We are excited to share that Jocelyn Hendrickson’s Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021), published as part of our book series, was a finalist for The Wallace K. Ferguson Prize! This prize is awarded annually by the Canadian Historical Association to the best book in history other than Canadian.
We are excited to share that Jocelyn Hendrickson’s Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021), published as part of our book series, has received honorable mention for the Peter Gonville Stein Book Award through the American Society for Legal History. This award is given annually to the best book in non-US legal history and “is designed to recognize and encourage the further growth of fine work in legal history that focuses on all regions outside the United States, as well as global and international history.”
We are excited to share that Jocelyn Hendrickson’s Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021), published as part of our book series, has won the Premio Al Mejor Libro Escrito Por Un/a Profesor/a de la ACH through the Asociación Canadiense de Hispanistas. This prize is awarded annually for the best monograph published in Spanish, English, or French.
We are excited to share that Jocelyn Hendrickson’s Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021), published as part of our book series, has won the W. Wesley Pue Prize through the Canadian Law and Society Association. This prize is awarded annually for the best monograph on law and society published in English or French.
A Note from the Director
Congratulations to the Class of 2023! We at the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School and its SHARIAsource Lab extend a warm congratulations on this extraordinary moment. Commencement Day marks a significant milestone: you stand on the precipice of new beginnings, armed with the knowledge and experience you have gained at Harvard to do good in the world. We commend you to reflect on the best of lessons and relationships that you have gained here and carry both forward in your journey ahead. As you step into the professional world or formally pursue further education, you will no doubt continue to learn, challenge yourselves, and strive to make a just and positive contribution to in the world.
We also would like to recognize the winner of the Dean’s paper prize for the best paper on Islamic law. Congratulations to Iman Masmoudi (JD ’24), the recipient of this year’s Program in Islamic Law Writing Prize for her paper on The Role of Notaries in the Practice of Islamic Law: ‘Udūl in Late Ottoman Tunisia. We award this prize annually to the Harvard Law School student who has written the best paper in the field of Islamic legal studies or at the intersection of Islamic law and related fields during the academic year. Congratulations to you all for producing exceptional work during your time at Harvard, with best wishes for success and continued excellence going forward. To the Class of 2023, flourish!
Professor Intisar A. Rabb
Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Professor of History, Harvard University
Faculty Director, Program in Islamic Law | SHARIAsource Lab
We are pleased to announce an incoming cohort of research fellows for next year! First, in collaboration with the John W. Kluge Center at the The Library of Congress, we are pleased to announce the 2023-2024 PIL-LC Research Fellow, Dr. Mohammed Allehbi. He specializes in law and governance in the Islamic Near East and the Mediterranean during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Currently, he is working on his first monograph about the formation of Islamic criminal justice and policing in the Near East and in the Mediterranean between the eighth and twelfth centuries. After earning his master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Chicago in 2014, he received a PhD in history from Vanderbilt University in 2021, where he was a senior lecturer in the Department of Classical and Mediterranean Studies. Second, joining him as a PIL Research Fellow is Professor Fatma Gül Karagöz! She is an assistant professor of legal history based at Galatasaray University Faculty of Law. Her overall work focuses mostly on property relations on agricultural land and on landed usufruct in legal theory and practice. Her current research examines applications of property law in the second half of 18th-century Antioch with specific focus on assertions of property rights by women. She received a PhD in Public Law from İstanbul University in 2018, an MA in Ottoman History from İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University in 2010, and BA in Law from Galatarasay University Faculty of Law in 2005.
We are excited to welcome Rashid Alvi, who returns as the Executive Director of the Program in Islamic Law, where he will be working directly with Faculty Director, Professor Intisar Rabb to make possible an exciting slate of new projects in the Program’s SHARIAsource Lab, where we are building data science tools to use with Islamic law texts. Rashid is no stranger to Harvard: he was the Deputy Director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program—PIL’s predecessor ten years ago—and helped launch the SHARIAsource portal. “I’m delighted to return to Harvard’s Program in Islamic Law! I look forward to working with Professor Intisar Rabb and the PIL team to help shepherd PIL and SHARIAsource to even greater heights.” says Rashid. “In particular, I’m eager to work on collaborations with other institutions as we create lasting legacies in the use of digital tools, including machine learning and artificial intelligence, for the study of Islamic law and Islamic studies more generally.” Rashid holds a JD from Columbia Law School, an MA from the University of Southern California, and a BA from Binghamton University. He has served as a chief strategy officer, manager, and deal advisor with strategic, fiscal, and operations leadership. We look forward to working together to fulfill our Program’s mission to promote research and provide resources for the academic study of Islamic law, with the use of digital tools!
We are excited to welcome Dr. Madlene Hamilton to our team as the SHARIAsource Lab & Special Projects Manager. Dr. Hamilton holds a B.S in Child and Human Development and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership – Policy Studies from George Washington University. She is a social scientist, with strong technical and subject-matter expertise in health and education, as well as management experience in the social sector, specializing in strategic policy analysis, mixed-methods research, program evaluation, and data innovation. She has held various positions at several academic institutions including Rice University (Postdoc), Stanford University (Academic Research and Program Officer), and George Washington University (Research) and with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Data Specialist). “Joining PIL has really pushed me to think creatively and broadly about the use of data science and AI tools in a way that I would not have thought doable in the past. The project is forward-thinking and groundbreaking in its use of modern technology, specifically with its focus on AI translation and Arabic OCR,” says Dr. Hamilton, “The path forward for this work is exciting and PIL is charting the course for some amazing breakthroughs in the field of Islamic law and history, there is a lot that can be learned from this process and used in other disciplines.” We look forward to working together to fulfill our Program’s mission to promote research and provide resources for the academic study of Islamic law!
We are excited to share that the Journal of Early Modern History has published a review of a book from our Harvard Series in Islamic Law, Jocelyn Hendrickson’s (University of Alberta) Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa. The reviewer, Ana Struillou (European University Institute), calls the book a “particularly stimulating contribution to the connected histories of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa” that “entices readers to further compare and contrast the intricacies of cross-religious relations in North Africa as well as in Spain, which has often been studied in isolation from the rest of the Mediterranean…[it] masterfully demonstrates that the histories of Iberian-born Muslims, Moriscos, and Muslims living under Christian rule in the Maghreb can benefit from being studied together.“ Read the review today and don’t forget to get your hands on a copy of the book!
Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer reflected on his 42-year career as a federal judge at a Harvard Law School forum on Monday, September 19th with Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and PIL Faculty Director, Professor Intisar Rabb. The Harvard Crimson reports that “the discussion encompassed a range of legal and humanitarian issues, including prison reform and the recent flooding in Pakistan. The justices also talked about the obstacles they faced in their respective courts, such as striving to reach consensus with justices who hold different views.” Read more today and stay tuned for the recording. (PC: Julian J. Giordano/Harvard Crimson)
