Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
Introduction to Islamic and Middle Eastern Law
FS 2016: Syllabus and Lecture Schedule
I.
General Information
a) Core Reading (for a general introduction to Islamic and Middle Eastern Law):
COULSON NOEL J., A History of Islamic Law, Edinburgh 1964
BLACK ANN/ESMAEILI HOSSEIN/HOSEN NADIRSYAH, Modern Perspectives on Islamic Law, Cheltenham 2013
MALLAT CHIBLI, Introduction to Islamic Law, Oxford 2009
HEFNER ROBERT W., Shari’a Politics: Islamic law and society in the modern world, Bloomington 2011
NASIR JAMAL J., The Islamic law of personal status, Leiden 2009
PETERS RUDOLPH, Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law, Cambridge 2007
ROHE MATHIAS, Islamic law in past and present, Leiden 2015
VIKØR KNUT S., Between God and the sultan: A History of Islamic Law, London 2005
The lecture "Introduction to Islamic and Middle Eastern Law" gives an overview of classical Islamic law and its current development and application in Middle
Eastern countries. The first part of the course covers the history and sources of Islamic law. The second part of the course focuses on the personal status law
including marriage, divorce, children, and inheritance. Furthermore, criminal law is taken into account. In the third part of the course ee will analyse modern
hermeneutical approaches to the religious sources and Muslim voices in the human rights debate, and engage with the perspectives of Islamic law. In the
fourth part, the legal systems of three different nation states will be presented by three guest lecturers. And in the fifth and final part, the course will address
legal issues arising in the context of migration from Islamic countries: questions of international private law, of arbitration in family law matters, and the claim
for legal and normative pluralism. There will be texts provided for each lecture, which students should read for additional information (“Lecture Reading
Material”)
1
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
II.
Student seminars:
In part, this course is run in seminar format. This means that lectures are normally divided into two parts (see lecture schedule for exceptions): For the first
forty-five minutes, Prof. Büchler will read on the subjects as listed below. For the second part of the individual lectures, students are required to prepare in
advance by reading a number of texts as listed in the section “Student Seminar Reading”. According to a pre-fixed schedule, every student will have a text
assigned to them. In addition to reading the text, he or she must make a short in-class presentation of their text, prepare questions by engaging critically with
the information provided in the reading, and initiate and lead the discussion in class. Class preparedness and participation in discussions will count 50%
towards final grades. In addition, at the end of the semester, there will be a written exam based on the reading material listed below (section “Lecture
Reading Material”).
a) General Information
This means that it is vital and imperative that students read carefully all the text made available on the Chair’s website (“Lehrveranstaltungen” “Introduction
to Islamic and Middle Eastern Law” “Student Seminar Reading”). According to a ready-made schedule, each student will be assigned a particular text. Besides
studying the text, the student will be required to make a short in-class presentation of their text by identifying the key points of their reading by engaging
critically with the information provided in the reading, and initiate and lead a short discussion in class.
Grades will be based on a combination of class participation (including attendance and participation), preparation and presentation of pre-assigned texts
(quality of presentation and thoughtfulness of analysis) as well as participation in class discussions. In addition, a final written exam will be held at the end of
the semester.
b) Guidelines for the in –class presentation
Students must:
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Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
-
Give a short and concise synopsis related to the individual reading by identifying the key points of the text and
Identify two to three questions / points of perspectives / opinions that are a productive starting point for the discussion (approx. 5 Minutes), and
Moderate the ensuing discussion (approx. 10 Minutes)
3
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
III.
Lecture Schedule
Date & time
Lecturer
Topics
Content
Lecture Reading Material
22 February
2016
Prof. Dr.
Andrea
Büchler
Historical
Overview and
Sources of
Islamic Law 1
Introduction
ESPOSITO JOHN L., Islam. The
Straight Path, 3rd ed., New
York/Oxford 1998, 1-67 and 88-93
Mon 10:1512:00
Historical and
political
context incl.
key doctrinal
differences
between
Sunnism and
Shi’ism
Main
messages of
Islam
Sources of
Islamic law:
Qur’an,
Sunna,
‘ijma, qiyas
Materials / Student Seminar
Reading
Slides
Islamic and Middle Eastern Law –
An Introduction (Online Resource)
Laws and More (Online Resource)
COULSON NOEL J., A History of
Islamic Law, Edinburgh 1964, 9-102
AL-FADLĪ ´ABD AL-HĀDĪ,
Introduction to Hadīth. Including
Dirāyat al-Hadīth by Al-Thānī alShahīd, London 2002, 19-23
An-Nawawī’s Forty Hadith. An
Anthology of the Sayings of the
Prophet Muhammad, Translated
by Ibrahim Ezzeddin/JohnsonDavies Denys, Cambridge 1997, 2661
4
No student seminar
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
29 February
2016
Mon
10:15-12:00
Andrea
Büchler
Historical
Overview and
Sources of
Islamic Law 2
The early
development
of Islamic law;
Formation of
madhabs, usul
al-fiqh
The closed
door of
ijtihad, taqlid
Historical
Overview 16th21th Century
KAMALI MOHAMMAD HASHIM,
Methodological Issues in Islamic
Jurisprudence, 11 Arab Law
Quarterly (1996), 3-33
HALLAQ WAEL B., Modernizing the
law in the age of nation-states in
Hallaq Wael B., Shari’a. Theory,
Practice, Transformation,
Cambridge 2009, 443-499
ARABI OUSSAMA, The Place of
Islamic Law in the Modern World
and the Reconstruction of Shari´a,
in: HOYLE MARK S. (ed.), Studies in
Modern Islamic Law and
Jurisprudence, Arab and Islamic
Law Series 21, The Hague/London/New York 2001, 189-211
ABU-ODEH LAMA, Modernizing
Muslim Family Law: The Case of
Egypt, 37 Vanderbilt Journal of
Transnational Law (2004), 10431146 (read 1043-1112)
5
Student seminar:
1. MIR-HOSSEINI ZIBA, How the
Door if Ijtihad was opened and
closed: A Comparative Analysis of
Recent Family Law Reforms in Iran
and Morocco, Washington and Lee
Law Review Vol. 64 (2007), 14991511
2. SIJPESTEIJN PETRA, Historical
Diversity in the Islamic World in
Otto Jan Michiel/Mason Hannah,
Delicate Debates on Islam, Leiden
2011, 53-61 AND OTTO JAN
MICHIEL, Sharia and Law in a
Bird’s-Eye View: Reform,
Moderation and Ambiguity, loc.
cit., 73-77
3. ISMAIL SALWA, Islamism, ReIslamization and the Fashioning
of Muslim Selves: Refiguring the
Public Sphere, Muslim World
Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 4
(2007), 1-21
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
7 March
2016
Mon
10:15-12:00
Andrea
Büchler
Personal
Status Law 1
Introduction
and Marriage
PEARL DAVID/MENSKI WERNER,
Muslim Family Law, 3rd ed.,
London 1998, 139-149, 176-185,
237-247
NASIR JAMAL J.A., Marriage, in The
Islamic Law of Personal Status, 3rd
ed., Leiden/Boston 2009, 44-82
ZULFICAR MONA, The Islamic
Marriage Contract in Egypt, in:
QURAISHI ASIFA/VOGEL FRANK E.
(eds.), The Islamic Marriage
Contract. Case Studies in Islamic
Family Law, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 2008, 231-274
Student seminar:
1. SONNEVELD NADIA, Rethinking
the Difference between Formal
and Informal Marriages in Egypt in
Voorhoeve Maaike (ed.), Family
Law in Islam, New York 2012, 77107.
2. LEEMAN ALEX B., Interfaith
Marriage in Islam: An Examination
of the Legal Theory Behind the
Traditional and Reformist Positions
in Saeed Abdullah, Islam and
Human Rights Vol. II,
Cheltenham/Northampton 212,
129-157
3. QURAISHI-LANDES ASIFA, A
Meditation on Mahr, Modernity,
and Muslim Marriage Contract Law
in Failinger Marie A./Schiltz
Elizabeth R./Stabile Susan J., Law,
Feminism and
Religion,Farnham/Burlington 2013,
173-195
6
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
14 March
2016
Mon 10:1512:00
Andrea
Büchler
Personal
Status Law 2
Divorce
PEARL DAVID/MENSKI WERNER,
Muslim Family Law, 3rd ed.,
London 1998, 279-291.
NASIR JAMAL J.A., Dissolution of
Marriage/Iddat in The Islamic Law
of Personal Status, 3rd ed.,
Leiden/Boston 2009, 106-144
MIR-HOSSEINI ZIBA, The Politics of
Divorce Laws in Iran: Ideology vs
Practice in Mehdi Rubya/Menski
Werner/Nielsen Jørgen (eds.),
Interpreting Divorce Laws in Islam,
Copenhagen 2012, 65-83
Student seminar:
1. REHMAN JAVAID, The Sharia,
Islamic Family Law and
International Human Rights Law:
Examining the Theory and Practice
of Polygamy and Talaq,
International Journal of Law, Policy
and the Family 21, (2007), 108–127
2. AL-SHARMANI MULKI, Egyptian
Khul’: Legal Reform, Courtroom
Practices, and Realitits of Women
in Mehdi Rubya/Menski
Werner/Nielsen Jørgen (eds.),
Interpreting Divorce Laws in Islam,
Copenhagen 2012, 85-104
3. NEWCOMB RACHEL, Justice for
Everyone? Implementation of
Morocco’s 2004 Mudawana
Reforms in Mehdi Rubya/Menski
Werner/Nielsen Jørgen (eds.),
Interpreting Divorce Laws in Islam,
Copenhagen 2012, 105-127
7
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
21 March
2016
Mon 10:1512:00
Andrea
Büchler
Personal
Status Law 3
Children and
Inheritance
PEARL DAVID/MENSKI WERNER,
Muslim Family Law, 3rd ed.,
London 1998, 399-401, 408-412,
425-426, 430.
KHAN HAMID, The Islamic Law of
Inheritance, Oxford 2007, pp. 2535, 37-56, 67-116.
Student seminar:
1. ASSIM ASSIM USANG M./SLOTHNIELSEN JULIA, Islamic kafalah as
an alternative care option for
children deprived of a family
environment, African Human
Rights Law Journal Vol. 14 (2014),
322-345
2. ISHAQUE SHABNAM/KHAN
MUHAMMAD MUSTAFA, The Best
Interests of the Child: A Prevailing
Consideration within Islamic
Principles and a Governing
Principle in Child Custody Cases in
Pakistan, Int J Law Policy Family
Vol. 29 (2015), 78-96.
3. YASSARI NADJMA, Intestate
Succession in Islamic Countries in
Reid Kenneth/De Waal
Marius/Zimmermann Reinhard,
Comparative Succession Law,
Volume II, Intestate Succession,
Oxford 2015, 421-440
8
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
4 April 2016
Mon 10:1512:00
Andrea
Büchler
Criminal Law
Islamic
Criminal Law
in the Middle
East
PETERS RUDOLPH, Crime and
Punishment in Islamic Law,
Cambridge 2007, 6-68
BASSIOUNI M. CHERIF, Crimes and
the Criminal Process, 12 Arab Law
Quarterly (1997), 269-286
MIR HOSSEINI ZIBA, Criminalising
Sexuality: Zina Laws as Violence
Against Women in Muslim
Contexts, SUR International Journal
on Human Rights, Vol. 8 (2011),
No. 15, 7-35
Student seminar:
1. SIDAHMED ABDEL SALAM,
Problems in Contemporary
Applications of Islamic Criminal
Sanctions: The Penalty for Adultery
in Relation to Women, British
Journal of Middle East Studies Vol.
28 (2001), 187-204
2. SAEED ABDULLAH, The Need to
Rethink Apostasy Laws in Saeed
Abdullah/Saeed Hassan, Freedom
of Religion, Apostasy and Islam,
Burlington 2004, 167-173
3. TELLENBACH SILVIA, Fair Trial
Guarantees in Criminal
Proceedings Under Islamic, Afghan
Constitutional and International
Law, ZaöRV Vol. 64 (2004), 929-941
9
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
11 April
2016
Mon 10:1512:00
Andrea
Büchler
Perspectives:
Contemporary
Approaches
and
Discourses 1
Movements
Contemporary
Muslim
Intellectuals
Amina
Wadoud
Nasr Abu Zayd
Abdullahi
An’Naim
Abdullah
Saeed
TAJI-FAROUKI SUHA, Introduction,
in: TAJI-FAROUKI SUHA (ed.),
Modern Muslim Intellectuals and
the Qur’an, London 2004 (2006), 128.
KURZMAN CHARLES, Liberal Islam
and Its Islamic Context, in:
KURZMAN CHARLES (ed.), Liberal
Islam. A Sourcebook, New
York/Oxford 1998, 3-26.
ARABI OUSSAMA, Muhammad
Abduh and the Modern Demands
on Islamic Law, in: HOYLE MARK S.
(ed.), Studies in Modern Islamic
Law and Jurisprudence, Arab and
Islamic Law Series 21, The
Hague/London/New York 2001, 1938.
NAJJAR FAUZI M., Islamic
Fundamentalism and the
Intellectuals: The Case of Nasr
Hāmid Abū Zayd, 27 British Journal
of Middle Eastern Studies (2000),
177-200
10
Student seminar:
1. ABU LUGHOD LEILA, Dialects of
Women’s Empowerment. The
International Circuitry of the Arab
Human Development Report 2005,
International Journal of Middle
East Studies Vol. 41 (2009), 83-103
2. AN’NAIM ABDULLAHI, Shari’a in
the Secular State. A Paradox of
Separation and Conflation in
Bearman Peri/Heinrichs
Wolfhart/Weiss Bernard G., The
Law Applied. Contextualizing the
Islamic Shari’a, London/New York
2008, 321-341
3. ESPOSITO JOHN L., Rethinking
Islam and Secularism, The
Association of Religious Data
Archive Guiding Paper Series 2010,
1-26
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
18 April
2016
Mon 10:1512:00
Andrea
Büchler
Perspectives:
Contemporary
Approaches
and
Discourses 2
Fazlur
Rahman
Literature: see Perspectives:
Contemporary Approaches and
Discourses 1
Abdolkarim
Soroush
Leila Ahmed
Khaled Abou
El Fadl
Student seminar:
1. MIR-HOSSEINI ZIBA, Justice,
Equality and Muslim Family Laws:
New Ideas, New Prospects in MirHosseini Ziba/Vogt Kari/Larsen
Lena/Moe Christian, Gender and
Equality in Muslim Family Law,
New York 2013, 7-34 (discussing AlTahir al-Haddad and Fazlur
Rahman)
2. ABOU EL FADL KHALED,
Violence, personal commitment
and democracy in Griffith-Jones
Robin (ed.), Islam and English Law,
Cambridge 2013, 256-271
3. HAMIDADDIN ABDULLAH,
Harmonious Being: A Space for an
Alternative Way of Exploring
Religion in Kersten Carool/Olsson
Susanne, Alternative Islamic
Discourses and Religious Authority,
Farnham/Burlington 2013, 119136.
11
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
25 April
2016
Mon 10:1512:00
Nadia
Sonneveld
Laws of the
Muslim World
1
Shari'a in
Revolution?
Reform of
Shari'a-Based
Family Law in
Egypt and
Morocco
Will be announced by lecturer
12
No student seminar
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
2 May 2016
Mohammad
Tavana
Mon 10:1512:00
9 May 2016
Mon 10:1512:00
Eveline
Schneider
Kayasseh
Laws of the
Muslim World
2
Laws of the
Muslim World
3
Iran
Iranian
political and
judicial system
Iranian
constitutional,
family and
criminal law
Movie:
Divorce
Iranian Style
Saudi Arabia
Movie:
Divorce
Shari’a Style
(BBC)
ZUBAIDA SAMI, Law and Power in
the Islamic World, London/New
York 2003, 182-219 (The Politics of
the Shari’a in Iran)
No student seminar
ESMAEILI HOSSEIN, On a Slow Boat
Towards the Rule of Law: The
Nature of Law in the Saudi Arabian
Legal System, Arizona Journal of
International and Comparative Law
Vol. 26 (2009), 1-47
No Student seminar
13
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
23 May 2016
Mon 10:1512:00
Andrea
Büchler
Islamic Law in
Europe 1
Introduction
European
discourse
International
Private Law
Legal pluralism
BÜCHLER ANDREA, Islamic Law in
Europe? Legal Pluralism and its
Limits in European Family Laws,
Farnham/Burlington 2011, 5-26
BÜCHLER ANDREA/LATIF AMIRA,
Judicial Encounters with Islamic
and Middle Eastern Family Law in
Switzerland from a private
international law perspective –
marriage and divorce in Giunchi
Elisa, Muslim Family Law in
Western Courts, Abingdon/New
York 2014, 55-86
SHAH PRAKASH, Distorting
Minority Laws? Religious Diversity
and European Legal Systems in
Shah Prakash et al., Family,
Religion and Law, Cultural
Encounters in Europe, Farnham
2014, 1-27
14
Student Seminar:
1. BÜCHLER ANDREA, Islamic
family law in Europe? From
dichotomies to discourse – or:
beyond cultural
and religious identity in family law,
International Journal of Law in
Context Vol. 8 (Special issue
02/2012), 196-210
2. CHRISTOFFERSEN LISBETH, Is
Shari’a Law, Religion, or a
combination? European Legal
Discourses on Shari’a in Nielsen
Jørgen S./Christoffersen Lisbeth
(ed.), Shari’a as Discourse. Legal
Traditions and the Encounter with
Europe Farnham 2010, 57-77
3. SHACHAR AYELET, State,
Religion, and the Family: The New
Dilemmas of Multicultural
Accommodation in Ahdar
Rex/Aroney Nicholas (ed.), Shari’a
in the West, Oxford/New York
2010, 115-133
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
30 May 2016
Andrea
Büchler
Islamic Law in
Europe 2
Literature: see Islamic Law in
Europe 1
Mon 10:1512:00
Student Seminar:
1. ALLIEVI STEFANO, Conflicts,
Cultures, and Religions: Islam in
Europe as a Sign and Symbol of
Change in European Societies in
Nökel Sigrid/Tezcan Levent, Islam
and the New Europe, Yearbook of
the Sociology of Islam 6, Bielefeld
2005, 18-44
2. DOUGLAS GILLIAN et al.,
Religious Divorce in England and
Wales: Religious Tribunals in Action
in Shah Prakash/Foblets MarieClaire/Rohe Mathias, Family,
Religion and Law. Cultural
Encounters in Europe,
Farnham/Burlington 2014, 195-208
3. GAUDREAULT-DESBIENS JEANFRANÇOIS, Religious Courts,
Personal Federalism, and Legal
Transplants in Ahdar Rex/Aroney
Nicholas, Shari’a in the West,
Oxford/New York 2010, 159-180
4. SHAH PRAKASH, Between God
and the Sultana? Legal pluralism in
the British Muslim diaspora in
Nielsen Jørgen S./Christoffersen
Lisbet (eds.), Shari’a as Discourse.
Legal Traditions and the Encounter
15
Prof. Dr. Andrea Büchler, University of Zurich
with Europe, Farnham 2010, 117139
5. MENSKI WERNER,PluralityConscious Rebalancing of Family
Law Regulation in Europe in Shah
Prakash/Foblets Marie-Claire/Rohe
Mathias, Family, Religion and Law.
Cultural Encounters in Europe,
Farnham/Burlington 2014, 29-49
6. SARDAR ALI SHAHEEN, From
Muslim migrants to Muslim
Citizens in Griffith-Jones Robin
(ed.), Islam and English Law,
Cambridge 2013, 157-175
16