ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS Commenting on Saudi Arabia's art scene, one commentator noted: "A paradox remains: how to foster a creative art scene within the setting of state control. Artists are no longer subject to the Inquisition-like Mutawa, the mora…  | By islamiclawblog on May 5, 2025 | ISLAMIC LAW IN THE NEWS - Commenting on Saudi Arabia's art scene, one commentator noted: "A paradox remains: how to foster a creative art scene within the setting of state control. Artists are no longer subject to the Inquisition-like Mutawa, the morality police charged with enforcing Islamic law, banned in 2016."
- "The General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia reiterated its statement from April of last year, which mandates that individuals wishing to perform Hajj must obtain a permit."
- Commenting on a Muslim housing project, Texas governor said: "To be clear, Shariah law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Shariah cities. Nor are 'no go zones' which this project seems to imply[.]"
- Southeast Asia's fashion market, observers have argued, reflects a "growing demand for goods and services that are halal (that is, permissible under Islam). It's fueling a boom in companies that offer halal-certified non-consumable goods like cosmetics; "modest fashion," which reflects Islamic values of modesty while still being stylish; and tourism packages."
- "Addressing a gathering in Kabul on Sunday, where filming was prohibited Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban's vice and virtue minister, who explained their leader's recent decree, said that Islamic laws must be applied equally to all citizens, including Taliban officials."
- "The Islamic Emirate rejected the latest report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) concerning the state of human rights in the country." For more content and context on the recent developments in Afghanistan, consult our Editor-in-Chief, Professor Intisar Rabb's "Resource Roundup: Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Islamic Law."
- "Religious affairs minister Na'im Mokhtar [of Malaysia] . . . advised against hastily issued personal opinions on Islamic law without reference to authoritative bodies, amid a row on whether Muslims should delay going on pilgrimage if the dates clash with elections." Relatedly, another official commented: "Political fatwas such as those issued by PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang are are misleading and confusing and need addressing as they contradict Islamic law and the welfare of the ummah[.]"
- "In Iraq, a conservative, predominantly Shiite country, conversations about sex and pleasure are prohibited. Yet beneath this veneer of modesty, a disturbing trend has emerged under the guise of the longstanding, yet not universally accepted, practice of temporary marriage contracts called mut'ah."
- "In Bangladesh, Hefazat-e-Islam has cautioned chief adviser Muhammad Yunus against implementing the Women's Affairs Reform Commission's proposals, deeming them 'anti-Islamic.'"
- "Muhammad Mamunul Haque, joint secretary of Hefazat-e-Islam [Bangladesh], an influential coalition of Islamic schools" "said the group will push to implement sharia, or Islamic law, and believes the group's network of tens of thousands of seminaries -- claiming to have some 500,000 members -- means they will do well if the vote 'is free and fair.'"
- "Until the Constitutional Court [of South Africa] finalises a precedent-setting judgment that orders the State, within 24 months, to recognise Muslim marriages under common law, marriages in terms of Sharia (Islamic law) can only be dissolved in accordance with the Divorce Act 70 of 1979."
- "One thousand prostitutes staged a rally in northern Nigeria at the weekend to demand economic assistance ahead of the planned introduction of Islamic law, newspaper reports said Monday."
CASES, FATWĀS, LEGISLATION ON ISLAMIC LAW - In India, "[d]uring the hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the [Waqf] act, the government assured the top court that all waqf properties, including 'waqf-by-user', already registered or notified won't lose their status or character in revenue records till the matter is decided." The "waqf-by-user" doctrine provides that "properties used continuously for pious purposes—even without a deed—could acquire sanctity in the eyes of the law." The Indian Supreme Court Observer, "[b]ased on a review of some of the[] petitions in the waqf case, "put together a list of 10 major grounds on which the Act's constitutional validity is being challenged."
- "A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a British man to 800 lashes after convicting him of trading in alcohol, which is illegal in the Muslim kingdom[.]"
- "In a significant ruling, the Lahore High Court has affirmed that women who seek Khula (divorce initiated by the wife) due to their husband's misconduct are entitled to retain their full deferred dower, despite the dissolution of the marriage."
- "The Philippine president has signed into law the Philippine Islamic Burial Act, recognizing the right of Filipino Muslims to bury their dead in accordance with their faith."
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES PIL & Harvard Calendar: - Workshop: Workshop on Libraries, Manuscripts, Readers and Patrons in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Islamicate World, The Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program and Houghton Library, May 5-7, 2025 (Deadline: April 6, 2025).
- Prize: Doctoral Dissertation Prize, The Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, May 16, 2025.
- Fellowship: May-Crane Fellowships, Harvard University 2025 (deadline to be announced).
Calendar: - Call for Papers: " Islamic and Jewish Law in the Modern Economy," University of Villanova School of Law, Villanova, Pennsylvania, May 5-6, 2025 (Abstract submission deadline: January 31, 2025).
- Conference: Eleventh Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies, Queen Mary University, UK, May 8-10, 2025 (Paper proposals: October 31, 2024; Panel proposals: November 30, 2024).
- IISMM Seminar Series: "From Jerusalem to India: Endowments and Gender Influences," IISMM, France, May 16, 2025.
- LSA 2025 Annual Meeting: Chicago, Illinois from May 22-25, 2025 (Early registration: December 3, 2024; registration: January 3, 2025).
- Call for Papers: "Towards a Global Ecological-Economic Legal Framework," ESIL IG, Paris, June 6-7, 2025 (deadline February 28, 2025).
- Prize: Phanor J. Eder Prize in Comparative Law, Younger Comparativists Committee, June 13, 2025.
- 2025 Hurst Summer Institute: Legal History, University of Wisconsin Law School, June 15-27, 2025.
- Conference: Law, Culture, and Humanities 27th Annual Conference, Georgetown University, June 17-18, 2025 (Call for Papers deadline: January 31, 2025).
- IISMM Seminar Series: "Waqfs, women and circles of power," IISMM, France (remote option), June 20, 2025.
- Conference: The Middle Ages in the Modern World, London Strand Campus, King's College London, June 24-26, 2025 (Call for Papers deadline: January 13, 2025).
- Workshop: "From Classical ML to AI in Arabic and Islamic Studies," Hamburg University, July 1-4, 2025 (Deadline: April 30, 2025)
- Summer Language Intensive Program: Istanbul University Institute for Islamic Studies, July 7 – August 8, 2025.
- Prize: Colin B. Picker Prize, Younger Comparativists Committee, August 15, 2025.
- Summer School: Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim World, Leiden University, August 18-29, 2025 (Application deadline: May 5, 2025).
- Faculty Fellow: Faculty Fellow in Near Eastern Studies, New York University, 2025-2026, September 1, 2025 (Deadline: March 24, 2025).
- Call for Proposals: Paris Congress at 125: Comparative Law's Entanglement with Power from Paris to Today, McGill University, Canada, October 16-18, 2025 (Deadline: May 14, 2025).
- Conference: 5th ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization, University of Pittsburgh, November 5-7, 2025.
- Call for Papers: ASLH 2025 Annual Meeting, Detroit, MI, November 13-15, 2025 (Deadline: March 25, 2025).
- Call for Papers: International Conference "Poetry and Knowledge," University of Münster, November 20-22, 2025 (Deadline: June 1, 2025).
- Conference: MESA 2025, Westin Downtown, Washington DC, November 22-25, 2025 (Proposal deadline: February 13, 2025).
- Position opening: Senior Lecturer in Law, History, and Society, Vanderbilt University, 2025.
- Search for Editor: International Journal of Middle East Studies, until an appointment is made.
- Internship opportunity: The Executive Office of the President, White House, various deadlines.
- Position opening: Academic mentor and field researcher in Iraq, Cordoba Peace Institute-Geneva (CPI) & ETH Zurich, rolling basis.
- Position opening: Academic mentor for researcher in Mogadishu, Cordoba Peace Institute-Geneva (CPI) & ETH Zurich.
- Call for Papers: Special Section – Lifewriting Annual and Islam.
- Call for Manuscripts: Advances in the Study of Islam, Edinburgh University Press.
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