SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP On Islamic Law In The Islamic Reform Movement of the Association of Algerian ʿUlamaʾ, 1931–1954 (Brill), Shoko Watanabe (University of Tokyo) asks, "How are we to understand the internal dynamics of an Islamic reform movem…
SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP
On Islamic Law
- In The Islamic Reform Movement of the Association of Algerian ʿUlamaʾ, 1931–1954 (Brill), Shoko Watanabe (University of Tokyo) asks, "How are we to understand the internal dynamics of an Islamic reform movement that calls for nationalist rallies and joins a delegation to meet with the French Prime Minister but denies that it ‘does politics’? This book analyzes how the Association of Algerian ʿUlamaʾ, founded in 1931 as a league of Muslim scholars, addressed the peculiar situation of French laïcité in colonial Algeria and competed with Algeria’s revolutionary nationalists. It also highlights the financial basis and the grassroots organizations of the movement, from which it brought about a ‘passive’ revolution against the colonial social order."
- In a recent podcast, Imran Mulla (Middle East Eye) discusses his new book The Indian Caliphate, Exiled Ottomans and the Billionaire Prince (Hurst): "In 1924, the Republic of Turkey voted to abolish the Ottoman caliphate, ending a 400-year-long claim by the Ottomans that they were the leaders of the Islamic world. Abdülmecid II—who had been elected to the position by the Republic of Turkey just two years before—decamped for Europe. What followed was a bold plan by Indian Muslims and the Nizam of Hyderabad, one of the world’s richest men at the time, to potentially revive the caliphate."
On Islam and AI/Data Science
- In "The Affective Algorithm: Mapping the Emotional Architecture of Fatimid Geniza Petitions (Part 2)" (Digital Orientalist), Abdulqadir Haidermota (Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah) observes that, "for the historian of the Mediterranean, Geniza documents are rightly celebrated for their detailed preservation of the material world—offering up the price of flax, the lineage of a merchant, or the date of a decree." His study asks "what happens when we treat these formulaic expressions not as background noise, but as structured data points—patterns that might reveal an emotional logic beneath the surface, allowing for the visualisation of a constitutive underlying architecture that isolated close reading often misses." (Note: Part 1 "outlines the background of the pilot study and its methodology" while Part 2 "focuses on the outcomes."
FIELD GUIDE TO ISLAMIC LAW ONLINE: RECENT SOURCES
The Field Guide to Islamic Law Online is an ever-growing collection of links to hundreds of primary sources and archival collections around the world, online. We recently added a new resource to this list:
- Hipajattul Islam [Feb 1930 -Dec 1936] is a digitized periodical collection "mainly focusing on the doctrines of Islam and spread of Islam in Tamilnadu [India]. Original material is held by Anjuman Nusrathul Islam, Islamic Public Library, Kottakuppam." The collection features 1,815 images.
UPCOMING EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
PIL & Harvard Opportunities:
- Award: Alwaleed Bin Talal Doctoral Dissertation Prize, May 15, 2026
Global Events:
- Workshop: The Law and Humanities Workshop for Junior Scholars, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, June 8–9, 2026
- Conference: Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities Annual Conference, Chicago, June 17–18, 2026
- Workshop: Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Graduate Student Workshop, July 25–26, 2026
- Workshop: Archival Abundances and Silences in Islamic Studies, Princeton University, October 2–3, 2026
- Conference: Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, November 21–24, 2026
Global Opportunities:
- Call for Participation: Digital Medieval Studies Institute, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 13, 2026
- Award: Global Dissertation Prize, American Society for Legal History, June 1, 2026
- Position Opening: Visiting Assistant Professor of Medieval Middle East, Colby College, July 1, 2026
- Call for Participation: Digital Medieval Studies Institute, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK, July 10, 2026
- Award: Gwenn Okruhlik Dissertation Award, Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies, July 15, 2026
- Award: Graduate Paper Prize, Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies, July 15, 2026
- Award: Student Travel Award, Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies, September 1, 2026
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