Islamic Legal Studies Conference to be held in Finland

The ninth Islamic Legal Studies Conference, convened by the International Society of Islamic Legal Studies (ISILS) under the auspices of the Universities of Helsinki and Tampere, Finland, June 6–9, 2018

Unlike previous conferences, the conference will be open topic—presentations on all aspects of Islamic law, from earliest to most recent times, are welcome.

The conference will be divided into two parts. In the first, which will take place in Helsinki, a keynote address and an invited panel of five speakers will present on “Islamic Law and the Relationship between Ruler and Ruled.” The keynote will be given by Frank Vogel (Cambridge, MA), who will explore Sharia doctrine regarding legal status of the governed. It will be followed by a panel made up of Lena Salaymeh (Tel Aviv), Christian Müller (Paris), Evgenia Kermeli (Ankara), Rob Gleave (Exeter), and Mulki al-Sharmani (Helsinki), who will each present case studies from different periods evidencing the shaping and reconstituting of subjecthood in legal practice.

The second part, which will take place in Tampere over two-and-a-half days, will consist of 20-minute presentations; preference is given to discussions based on primary text analysis or fieldwork. The conference language is English.

Speakers are expected to attend the entirety of the conference. Lodging, meals, and transportation between Helsinki and Tampere will be covered by our Finnish hosts. Some assistance may be available for help with travel costs, but speakers should work on the assumption that funds for travel to and from the conference will be unavailable.

Conference Program

Wednesday, June 6, 2018 (Small Festival Hall, University of Helsinki)

13:00 Welcome: ISILS President, Peri Bearman (Harvard Law School)

Keynote Lecture, Frank Vogel (Harvard Law School)

14:00–17:00 Panel I: Islamic Law and the Relationship between Ruler and Ruled

Lena Salymeh (Tel Aviv University)

Christian Müller (CNRS, Paris)

Rob Gleave (University of Exeter)

Evgenia Kermeli (Haceteppe University, Ankara)

Mulki al-Sharmani (University of Helsinki)

Thursday, June 7, 2018 (Auditorium, University of Tampere)

9:30–12:00 Panel II: The Court and Islamic Law

Sohaira Siddiqui (Georgetown University): Contesting Anglo-Muhammadan Law in Colonial Courtrooms

Ari Schriber (Harvard University): Functionalization of the Moroccan Qāḍī: The Statut des Cadis Decree of 1937-1938

Erin E. Stiles (University of Nevada): Who Is an Heir? Legal Pluralism and Inheritance Disputes in and out of Zanzibar’s Islamic Courts

Dominik Krell (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg): The Concept of the “Best Interests of the Child” in Saudi Arabian Courts

14:00–17:00 Panel III: Women and Islamic Law

Marion Holmes Katz (New York University): Is Marriage Really Like a Sale? Marriage and Its Metaphors in the Fifth-Sixth Century AH/Eleventh-Twelfth Century CE

Delfina Serrano (CSIC, Madrid): Legal Views on the Duration of Pregnancy and Their Impact on Islamic Notions of Paternity (nasab): Past and Present

Rozaliya Garipova (Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan): An Islamic Legal Debate on “Anchored” Women in the Russian Empire

Irene Schneider (University of Göttingen): Divorce Gaza style: The taʿmīm of 2016

Ayang Utriza Yakin (Université Catholique, Louvain): Women, Right to Sexual Pleasure, and “Malu”: Sexual Enjoyment, Impotence, and Modesty in Indonesian Religious Courts

Friday, June 8, 2018 (Auditorium, University of Tampere)

9:30–12:00 Panel IV: Fiqh Discourse I

Ron Shaham (Hebrew University, Jerusalem): Legal Maxims (qawāʿid fiqhiyya) in Yūsuf al-Qaradawī’s Jurisprudence and Legal Opinions

Serena Tolino (University of Hamburg): Eunuchs in Islamic Law: The Gender of Castrated Men in the Islamic Legal Discourse

Faris Zwirahn (Princeton University): Your Marriage Contract Is Unlawful: The Validity of Virtual Communication Technology in Islamic Law

Carlo De Angelo (University of Naples): The Salafi Conception of walāʾ wa-barāʾ and Muslims Integration into Western Societies: A Negative Impact

14:00–15:30 Panel V: Islamic Law and Governance

Ahmed Khan (University of Hamburg): An Empire of Laws: The View from the Province

Gianluca Parolin (Agha Khan University, London): Al-Ṭahṭāwī “Translating” the 1814 French Charter: Crafting a New Semiotics of Law and Governance in 19th-Century Egypt

Knut S. Vikør (University of Bergen): Imamate and Sultanate in Twentieth-Century Ibāḍī Thought

ISILS Business Meeting

Conference Dinner, Finlayson Palace

Saturday, June 9, 2018 (Auditorium, University of Tampere)

9:30–12:00 Panel VI: Fiqh Discourse II

Steven Judd (Southern Connecticut State University): Muḥammad al-Marwazī’s Treatment of Sufyān al-Thawrī in his Ikhtilāf al-fuqahāʾ

Nurit Tsafrir (Tel Aviv University): The Persian Influence on the Irāqī Ḥanafī Law: Some Notes on Its Literary Aspect

Arzoo Osanloo (University of Washington): Preserving Right, Forgiving Wrong: Mercy’s Law in Iranian Criminal Sanctions

Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen (University of Copenhagen): Featuring Fiqh