SHARIAsource

Suyūṭī’s (d. 911/1505) al-Ashbāh wa-l-Naẓāʾir is a treatise collecting Shāfiʿī legal canons. It examines the similarities and differences between legal and interpretive outcomes in Islamic law in ways that show how and why one judgment or outcome is distinguished from another, and in the process highlights the substantive and interpretive legal canons that guide those legal outcomes. 

For more, view the full print edition and see The Legal Thought of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti: Authority and Legacy (Oxford, 2017) by Rebecca Hernandez.

This excerpt is from Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-ʿAlāʾī's (d. 761/1359) al-Majmūʿ al-Mudhhab fī Qawāʿid al-Madhhab, which is a two-volume collection of substantive legal canons and interpretive legal canons, and the third-oldest known Shāfiʿī canons collection from the Mamlūk era. Substantive legal canons (qawāʿid fiqhiyya) are short formulas expressing fundamental principles and doctrines of Islamic law, while interpretive legal canons (qawāʿid uṣūliyya) are principles for interpreting textual sources. This excerpt provides the first few pages excerpted from the author's Introduction. 

For more, view the full print edition and read the commentary by Mariam Sheibani on the Islamic Law Blog.

This is the first volume of al-Timurtāshī's commentary of his compendium of Ḥanafī law, Tanwīr al-Abṣār wa-Jāmiʻ al-Biḥār.

At a meeting in Lucknow on February 5, 2023, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) passed a resolution opposing the Indian government’s proposed Uniform Civil Code. The Board noted that the proposed UCC was “neither relevant nor beneficial for a multi-religious, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country like India.” The Board further expressed concerns that the UCC would divide India along religious and cultural lines, and that it would erode safeguards around religious freedom and equality.

Egypt’s Dar al-Iftā (Fatwa Council) issued a fatwā regarding the permissibility of cosmetic surgery to reduce nose size in instances where the size of the nose is causing physical and psychological harm. The Dar al-Ifta stated that, while plastic surgery simply for cosmetological purposes is impermissible, it becomes permissible if the purpose of the procedure is to rectify some harm, either physical or psychological, which is causing instability in one’s life.

In its judgment dated December 15, 2023, a majority of the Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld various provisions of the Supreme Court Act of 2023 as constitutional. The majority rejected arguments that the Act sought to interfere with the Court's independence and exclusive jurisdiction over its own affairs and internal organization. Certain provisions of the Act constrain the power of the Chief Justice and provide certain guarantees that some cases need to be heard by a committee of justices as opposed to a single justice or only a few of them. Most importantly, the Court, in upholding the Act, rejected the Chief Justice's power as the so-called "Master of the Roster." Previously, under that power, the Chief Justice had the ability to constitute benches, that is, appoint individual justices of his choosing, who then heard specific cases. Rejecting that power, the Court ruled that the "Master of the Roster" power was alien to the Constitution of Pakistan. Further, the Court noted that the word "master" was offensive and un-Islamic, writing that "Islam establishes the principle of equality . . . ."