Affiliation:
1. Department of Law, University of Warwick https://dx.doi.org/2707 Library Road, Coventry CV4 7AL UK
2. Institute for Criminology and Sociology of Law (IKRS), Faculty of Law, Oslo University https://dx.doi.org/155272 Oslo Norway
3. Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, University of Johannesburg 1 Tulip Street, Westdene, Johannesburg 2092 South Africa
Abstract
Abstract
This paper calls for a paradigm shift in the face of the remarkably common, but ultimately stereotypical and simplistic perceptions of ‘Islamic’ constitutions requiring all laws to conform to Shari’a. It problematizes the term ‘Islamic’ to describe disparate constitutions and constitutionalism(s) in Muslim majority countries demonstrating the plurality of ‘Islamic’ constitutions, locating this descriptor within varied socio-cultural, historical and political contexts of the Muslim world. Plural interpretations of the religious texts in Islam — i.e., the Qur’an and Sunna — and meanings of complex concepts — ‘Shari’a’ and ‘Islamic law’, are integral to Islam’s (legal) traditions. In Muslimmajority countries, a variety of constitutional texts, court decisions and state practices, demonstrate this plurality. We argue that use of ‘Islamic’ as a descriptor for heterogeneous constitutional texts, is a product of ‘realpolitik’ and deployed in this manner, un-nuanced, simplistic, and reductive of the dynamic and plural nature of Shari’a
Funder
School of Law, University of Warwick