Contemporary Issues in Islamic Law - UG Level 5

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 5
• Convenor: Qudsia Mirza
• Assessment: a 3000-word essay

This module offers an outline of classical Islamic law including an introductory overview of its origins and the historical development of the main schools of jurisprudence. The primary focus of the module is the application of Islamic law within the context of three main contemporary issues: human rights, gender and finance.

The module aims to analyse well-established legal principles of Islamic law in different fields ranging from gender, human rights to finance.

By the end of this module, you will:

• have a critical overview of foundational Islamic legal principles and their contemporary application
• be able to critically analyse and evaluate such approaches within the context of contemporary legal issues in 'Western' (primarily UK and European) and Muslim majority societies.

• Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam (New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 1992).
• Mashood A Baderin (ed.), Islam and Human Rights: Selected Essays of Abdullahi An Na'iz (London: Routledge, 2010).
• Valentino Cattelan (ed.), Islamic Finance in Europe Towards a Plural Financial System (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013).
• Wael Hallaq, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
• Roker, 'Islamic Law and Finance', International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 38 (2), 455 (1989).