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Shari'a Law in the Diaspora: The Case of England

Questions for Seminar:
  • Is it possible to live one's life according to the shari'a in England or other modern western countries?
  • From where do Muslim minorities in the west obtain guidance about shari'a law?

Assigned Reading:
Ian Edge, “Islamic Finance, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Family Law: Developments towards Legal Pluralism?” in Islam and English Law: Rights, Responsibilities and the Place of Sharīʿa, ed. Robin Griffith-Jones (Cambridge University Press, 2013), 116-43.
John Bowen, “How Could English Courts Recognize Shariah?” University of St. Thomas Law Journal 7 (2010), 412-35.
Samia Bano, Muslim Women and Shari‘ah Councils: Transcending the Boundaries of Community and Law (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), chapter 5 and chapter 7.

Primary Sources:

Archbishop Rowan Williams, “Civil and Religious Law in England: A Religious Perspective,” a speech delivered at the Royal Courts of Justice on 7 February 2008.

Further Reading:
Waqar Ahmad and Ziauddin Sardar (eds.), Muslims in Britain: Making Social and Politicsl Space (Routledge, 2012).
John Bowen, Why the French Don’t Like Headscarves: Islam, the State and Public Space (Princeton UP, 2008).
John Bowen, Can Islam Be French? Pluralism and Pragmatism in a Secularist State (Princeton UP, 2011).
Gary Bunt, Islam in the Digital Age: E-Jihad, Online Fatwas and Cyber Islamic Environments (Pluto, 2003).
Jocelyne Cesari, When Islam and Democracy Meet: Muslims in Europe and the United States (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
Jocelyne Cesari, Muslims in the West After 9/11: Religion, Politics and Law (Routledge, 2009).
Jonathan Ercanbrack, The Transformation of Islamic Law in Global Financial Markets (Cambridge UP, 2014).
Sophie Gilliat-Ray, Muslims in Britain: An Introduction (Cambridge UP, 2010).
Robin Griffith-Jones (ed.), Islam and English Law: Rights, Responsibilities and the Place of the Shari‘a (Cambridge UP, 2013).
H.A. Hellyer, Muslims of Europe: The "Other" Europeans (Edinburgh UP, 2009).
Peter Hopkins and Richard Gale (eds.), Muslims in Britain: Race, Place and Identities (Edinburgh UP, 2009).
Anne C. Korteweg and Gökçe Yurdakul, The Headscarf Debates: Conflicts of National Belonging (Stanford UP, 2014).
Kathleen Moore, The Unfamiliar Abode: Islamic Law in the United States and Britain (Oxford UP, 2010).
Jorgen Nielsen, Muslims in Western Europe (Edinburgh UP, 2004).
Tariq Ramadan, Western Muslims and the Future of Islam (Oxford UP, 2005). Chapter 2, "The Way (al-Shari'a)," offers an original perspective on what shari'a could mean for western Muslims.
Tariq Ramadan, Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation (Oxford UP, 2009).
Tariq Ramadan, What I Believe (Oxford UP, 2010).
Prakash Shah, Legal Pluralism in Conflict: Coping with Cultural Diversity in Law (Routledge-Cavendish, 2005).