Program in Islamic Law

CalendarThe Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School (PIL) is pleased to announce an exciting lineup of virtual events this Fall 2025. We host myriad public events and provide other programming and support for students, research fellows, and scholars working in the field of Islamic legal studies, with attention to the intersection of those studies with data science. About the Program. PIL is a research program dedicated to promoting research and providing resources for the academic study of Islamic law and history, using data science, through a host of online and offline programs, including the following: SHARIAsource Portal: for primary sources, special collections, and data science tools Islamic Law Blog: cutting-edge commentary by leading scholars and curated roundups Journal of Islamic Law: featuring peer-reviewed scholarly articles, and a Forum for debate Harvard Series in Islamic Law: our book series with Harvard University Press Professor Intisar Rabb leads the Program as Faculty Director and editor-in-chief of the Publications. Subscribe to our blog for regular developments and subscribe to our mailing lists for updates on events and publications by visiting our website. PIL FALL 2025 EVENTS PIL convenes an Islamic Law Speaker Series that provides a forum for established and emerging scholars to talk about their own recent scholarship, works-in-progress, or developments in the field. Unless otherwise noted, all sessions will be convened and moderated by Dr. Rami Koujah, the 2025-2026 PIL Research Fellow at the Program in Islamic Law. The SHARIAsource Lab, convened by Professor Intisar Rabb, brings together students and researchers to focus on emerging tools in the Islamic digital humanities / data science space, and to developing new components of our in-house data science tools. TUE 14 OCT 2025 | 12.30-1.30p US EST | Zoom Islamic Law Speaker Series :: Rami Koujah (Harvard Law School) The Invention of Islamic Legal Personhood: Artifact to Ontology On Tuesday, October 14, 2025, at 12:30-1:30PM US EST via Zoom, Dr. Rami Koujah (Harvard Law School) will present "The Invention of Islamic Legal Personhood: From Artifact to Ontology," a chapter from his forthcoming book, Islamic Legal Personhood: A Genealogy of Rights and Responsibilities (Harvard University Press). This talk explores the conceptual history and significance of "baseline personhood" in Islamic law, focusing on the changed meaning and usage of the term dhimma across the tribal setting of pre-Islamic Arabia, the legal discourses that developed to accommodate the burgeoning market economy of the early Muslim Empire, and the subsequent theorizations of an Islamic jurisprudence infused with a covenantal theology. The talk draws attention to the creative dynamics of Islamic legal reasoning, including the critical role played by shifting epistemic frames between legal logic and the legal imagination. The talk concludes by showing how dhimma emerged in the 11th century as a constitutive element of a metaphysical anthropology, the ontological ground of an Islamic homo juridicus. Professor Mohammad Fadel (University of Toronto) will respond. Registration is required. TUE 11 NOV 2025 | 12.30-1.30p US EST | Zoom Islamic Law Speaker Series :: Youssef Belal (United Nations) "Thinking the World with Islamic Knowledges" On Tuesday, November 11, 2025, at 12:30-1:30PM US EST via Zoom, Youssef Belal (United Nations) will present "Thinking the World with Islamic Knowledges” from his book The Life of Shari'a: A Comparative Anthropology of Law (University of California Press, 2025). Is there a way to think about contemporary life with knowledge that is neither modern nor Western? Rather than confining Islam to a “religion” and sharīʿa to its “law,” Belal argues that Islamic shariʿa is a mode of knowledge with its own concepts and scholarly categories through which the world and the self are grasped. The Life of Sharīʿa considers two intertwined lineages: how Islamic scholars have formulated sharīʿa knowledge from the classical period to today and how Westerners have understood the law and its origins. By melding these two traditions, Belal formulates a new genealogy of modern law from the perspective of sharīʿa. Through a new conceptualization of sharīʿa, he offers an argument for its continued relevance to the life of contemporary Muslims. Registration is required.  

Upcoming EventOn Tuesday, November 11, 2025, at 12:30-1:30PM US EST via Zoom, Youssef Belal (United Nations) will present "Thinking the World with Islamic Knowledges” from his book The Life of Shari'a: A Comparative Anthropology of Law (University of California Press, 2025). Is there a way to think about contemporary life with knowledge that is neither modern nor Western? Rather than confining Islam to a “religion” and sharīʿa to its “law,” Belal argues that Islamic shariʿa is a mode of knowledge with its own concepts and scholarly categories through which the world and the self are grasped. The Life of Sharīʿa considers two intertwined lineages: how Islamic scholars have formulated sharīʿa knowledge from the classical period to today and how Westerners have understood the law and its origins. By melding these two traditions, Belal formulates a new genealogy of modern law from the perspective of sharīʿa. Through a new conceptualization of sharīʿa, he offers an argument for its continued relevance to the life of contemporary Muslims. Registration is required.