SHARIAsource

The Law provides the legal framework for Islamic finance in the Republic of Tajikistam. It defines the Islamic banking activities, describes the procedure of establishment, state registration and liquidation of Islamic credit institutions, sets capital requirements, stipulates the rules regarding the management bodies of Islamic credit insitutions, provides for principles and rules of regulation of Islamic credit institutions, including prudential norms, rules on financial reporting, audit, confidentiality and rules on supervision and inspection of Islamic credit institutions by the National Bank of Tajikistan (central bank). 

In October 2016, Pakistan's Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) passed legislation amending the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 (Act XLV of 1860) and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898), in order to deter and prevent offences in the name or pretext of honour. The amendments introduce limitations on the waiver of qisas (pardon), available to the perpetrators of Qatl-i-amd (intentional homicide), consistent with Islamic criminal law principles. Specifically, the new law introduces Ta’zir—discretionary judicial punishment—for an offender guilty of fasad-fil-arz (spreading mischief on Earth), particularly if the offence is committed in the name or pretext of honor. Under the new law, a court may punish such offender with imprisonment for life after considering “the facts and circumstances of the case.”

This document is a beyānnāme, or declaration, sent by Recāī Efendi, the Ottoman reʾīsül-kuttāb (chief scribe), to Britain's ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. It justifies the Ottoman declaration of war on Russia by explaining Russia's violation of treaty obligations, and gives insight into eighteenth-century Ottoman attitudes to international law and its relationship with Islamic law.

On January 17, 2023, the National Assembly of Pakistan passed a bill expanding the country’s laws on blasphemy. Previously, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws subjected those who insulted the Prophet Muhammad to the death penalty. The amended blasphemy laws carry a minimum ten-year prison sentence for those deemed to have insulted any of the Prophet’s Companions or Family members, and it renders blasphemy a non-bailable offense.

This agreement between Great Britain and Brunei announces that Brunei "shall remain an independent state, under the protection of Great Britain." It confers certain powers over Brunei's internal administration on the British government, and entitles British citizens in Brunei to certain rights. It is signed by Hugh Low, British Resident at Perak, and bears the seal of the Sultan of Brunei.

A.V.M. Horton edited this 1987 edition of the 1904 report written by M.S.H. McArthur on conditions in the Sultanate (and then-British protectorate) of Brunei. It is a detailed survey of government, administration, and social and economic conditions in the Sultanate, written to the end of informing British administration in Brunei. It predates the establishment of the Residency by two years. This edition includes Horton's preface and annotations, along with supplementary materials.

The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) recently shared a post on its Facebook account reminding a 2015 fatwā by the Special Meeting of the Fatwa Committee of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia declaring the use of electronic cigarettes impermissible under Islamic law.

This document is a beyānnāme, or declaration, sent by the Ottoman reʾīsül-kuttāb (chief scribe) to Britain's ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, justifying the Ottoman declaration of war on Russia by explaining Russia's violation of treaty obligations. The document gives insight into eighteenth-century Ottoman attitudes to international law and its relationship with Islamic law. Its use of the phrase naḳż-ı ʿahd (breaking the treaty), which has its origins in a specifically Qurʾānic context illustrates one way in which war was legitimized within the Ottoman Empire. Other phrases used in the beyānnāme demonstrate how Ottoman legal plurality functioned within a martial context. 

University of Toronto

Plaintiff William Welch claimed the Saginaw Correctional Facility violated his First Amendment right to free exercise of religion by providing meals that provided insufficient nutrition and calories. The appellate court agreed that Welch had demonstrated a potential violation of his constitutional rights, and affirmed the district court's earlier denial of qualified immunity to the defendants. 

The plaintiffs, a group of inmates held at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Concord, filed suit against Massachusetts prison officials for alleged violations of their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The plaintiffs alleged that the prison officials violated these rights by refusing to provide separate accommodations for adherents of the Nation of Islam, whose practices (according to one of the plaintiffs) are "distinctly different" from those of Sunnī Islam. The magistrate judge recommended that the defendants' motion to dismiss be allowed because the plaintiffs had not yet exhausted their administrative remedies within the prison system.

William Knuckles and several other inmates, all adherents of the Nation of Islam, filed a §1983 claim against prison officials, alleging a violation of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Specifically, they alleged that they were not allowed to correspond with their religious leaders, receive books and periodicals, "wear Muslim medals," or have a special dietary plan. In finding that the inmates were entitled to be visited by qualified ministers, the Court cautioned that all meetings should remain of a religious nature and could be supervised by prison officials.

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.

Mr. Zafar Hasan, a Muslim of Indian heritage, sued his former employer, Foley & Lardner LLP, under Title VII, alleging discrimination based on religion, race, national origin and color. The plaintiff claimed that his work assignments were cut and he was ultimately terminated because he was Muslim. For support, he points to the cut in his assignments that occurred immediately after 9/11, a comment made by one partner that “those people [Muslims] don’t belong here…they should kick them all out,” a warning by another partner to be careful about displaying articles the plaintiff had written on his view that Islam is a peaceful religion, and the fact that the other two Muslims in his department were either transferred or terminated in the same time period. The defendant company responds that it cut Mr. Hasan’s work and then terminated him due to poor work performance. The Circuit Court reversed and remanded the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’s grant of the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, concluding that the plaintiff had presented enough direct evidence of religious discrimination to allow the case to move forward.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Republic of Indonesia (Republik Indonesia), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Indonesia's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status. However, one province—Aceh Province—has established Islamic law formally within its jurisdiction.

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Republic of Guinea (Republique de Guinee), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Guinea's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status. 

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Kingdom of Thailand (Ratcha Anachak Thai), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Thailand's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has some legal status. 

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Republic of Mali (Republique de Mali), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Mali's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has some legal status. 

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Nigeria's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has legal status. 

This Country Profile provides a basic overview of the legal history and institutional structures of the The People's Republic of Bangladesh (Gana Prajatantri Bangladesh), based on research produced by GlobaLex at NYU Law School and the Library of Congress. Under Bangladesh's Constitution, Islamic law (sharīʿa or fiqh) has no legal status.