Articles

This paper deals with the death of a high religious authority, the Twelver Shiʿi marjaʿ al-taqlīd, or “Grand Ayatollah”, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍl Allāh...

This paper examines the phenomenon of marjaʿiyya, considers how one becomes a marjaʿ, and traces the rise of Sīstānī to the pre-eminent position that he now holds and juxtaposes his model of leadership with other modern Shiʿi models of...

The sociological study of the Shia theological seminary is a neglected task and I should immediately add that this is not a simple task. The present research is a pioneer in this field that try to explain some hidden aspects in the Shia theological schools...

The South African Law Reform Commission compiled a draft Bill on Muslim Marriages in 2003. Similar to the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998 with regard to customary marriages, the draft Bill proposes recognition of all Muslim marriages irrespective of...

Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat — the jurisprudence of Muslim minorities — is a legal doctrine asserting that Muslim minorities, especially those residing in the...

Conflict and polemic between Sunni Muslims and Shiites have a long history. In the contemporary era, this polemic has been accentuated by the conflictual situation in the Middle East, and it is also colouring the minority Muslim...

Law and theology in Islam, as for Christians in medieval Europe, have always had a symbiotic relationship. But whereas western Christians accorded a secondary holy status to the Emperor Justinian’s corpus juris civilis, Muslims could not...

This article presents reflections from an ethnographic study of the meaning and perception of the marjaʿiyyah among Shiʿa lay Muslims in Kuwait...

Twelver Shia Muslims in the Netherlands, a minority within the Muslim minority, are living as an ethnically fragmented community that is organised along ethnic lines. In recent years, Shia young adults started to...

In rural Zanzibar, both lay people and legal professionals argue that women’s options in marriage could be improved by closer adherence to Islamic law....