Islamic Law under the microscope

The aim is to build a network of academics, lawyers, barristers, researchers and community religious advisors to work together for the long term benefit of society in addressing the different schools of thought in Islamic Law. The workshop will run for two days and focus on the development of law within Hanafi and Shafii Schools of law from the earliest times to the present.

Different parts of the Muslim world follow alternative schools of law which can also be divided regionally with India and Pakistan as one region and Indonesia and Malaysia as another, where each bring their background and influence to how they practice Islamic law in the UK. Islamic law can be divided into almost six schools of thought and there are smaller ones which have died out and others have re-emerged.

The network will bring together historians, who are mainly the academics with substantial theoretical knowledge, with lawyers and barristers who have an interest in modern thought and practice in the court room. This transfer of knowledge may assist lawyers in understanding the doctrines they deal with; by appreciating where the doctrines came from and how they were formulated on a case by case basis and to gain further understanding of the actions/thoughts of the individual or group they are representing.

The scholars are able to identify the historical doctrine and they themselves will benefit from seeing how the areas they research and theorise are put into practice on a daily basis in UK legal situations.

Professor of Arabic Studies, Robert Gleave the Principal Investigator on the workshops said, ‘The theme for this workshop is Interpretation and Application of Islamic Law and will draw together specialists who are eager to expand their understanding and appreciation of Islamic law in a most practical sense. We are encouraging scholars and PhD students to come with unfinished pieces of work so that they can get input from people working in similar areas and to assist them in their findings.’

Barrister, Mark Hoyle will be delivering a paper on Islamic Law and Modern Commercial Contract Issues, religious practitioner Amjad Mohammed a Mufti from Bradford will discuss the Recent Hanafi Fatwa in a British Context alongside scholars and PhD students who will share ideas on the issues raised in the broad range of research reports.

All of the workshops will be themed around Islamic law and delivered over the next three years at the University.

The longer term aim is for a loose body of people to work independent of the University following the project funding. Similar organisations successfully exist in Holland with an annual conference of lawyers, researchers and practitioners in Islamic Law.

AHRC and ESRC 'Religion and Society Research Programme': The collaborative Religion and Society Research Programme aims to stimulate work across the arts and humanities and social sciences communities, concerning questions of belief, human culture, society and religion. This is the first UK research programme to foster collaborative endeavours across this wide range of disciplines in order to understand the interrelationships between religion and society. It aims to support projects of the highest quality and international significance. The programme will operate for approximately five and a half years with an initial budget of £8.3m plus a further £4m for the Religion and Society Youth Call.

This 50/50 co-funded programme addresses questions of vital contemporary importance, both on a local and global scale. To appreciate these issues fully it is important to understand them in historical and comparative contexts as well as through the perspectives of gender, age, sexuality, class, economic status, dis/ability and ethnicity. This programme offers a unique opportunity to engage publics, religious groups, policy makers, charities, creative and cultural sectors and others in dialogue about the role of religion in society. www.religionandsociety.org.uk