A New Look at the Agency of Qāḍīs: Israeli Sharīʿa Courts as a Case Study

In the literature on Islamic law, qāḍīs are usually depicted as lower-level jurists, who are marginalized by other actors in the Sharīʿa field (such as muftīs, author-jurists and legislators) and therefore have no significant impact on the development of Islamic law. The article calls for a reevalua...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Die Welt des Islams
Main Author: Shahar, Ido 1969- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill [2019]
In: Die Welt des Islams
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Israel / Islamic law / Judge
IxTheo Classification:AD Sociology of religion; religious policy
BJ Islam
KBL Near East and North Africa
XA Law
Further subjects:B Agency
B Reforms
B Islamic Law
B Israel
B Sharīʿa courts
B qāḍīs
B Palestine
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Summary:In the literature on Islamic law, qāḍīs are usually depicted as lower-level jurists, who are marginalized by other actors in the Sharīʿa field (such as muftīs, author-jurists and legislators) and therefore have no significant impact on the development of Islamic law. The article calls for a reevaluation of this assessment, arguing that modern qāḍīs actually possess far-reaching agency for transforming Islamic law. A case study of the Sharīʿa courts in Israel serves as illustration for the argument. It is shown that qāḍīs in Israel employ a broad range of judicial and extra-judicial mechanisms for the purpose of introducing innovations into applied Islamic law in their courts. In particular, the ­article dwells on judicial tools for reforms such as procedural reforms, innovations in evidence rules, and several types of material reforms (takhayyur, hybridization of Islamic and non-Islamic principles, and the continuous operationalization of Islamic concepts).
ISSN:1570-0607
Contains:Enthalten in: Die Welt des Islams
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15700607-00591P04