Events

Islamic legal theory, unlike Islamic economics, is largely assumed to be intact and flourishing. Conventional thought is that the vast body of rules and norms derived from Muslim foundational text may provide a basis for legal organization that is effective, albeit normatively unappealing to some. Haider Ala Hamoudi, professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, argues however that the dominant Islamic legal and political theory is incoherent and impossible in application. This is not to suggest that Islamic law is without effect, only that it operates either in zones of social order left unregulated by the state or in adjusting or replacing otherwise secular rules in discrete and limited areas. As a self contained, comprehensive means of legal organization, Islamic law is, Hamoudi posits, dead. Co-sponsored by Center for International & Comparative Law and Duke Islamic Studies Center. For more information, contact Neylan Gurel at gurel@law.duke.edu.