Warwick Law School News

Warwick Law School’s Professor Shaheen Ali has been awarded the British Academy Senior Research Fellowship funded by the Leverhulme Trust for 2024-2025 for her research on ‘Adjectival Constitutionalism and the Plural Shari'a: Exploring the 'Islamic' in constitutions of the Muslim World.’

The BA/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowships are intended to enable established scholars, needing relief from teaching and administration, to have the time to bring to completion a significant piece of research, through sustained period of leave for one year. Shaheen has been awarded £59,659.78 towards her research project:

Adjectival Constitutionalism and the Plural Shari'a: Exploring the 'Islamic' in constitutions of the Muslim World

This ambitious project seeks to destabilize existing discourse on ‘Islamic’ constitutionalism and the place of Shari’a in constitutions of Muslim majority countries. Demonstrating the plurality of ‘Islamic’ constitutions by locating this descriptor within varied socio-cultural, historical and political contexts of the Muslim world, it questions its uncritical application. Informed by Frederic Schaffer’s elucidation of social science concepts, historical records, constitutional provisions and case law from countries representative of the various schools of juristic thought in Islam - including Pakistan (Hanafi), Kuwait (Maliki), Malaysia (Shafa’I) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Hanbali) – will be explored in the pursuit of this ambition. A path-breaking monograph will be the main product with important implications for governance, democracy and the rule of law in the Muslim world. Present day socio-political developments in the Muslim world and their continued struggles for constitutional governments demonstrates the timeliness of this project.

On receiving the award, Shaheen told us:

“I am delighted to receive this prestigious Senior Research Fellowship and deeply humbled by the recognition of my research project as outstanding both for its quality and originality. I look forward to using this valuable time to work on this ambitious project and produce a high-quality monograph as the main outcome. I thank the Law School and the University for their support enabling me to submit the application.”

Congratulations Shaheen from everyone here at Warwick Law School and best of luck with your research.

Read more about the other fellowship awardees here: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/ba-leverhulme-senior-research-fellowships/past-awards/baleverhulme-senior-research-fellowships-2024-25-awards/