The Legal Transformation in Muslim Societies is a quarterly journal offering a platform for intellectually stimulating and critical commentaries and new discourses on issues that shape the law in Muslim societies around the globe. Legal transformation in societies is broadly construed as the processes and forms of reform of legal systems and their rules that reflect and promote values, goals, cultures, customs, structures, interests, and working mechanisms of societies. Legal transformation can involve creating new laws, reforming existing laws, or abolishing unjust or oppressive laws. Legal transformation can also affect the way law is interpreted, applied, enforced, and challenged by different actors and institutions.
Islamic law is not a stagnant system and has continuously transformed reflecting to the changing needs and circumstances of Muslim societies around the globe. There are many factors that influence the transformation of Islamic law including, for example, the general conceptions of Islamic law, the role of customs and cultures in the adaptation and developments in Islamic law, and the intersections of Islamic law with non-Islamic legal systems. Islamic law scholars have different views on different aspects of Islamic law and often debate how it should be interpreted and applied. They place different degrees of emphasis on the primacy of the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the teachings and practices of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)) as the sources of Islamic law whilst relying in different proportions on consensus (ijma) and rational arguments such as analogical reasoning (qiyas) or public interest (maslaha) as additional sources. Amidst scholarly debates on sources of Islamic law and methods of their interpretation, Islamic law has lived through a long and complex history that spans over fourteen centuries covering different regions, societies, and cultures. As Islamic law has replaced or reformed existing customs in societies that were incompatible with Islamic principles, local customs, traditions and cultures have also influenced the interpretation and progress of Islamic law. When Muslim societies expanded their influence, or when Muslims and Islam reached across different regions and continents, they encountered various legal norms and systems that have different origins, sources, methods, and outcomes. Islamic law has incorporated elements from other legal systems existing in societies when appropriate and it has also reshaped or repudiated element of other legal systems when necessary, giving rise to questions related to rejection, harmonisation, and reconciliation of these legal systems with Islamic law.
The Legal Transformation in Muslim Societies welcomes contributions seeking to assess the existing or develop new legal concepts and categories to deal with issues that arise from the transformation, reform, reinterpretation, re-evaluation, and reconstruction of Islamic law, diversity and pluralism within Islam, and its cross-cultural interactions. We are also interested in new ideas on the implementation and administration of Islamic law in an efficient and effective manner in Muslim societies through transformation of institutions such as politics (siyasa), judgeship (qadayya), market inspection (hisba), consultation (shura), law schools (madrasas), colleges (madrasas al-tayyibah), etc. as these institutions play important roles in developing Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), codifying legal norms (usul al-fiqh), resolving legal disagreements (fiqh al-madhdhab), producing legal scholarship (ijtihad), and building culture and civilisations (tamudan). We also seek contributions on aspects such as challenges and opportunities for modernisation. As modernity brings about social changes in the shape of, for example, technological advancements, industrialisation, urbanisation, secularisation, capitalism, liberalism, and globalisation, it also poses new challenges for Muslims in terms of preserving their identity, values, and traditions while making positive advancements to new realities, demands, and expectations from within and outside of their communities. Authors may also focus on modernisation as a source of new opportunities for Muslims in terms of promoting their interests, rights, and welfare while contributing to global peace, justice, and development, through innovation, dialogue, and cooperation with other actors.
Dr Ahmad Ghouri, University of Sussex, UK.
Dr Zubair Abbasi, Oxford Brookes University, UK.
Fatima Dhanani, PhD Candidate and Teaching Fellow, SOAS University of London, UK.
Dr Sufi Shahab Saqib, Kings College London, UK.
Dr Shoukat Ahmad Wani, Alliance University, India.
Yousef Wahb, University of Windsor, Canada.
Dr Mariana Dussin, Independent Scholar in Cultural Studies.
Asif Belal, Aligarh Muslim University, India.
Amina Karim, University of the Punjab, Pakistan.
Kaif Hasan, Aligarh Muslim University, India.
Prof. Md Maimul Ahsan Khan, Leading University, Bangladesh.
Prof. Nisrin Mahasneh, Qatar University, Qatar.
Prof. Faizan Mustafa, Chanakya National Law University, India.
Prof. Adnan Sarhan, University of Sharjah, UAE.
Prof. Muhammad Faruque, University of Cincinnati, USA.
Prof. Mahmoud Masud, Coventry University, UK.
Prof. Ali Khaled Qtaishat, The World Islamic Sciences and Education University, Jordan.
Prof. Malahayati Rahman, Universitas Malikussaleh, Indonesia.
Prof. Germán Rodriguez, IE University, Spain.
Prof. Jabeur Fathally, University of Ottawa, Canada.
Prof. Saeid Nazari Tavakkoli, University of Tehran, Iran.
Qudsia Mirza, University of East London, UK.
Dr Safdar Ali Sohail, Executive Director, Social Protection Resource Centre, Pakistan.
The journal welcomes submission of scholarly articles for consideration with a view to publication. The normal word length for article contributions in the journal is between 5000-15000 words. All submissions are peer reviewed, and it is a requirement that they are original and not previously published elsewhere. Please take a look at our Detailed Guidelines for Journal Contributors page for further instructions for authors and an explanation of our peer review process.
Editorial correspondence, including submissions to the journal, should be made electronically to Editor in Chief of the journal Dr Ahmad Ghouri by e-mail: a.a.ghouri@outlook.com Receipt of all manuscripts will be acknowledged immediately.