, consumer banking and finance, Islamic deposit taking banks, Islamic corporate finance (e.g., sukuk, sometimes called “Islamic bonds”) and Islamic derivatives. We will then consider the legal structure undergirding Islamic finance and use it as an example of the advantages/disadvantages of public ordering versus private ordering. The course will conclude with different critiques of Islamic finance.

English translation of the 1987 constitution of Afghanistan (Constitution of the Republic of Afghanistan).