IslamicLawBlog

Similar to conventional bonds, sukuks are Islamic debt instruments. Sukuks are also known as “trust certificates” or “participation securities.” Sukuks are part of an emerging Islamic financial market that, per Moody’s Investor Service estimates, will hit $4,000 bn. In the legal academy, sukuks are unfamiliar debt instruments. The purpose of this post is to explain the Islamic law behind sukuks. Read the entire piece with comments .

Divine texts are the common heritage of human beings. They cultivate human spirituality. Too much time is spent finding faults with divine text and too little attention is paid to understanding their unity of purpose. While doubters question the authenticity of divine texts and while factions set one divine text against the other, divine texts are munificent in establishing the truth. The Hebrew Bible warns that among nations gone astray from the path of God, “the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac.” [1] The Qur’an affirms: “We have sent thee revelation, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: We sent revelation to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms.” [2] The New Testament declares, “All scripture is God-breathed.” [3] The Buddhist Dhammapada proclaims, “Blessed is the devotion of those who dwell in unity.” [4] The Bhagavad Gita’s call to unity is no less vivid whe...

There is a coordianted effort on part of academics, scholars, think-tankers, journalists and others to create a profle of Muslim militants as essentialist terrorists who commit heartless violence because they are spiritually addicted to violence. These authors argue that no concrete grievances or violations of rights cause Muslim militancy. Free to trash the core beliefs of Islam and free to make fun of Islamic creeds, the Highly influential Terrorist Literature (HITLit) has successfully equated puritan Islam with terrorism. Most HITLit authors, known as terrorism experts, are research associates with influential think tanks such as RAND and the American Enterprise Institute, and some teach at Harvard University. Some have worked for the National Security Council and the U.S. Defense Department. These authors include Bernard Lewis, Bruce Hoffman, Steven Simon, Jessica Stern, Daniel Benjamin, and Richard Perle. They appear on National Public Radio and major radio and television networks...

Although a war between India and Pakistan is unlikely in the near future, both nations are exchanging muted threats of war veiled in the right of self-defense. Rumors abound that India is considering surgical strikes on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan to send a strong message to anti-India militants and to warn Pakistani intelligence agencies that India would no longer accept terrorist attacks on its soil. India has also asked Pakistan to extradite the top leaders of Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jammat- ud- Da'wah, the militant organizations allegedly involved in the planning of Mumbai attacks. Both courses of action ---- Read More

All scholarship is an act of discovery. One may read, read, and read cases and statutes and legal literature to generate one's own piece of scholarship. But research, though necessary, does not produce durable scholarship. Lasting scholarship is like discovering penicillin. It is like capturing a fleeting revelation. It is an experience reported in language. True legal scholarship is researched poetry of the highest order. Rumi, Frost, Keats would have been great legal scholars. Legal schoalrship as an act of discovery is also compatible with Islamic law, that is, the law of the Quran and the Prophet's Sunnah. " Quran is the Scripture that We have revealed unto thee, full of blessing, that they may ponder its revelations, and that persons of understanding may reflect. " This invitation to understanding through reflection is an act of dicovery. (Click and download this article that might benefit new professors who are striving to make their scholarship float in the oce...

In order to further clarify the grammar of speech diversity, the Basic Code intimates that the diversity of nations and communities is also part of the divine plan. The Quran states: “O human beings! Lo! We have created you male and female and have made you nations and tribes that you may know one another (ta’aaraf).”This solidarity ordainment recognizes two distinct diversities, gender and communal, which are mentioned together in the same verse to demonstrate their analogous rooting in natural law. Gender identity furnishes self-knowledge whereas communal identity supplies familiarity with others. Each identity, such as sisterhood or brotherhood derived from gender and camaraderie derived from meta-gender community, is both natural and authentic. It is natural for women to congregate with women and men with men, for such congregations furnish gender-specific knowledge. However, men and women cannot be imprisoned in their respective genders. Men and women must meaningfully and respec...

The Mumbai massacre is a heinous crime, allegedly carried out by Lashkar-e-Tiaba (Army of the Pure), a militant organization that is fighting for liberation of Indian-occupied Kashmir. Formed in the days when liberation movements enjoyed legitimacy under international law, Lashkar has been outlawed since 2002 as a terrorist organization in Pakistan, India, the United States, and several other countries. The post-9/11 war on terror has further weakened the liberation movement for Kashmir. Under pressure from the United States, Pakistan has withdrawn its moral and military support from militant groups that have been training for decades to liberate Kashmir. The Mumbai massacre is a sad reminder, however, that the unresolved Kashmir dispute is the tinderbox of South Asia. Origin of the Kashmir Dispute In 1947, British India was partitioned between Muslims and Hindus. The law of partition, however, did not settle the future of more than five hundred semi-independent princely states, includ...