Islam Archives - Canopy Forum

“Freedom of Communal Prayer in the Primary Sources of Islamic Law and Under the Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan” by Lutforahman Saeed

Sep 20, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Human Rights / Civil Rights, Islam, Saeed, Lutforahman, September 2025

Blue Mosque, Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan by Françoise Foliot (CC BY-SA 4.0). The right of women to participate in communal prayers is explicitly affirmed and encouraged within Islamic sources, particularly the Prophetic traditions. Historically, women actively participated in congregational prayers alongside the Prophet and his Companions, praying collectively under the same roof. Across the Sunni legal schools,…

“Jirgas: Rogue Agents of Conflict Resolution” by Jo Chitlik

Sep 5, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Chitlik, Jo, Islam, September 2025, Sex and Gender

This image is an AI-generated depiction based on descriptions of similar events. The recent renewed public outrage over a video showing the brutal execution of Bano Bibi and her alleged partner, Ehsan Ullah, has once again brought the issue of honor killings to the forefront. These murders, which were ordered in May 2025 by a…

“Land Use in Texas: Muslims for Christian Secular Values” by Sharmin Sadequee

Aug 1, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysIslam, July 2025, Property Law, Religious Freedom, Sadequee, Sharmin

Islamic Da’wah Center in Houston, Texas by Jim Evans (CC BY-SA 4.0). From McKinney to Weatherford to Josephine, Texans are losing sleep over the Muslims moving in and allegedly instituting “sharia law.” It’s a disaster! In early 2025, a viral video raised public concern about the creation of Muslim “sharia cities” in the heart of…

“Comparative Answers to Contemporary Challenge of Legal Authoritarianism: The Case of Kuwait” by Courtney Freer

May 20, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysConstitutional Law, Freer, Courtney, Islam, May 2025

North Kuwait City by Francisco Anzolaivi (CC BY-SA 2.0) Kuwait, prior to May 2024, presented political scientists with a valuable case study of a hybrid regime within the Middle East: a monarchy under the al-Sabah ruling family held strong and indeed ultimate authority, yet an elected parliament also held significant power to effect policy changes.…

“The ethics of procedure: traffic laws, modern technology and the reconfiguration of Privacy in the Arabian Gulf” by Alexandre Caeiro

May 6, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysApril 2025, Asia (Geography), Caeiro, Alexandre, Ethics, Islam

Image by Paasikivi on Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) The implementation of Islamic criminal law has been characterized as a paradox. Muslims are scripturally instructed to apply the Qur’anic punishments for “crimes against God” (murder, theft, slander, adultery). Nevertheless, prophetic practice, legal canons, and the evidentiary rules elaborated by Muslim jurists often appear designed to prevent…

“Will Abū Ḥanīfa Have a Beer and Smoke Ḥashīsh with Me in Jannah? Changing Perceptions of Khamr, Ijmā’, Bid’ah, and Sunnīte Islamic Law” by Scott Bursey

Apr 17, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysApril 2025, Bursey, Scott, History, Islam

Frontispiece from a copy of Kalila wa Dimna of Abuʼl-Maʻali Nasr Allah by Unknown Author (Public Domain). Unlike the authoritative structures within Shī’a Islam which draw legitimacy from an ecclesiastical-style structure of liturgical and theological intermediaries, Sunnīs approach Islamic law from the basis of a shared consensus. This doctrine of ijmā’ (consensus), in which adherents…

“Speaking Truth to Power in Challenging Times: Lessons from the Arab Spring Politics of Muslim Jurists” by Muhammad Amasha

Apr 10, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAmasha, Muhammad, April 2025, Islam, Media and Culture, Religion and State

Image by Bassel Zaki from Pixabay. I spent the last six years studying the politics of intellectuals, broadly understood as people of knowledge. While I mainly focused on some leading Egyptian religious Muslim jurists’ stances on the 2011 Arab Revolutions, I have also observed intellectuals adhering to other traditions at different politically charged moments. As…

“Defining a Muslim; The Case of Pakistan and its Ahmadis” by Yasser Latif Hamdani

Mar 12, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Constitutional Law, Hamdani, Yasser Latif, Islam, March 2025

Main chamber of Badshahi Mosque by User:Amjad.m (CC BY-SA 3.0) On January 16th, 2025, the government of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, demolished a historic Ahmadi mosque in the city of Daska. This mosque was built by Zafrullah Khan (1893-1985), Pakistan’s first foreign minister and one of the founding fathers of the country. This is…

“Discrimination After Death: The Afterlives of Muslims in Spain” by Paula M. Arana Barbier

Jan 14, 2025Canopy ForumSeriesArana Barbier, Paula M., Europe (Geography), Islam, January 2025, Religious Freedom

Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, Spain. Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). This article is part of our virtual symposium and essay series, “Masking Religious Freedom Violations.” Read more here. Despite common assumptions, our social and political lives do not simply end once we die; the idea of an afterlife, although mainly theological, can also…

“The Muslim Family Law Reform: Exploring Cross-National and Historical Differences” by Yüksel Sezgin

Oct 9, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysFamily Law, Islam, October 2024, Religious Law and Legal Systems, Sezgin, Yüksel

Illustration commissioned for this project by Tahira Rifath Fifty-three nations (35 Muslim-majority, 18 Muslim-minority) formally integrate shari‘a-based Muslim Family Laws (MFLs) into their domestic legal systems and enforce them through state-run (religious or civil) courts adjudicating familial disputes among their Muslim citizens. State-enforced MFLs often violate people’s fundamental rights and liberties. For example, in many…