Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law

The relationship between Islamic law and international human rights law has been the subject of considerable, and heated, debate in recent years. The usual starting point has been to test one system by the standards of the other, asking is Islamic law 'compatible' with international human rights standards, or vice versa. This approach quickly ends in acrimony and accusations of misunderstanding. By overlaying one set of norms on another we overlook the deeply contextual nature of how legal rules operate in a society, and meaningful comparison and discussion is impossible. In this volume, leading experts in Islamic law and international human rights law attempt to deepen the understanding of human rights and Islam, paving the way for a more meaningful debate. Focusing on central areas of controversy, such as freedom of speech and religion, gender equality, and minority rights, the authors examine the contextual nature of how Islamic law and international human rights law are legitimately formed, interpreted, and applied within a community. They examine how these fundamental interests are recognized and protected within the law, and what restrictions are placed on the freedoms associated with them. By examining how each system recognizes and limits fundamental freedoms, this volume clears the ground for exploring the relationship between Islamic law and international human rights law on a sounder footing. In doing so it offers a challenging and distinctive contribution to the literature on the subject, and will be an invaluable reference for students, academics, and policy-makers engaged in the legal and religious debates surrounding Islam and the West.

Table of Contents:
Edward Mortimer: Foreword 1: Mark Ellis, Anver M. Emon, Benjamin Glahn: Editors' Introduction Part I: Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law Kathleen Cavanaugh: Narrating Law Anver M. Emon: Shari'a and the Modern State Hans Corell: Commentary to Anver M. Emon "Shari'a and the Modern State" and Kathleen Cavanaugh "Narrating Law" Muhammad Khalid Masud: Clearing Ground: Comment on "Shari'a and the Modern State" Justice Adel Omar Sherif: Commentary: Shari'a as Rule of Law Part II: Freedom of Speech Nehal Bhuta: Rethinking the Universality of Human Rights: A Comparative Historical Proposal for the Idea of "Common Ground" with Other Moral Traditions Intisar Rabb: Negotiating Speech in Islamic Law and Politics: Flipped Traditions of Expression John B Bellinger III & Murad Hussain: The Great Divide and the Common Ground Between the United States and the Rest of the World Part III: Freedom of Religion Urfan Khaliq: Freedom of Religion and Belief in International Law: A Comparative Analysis Abdullah Saeed: Pre-Modern Islamic Legal Restrictions on Freedom of Religion, with Particular Reference to Apostasy and its Punishment Malik Imtiaz: The Freedom of Religion and Expression: A Rule of Law Perspective Sumner B. Twiss: Commentary Part IV: Women's Equality Ratna Kapur: Unveiling Equality: Disciplining the 'Other' Woman Through Human Rights Discourse Ziba Mir-Hosseini: Women in Search of Common Ground Between Islamic and International Human Rights Law Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: Women and Islamic Law - Commentary Lynn Welchman: Islamic and International Law: Searching for Common Ground: Musawah, CEDAW, and Muslim Family Laws in the 21st Century Part V: Minority Rights Anver M. Emon: Religious Minorities and Islamic Law: Accommodation and the Limits of Tolerance Errol Mendes: The Dialectic of International Law and the Contested Approaches to Minority Rights Justice Richard Goldstone: Religious Minorities and Islamic Law Javaid Rehman: Islam vs. the Shari'a: Minority Protection within Islamic and International Legal Traditions Robin Lovin: Epilogue: Common Ground or Clearing Ground?

About the Author :
Anver M. Emon is professor of law at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. His research focuses on premodern and modern Islamic legal history and theory; premodern modes of governance and adjudication; and the role of Shari'a both inside and outside the Muslim world. The author of Islamic Natural Law Theories (OUP, 2010) and Religious Pluralism and Islamic Law (OUP 2012), Professor Emon is the editor in chief of Middle East Law and Governance: An Interdisciplinary Journal, and a series editor of Oxford Islamic Legal Studies. As Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA) Mark Ellis leads the foremost international organization of bar associations, law firms and individual lawyers in the world. Prior to joining the IBA, he spent ten years as the first Executive Director of the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (CEELI), a project of the American Bar Association (ABA). Providing technical legal assistance to twenty-eight countries in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, and to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, CEELI remains the most extensive international pro bono legal assistance project ever undertaken by the US legal community. He served as Legal Advisor to the Independent International Commission on Kosovo, chaired by Justice Richard J. Goldstone and was appointed by OSCE to advise on the creation of Serbia's War Crimes Tribunal and was actively involved with the Iraqi High Tribunal. Benjamin Glahn is the Former Deputy Chief Program Officer and Program Director at the Salzburg Global Seminar.

Review :
"Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law is an excellent starting point for continuing dialogue on finding common ground between Islamic law and international human rights law." -Brian D. Lepard, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion