Spring 2008 Events

Thursday, February 14, 2008
Fatwa as a Tool of Legal Interpretation: Waqi'at Literature of the 10th - 13th Centuries in the Hanafi School of Law a lecture by Murteza Bedir (Associate Professor, Sakarya University, Turkey; 2007-2008 ILSP Visiting Fellow), 4:00 to 6:00 pm, followed by a reception. Location: 125 Mt. Auburn St., 3rd floor conference room.

Thursday, March 6, 2008
Between Blind Following and Critical Engagement: Early Shafi'i Conceptions of Taqlid a lecture by Ahmed El Shamsy (Ph.D. Candidate, Harvard University; 2007-2008 ILSP Visiting Fellow), 4:00 to 5:30 pm, followed by a reception. Location: 125 Mt. Auburn St., 3rd floor conference room.

Monday, March 31, 2008
Sharia Law in Canada a lecture by Michael Bryant (Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Ontario; former Attorney Gerneral for the Province of Ontario), 3:00 pm. Location: Pound Hall 335 (HLS campus). Co-sponsored with the HLS International Legal Studies Program.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Shari'a and Colonial Public Policy: Criminal Law in British India and Colonial Nigeria a lecture by Rudolph Peters (Professor of Islamic Law, University of Amsterdam; 2007-2008 ILSP Visiting Fellow), 4:00 to 5:30 pm, followed by a reception. Location: Harvard Faculty Club.

Thursday, April 3, 2008
The Birth Hour of Islamic Law: Q. 4:12 and 176, Reexamined a lecture by David S. Powers (Professor of Arabic Studies and History, Cornell University), 5:00 to 6:45 pm, followed by a reception. Location: Boylston Hall Auditorium. Co-sponsored with NELC.

Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri Lecture Series on Legal Interpretation in the Muslim World third lecture by Saadia Belmir (Counselor of the Moroccan Minister of Justice) entitled "The Legal Situation of Immigrants: Between Territorial and Personal Law (the Case of Personal Status Law)," 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Location: Pound Hall 213 (Law School campus).

Saturday, April 19, 2008 and Sunday, April 20, 2008
Eighth Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance: "Innovation and Authenticity"

Thursday, April 24, 2008
Shari'a in Europe: Islamic Norms in Secular European States a lecture by Mathias Rohe (Chair for Civil Law, Private International Law, and Comparative Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany), 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Location: Belfer Case Study Room, S 020, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St. Co-sponsored with the Islam in the West Program.

Thursday, May 1, 2008
Shari'a Risk? How Islamic Finance Has Changed Our Understanding of Islamic Law a lecture by Kilian Bälz (legal practitioner, Frankfurt; 2007-2008 ILSP Visiting Fellow), 4:00 to 5:30 pm, followed by a reception. Location: 125 Mt. Auburn St., 3rd floor conference room.

Friday, May 16, 2008 through Sunday, May 18, 2008
The Law of Waqf: Modern State Control and Nationalization a conference that explores colonial law vis-à-vis the waqf both as an institution and as physical property in the Muslim world before the independence of the colonized countries.