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BY LISA TREI As part of a broader effort to provide more instruction about the Muslim world, the Law School and the Institute for International Studies (IIS) will offer a new course on Islam and the Rule of Law this quarter that will include public lectures. The 10-week-long course, which features nationally known scholars, is designed by Erik Jensen, co-director of the Rule of Law Program at the Law School. "In many respects, the course is a response to students and faculty groups who strongly desired a better understanding of the rule of law in Islamic societies in the aftermath of Sept. 11," Jensen said. Coit Blacker, director of IIS's new Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and Ahmad Dallal, associate professor of history, worked with Jensen to develop the curriculum. "The idea is an obvious one -- we know precious little about legal traditions in Islam," Blacker said. "Most of us are either ignorant about the rule of law or misinformed. I think there's a general recognition across the soft [sciences] side of the university that we could -- and should -- be doing much more concerning the study of Islam. We have to start somewhere and this is a good place to begin." The course will begin with helping students to develop an "authoritative instead of authoritarian" interpretation of Islam, Jensen said. "The interpretation of the Koran is the most important issue among the faithful," he said. "Everything else flows from this." Other issues to be explored will include Islam as it relates to women, criminal law, democracy and violence. For example, the course will consider debates over the meaning of jihad and the status of women in Islam. Offered through the International Relations/International Policy Studies program, the course is designed to appeal both to students and lay people. The public lectures this month and in February will be held in the Oksenberg Room in Encina Hall on Serra Street. In March, the talks will take place at the Law School. All lectures will start at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 13: Introduction to Islam and Islamic Law: The Historical Development of Islamic Law Ahmad Dallal, associate professor of Middle Eastern history, Stanford University Dallal taught at Yale and Smith College before joining the History Department in 2000. He has a doctorate in Islamic studies from Columbia University, and his academic training and research covers the history of the disciplines of learning in Muslim societies, including both the exact and the traditional sciences, and early modern and modern Islamic thought and movements. He is finishing a book-length comparative study of 18th-century Islamic reform. Tuesday, Jan. 21: Gender and Islamic Law Amira Sonbol, associate professor of Islamic history, law and society, Georgetown University Sonbol specializes in women, gender and Islam and is the author of several books including The New Mamluks; Women, Family, and Divorce Laws and Divorce in Islamic History; The Creation of a Medical Profession in Egypt: 1800-1922; and The Memoirs of Abbas Hilmi II: Sovereign of Egypt. Sonbol is co-editor of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, a quarterly journal co-published with Selly Oak Colleges in England. She teaches courses on the history of modern Egypt, women and law, and Islamic civilization. Monday, Jan. 27: Interpretation and Authority in Islamic Law Sherman Jackson, associate professor of Islamic studies, University of Michigan Jackson, who specializes in Islamic law and theology, previously has taught at Wayne State University, Indiana University, University of Texas-Austin, Middlebury College and the American University in Cairo. He has received numerous fellowships and awards and has served as interim president of the Shari'ah Scholars Association of North America. Jackson is the author of Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi, as well as numerous articles on Islam. Monday, Feb. 3: Islam and the Rules of War Khaled Abou Al Fadl, professor of law, University of California-Los Angeles Abou El Fadl, one of the leading authorities in Islamic law in the United States and Europe, frequently has criticized contemporary Islamic legal interpretation as deviating from its original diversity and moderation. He teaches Islamic law, Middle Eastern investment law, immigration law, and courses related to human rights and terrorism. Abou El Fadl's books include Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam; Rebellion in Islamic Law; Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women; and And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourse. Monday, Feb. 10: Women's Rights, Religion and the State in Islam: Muslim Women's Civil Society Organizations and Policy Advocacy Azizah al-Hibri, professor of law, University of Richmond Al-Hibri is a former professor of philosophy, founding editor of Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, and founder and executive director of KARAMAH: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights. Al-Hibri was a Fulbright Scholar and a Jesse Ball DuPont Fellow at the National Humanities Center during the last academic year. She has written extensively on issues of Islam and democracy, Muslim women's rights and human rights in Islam. She is currently completing a book on the Islamic marriage contract in American courts. Monday, March 3: Rule of Law Practitioners' Session Erik Jensen, Stanford Rule of Law Program; Rick Messick, World Bank; Hamid Sharif, Asian Development Bank; John Blackton, USAID and National War College This panel will provide a comparative analysis of programs promoting the rule of law in Arab and non-Arab Islamic states. (The strongest models of non-Arab countries are Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia/Malaysia.) Collectively, this group has about 70 years' experience in senior positions in development agencies, with extensive experience in rule of law programs in at least 10 Islamic countries. Monday, March 10: Economic Development and Islamic Law Mahmoud El-Gamal, professor of Islamic economics, finance and management, Rice University Educated at the American University in Cairo, Stanford and
Northwestern University, El-Gamal has taught economics at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, the California Institute of
Technology and the University of Rochester, and has served as an
economist at the International Monetary Fund. He has published
widely on modern Islamic economics and finance, classical economic
concepts in Islamic jurisprudence and monetary policy in the Arab
world. |
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Stanford Report, January 8, 2003
