Developing an Islamic law curriculum

UKCLE PDF project

Project leader: Shaheen Sardar Ali, University of Warwick (e-mail: s.s.ali@warwick.ac.uk)
Project summary: development of an Islamic law curriculum and teaching materials
Start date: August 2006
UKCLE funding: £3,500 (phase 1); £10,000 (phase 2); £10,000 (phases 3 and 4: August 2008 – July 2010)

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Project latest: further draft manuals published July 2009 | papers on teaching Islamic law presented at the Re-imagining the Shar’ia conference.

In recent years Islamic law has evoked a lot of interest. The volume of cases involving an Islamic law element is on the rise, calling for legal and other professionals to assist the court, and the need for an understanding of Islam and its legal framework extends further to economists, policy makers and legislators.

The teaching of Islamic law is a political act for a number of reasons, including the diverse interpretations of the primary sources, the multiple schools of juristic thought and the gap between the rhetoric and reality of Muslim state practice. It is therefore a challenging initiative to undertake, demanding rigorous front loaded inputs such as a curriculum representative of the range of schools and viewpoints and an ability to critique contemporary ‘Islamic’ legislation.

This project aims to fill some of the gaps outlined above, developing materials for a range of Islamic law modules for use by teachers, students and practitioners in the discipline of law and beyond.

Project progress

In December 2006 an international workshop was held to initiate the project. A team comprising Shaheen Sardar Ali (University of Warwick), Javaid Rehman (Brunel University), Abdul Paliwala (University of Warwick), Ibrahim Sada (Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria), Ayesha Shahid (University of Hull), Mamman Lawan (University of Warwick), Aibek Ahmedov (Brunel University) and Natasha Latif (University of Warwick) then compiled a range of teaching and learning materials, presented at a second workshop in July 2008. An advisory group comprising leading scholars in the field also read the drafts, offering valuable comments and guidance on content and presentation.

Between 2007 and 2009 seven draft manuals were made available, with a further two added in May 2009. An inter- and multi-disciplinary approach has been adopted, utilising Warwick School of Law’s ‘law in context’ methodology and a research-led teaching approach, and no prior knowledge of Islamic law is required. In addition to the project team, input has come from colleagues and students within law and other departments in institutions in the UK, the Commonwealth, the Middle East and the USA.

We continue to invite feedback on the manuals to inform further development of the approach and the materials.

The project has received additional support from the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) and the Commonwealth Foundation, as well as from the University of Warwick.

Phase 4 (2009-10)

• work is continuing on editing and publishing the teaching and learning manuals in their final form (both online and paper)
• two inter-disciplinary teaching and learning workshops will be held to present and ‘play out’ the manuals with teachers and students
• Re-imagining the Shari’a: theory, practice and Muslim pluralism at play – conference organised in collaboration with Warwick School of Law and Department of Politics and International Studies and the Centre for European Islamic Thought, University of Copenhagen, including the following papers.
  • Approaches to teaching Islamic law: contrasting UK and Nigerian experiences
  • Why study Islamic law in law school?

Both papers are available to download at the bottom of the page.

Project outputs

• draft manuals – introduction to sources of Islamic law, Islamic criminal justice, family law, international law, welfare and Zakat law, human rights, Islamic law and the Muslim diaspora
• bibliography and glossary
• overview of approaches to teaching and learning Islamic law (available to download below)
• Compiling a bibliography on Islamic criminal justice – Natasha Latiff, a third year law student at Warwick, describes her experiences on the project
• De-mystifying Shari’a and Islamic law: a timely initiative – article outlining key aspects of the Islamic legal tradition from the Spring 2008 issue of Directions

Last Modified: 17 February 2011