ALL VIDEOS IN THIS CATEGORY

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  9. Shari’a and criminal law in medieval and modern times

  On Wednesday, June 30, we will have a new session of the cycle dedicated to sharia, with this conference by Intisar Rabb, professor at Harvard Law School. Intisar Rabb’s lecture examines the history of crime and punishment in Islamic societies, comparatively. In most studies of Islamic criminal law, the principles, practices, and justifications for punishment typically operate in siloes separated by a wide plain. This lecture explores the ground where they meet. This lecture focuses on the criminal law principles and practices in Umayyad Syria, ʿAbbasid Iraq, and Mamluk Egypt. In the process, she illustrates the most striking feature of medieval Islamic criminal: it featured a jurisprudence of doubt and lenity in contrast to political practices of control and severity. Intisar A. Rabb is a Professor of Law, a Professor of History, and the faculty director of the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School. She teaches and publishes on Islamic law and American criminal law in historical and modern contexts, with special focus on criminal law, comparative law of constitutional and statutory interpretation, and Islamic legal canons (qawāʿid fiqhiyya). Her publications including the monograph, Doubt in Islamic Law (Cambridge University Press 2015). She also serves as the editor-in-chief for the Journal of Islamic Law (journalofislamiclaw.com), the Islamic Law Blog (islamiclaw.blog), and SHARIAsource (beta.shariasource.com)—an online platform for facilitating new research on Islamic law using data science tools. She received a BA from Georgetown University, a JD from Yale Law School, and an MA and PhD from Princeton University. She has conducted research in Egypt, Iran, Syria, and elsewhere. Further information: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/shari%E2%80%99a-and-criminal-law-in-medieval-and-modern-times

  Published at 36 30,,, 21 2021
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  SDG 1: How to fight poverty in Arab countries

  As part of the conference series on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) organized by Casa Árabe, we will be analyzing Goal 1 on poverty on June 17. The debate will be broadcast live for all audiences on our YouTube and Facebook Live channels. Worded in terms of “Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere,” SDG1 is a crucial issue for the Middle East and North Africa region. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 40.2 million people suffer from hunger in this region, mainly as a result of conflict. The situation is acute in countries that have endured wars, including Syria and Yemen, to which one may add Iraq, Sudan and Libya, where, according to FAO, 28 million people are malnourished. The problem of food insecurity is compounded by the high rates of unemployment affecting the youngest population. World Bank data indicate an average unemployment rate of 22% for males and 39% for females, with alarming cases such as Tunisia, where unemployment affects 40% of the youth population. Huge income inequality is another factor contributing to stagnation. Against this backdrop, what strategies can be adopted to alleviate poverty in the region? In a context as complex as today’s, with a global pandemic that limits collective action, what mechanisms can be put into practice? To address these issues, Casa Arabe will be joined by three specialists from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) based in Beirut: Khalid Abu-Ismail, head of the Economic Development and Poverty Section; Vladimir Hlasny, Economic Affairs Officer, and Sama El Hage, main researcher. The panel will be rounded off with Ziad Abdel Samad, executive director of the Arab NGO Network for Development. The event will be moderated by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s International Relations Coordinator. Ziad Abdel Samad is a co-founder and executive director of the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), based in Beirut since 1997. ANND’s members include 35 NGOs and 10 national networks from 12 Arab countries active in monitoring and protecting social and economic rights. He also serves as an instructor in leadership, human rights, citizenship and conflict resolution at the Lebanese American University. Khalid Abu-Ismail is a senior economist at UN-ESCWA, a policy advisor to the Economic Research Forum and a former policy advisor to the UNDP, as well as a faculty member with the Department of Economics at the Lebanese American University. He is the main author and a co-author of over 20 emblematic UN publications, including the “Arab Vision 2030 Report” (2015), the “Arab Development Challenges Reports” (2009 and 2012), “Arab Middle Class” (2014) and “Rethinking Economic Growth” (2012). He holds a PhD in Development Economics from the New School for Social Research in New York. Sama el Hage is a senior researcher at ESCWA, where she constructed the JAW Index, which measures justice in the Arab world for 18 countries. She is also responsible for calculating different levels of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for Arab countries and develops the regional database for national strategic plans. Vladimir Hlasny is an Economic Affairs Officer at ESCWA-UN (Beirut), working on the research team for poverty and inequality. Previously, he was an Associate Professor of Economics at Ewha Womans University (Seoul). His work focuses on labor market conditions and the distribution of economic profits in Asia and the Middle East. His research has been published in general interest magazines, such as the Journal of Economic Surveys, World Bank Economic Review, Development and Change and Social Science Quarterly. He holds a PhD in Economics from Michigan State University. Photo: Chaoyue 超越 PAN 潘 . Palestinian Refugee Woman More info: https://www.casaarabe.es/eventos-arabes/show/ciclo-sobre-objetivos-de-desarrollo-sostenible-ods#15121

  Published at 01 11,,, 21 2021
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  7. Shatibi’s Theory of the Objectives of Sharia

  On Tuesday, June 15, we offer a new session of our lecture series dedicated to sharia, by Judge Muhammad Khalid Masud. It can be seen from 7:30 p.m. on our YouTube channel (Spanish and English versions available). Shatibi developed the theory of Maqasid in the context of the impasse to which Islamic legal reasoning had reached in the socio-economic context in al-Andalus in the fourteenth century. It was based on a critical analysis of the debates among the Sufis, theologians, and jurists on the limits of the sources, principles, and methods of reasoning in Islamic legal tradition. The main point in this theory was that Maslaha, or human welfare was the foundational objective of Sharia. This objective is found in the intent of God as lawgiver in his communication, legal obligation, and legal obedience. Inductive study of the sources of Sharia sources led him to conclude that the protection of the following five areas of human welfare are the objectives of Sharia: religion, life, reason, genealogy, and property. He explains this system of protection in terms of concentric circles of necessities, legal needs and cultural requirements supported by supplementary and complementary legal considerations. Shatibi was opposed by his contemporary jurists except by his prominent disciples who continued following him in their writings. It was several centuries later in early twentieth century that Shatibi’s theory attracted the attention of reformists and Islamic modernists. The theory provides way forward in areas like finance, economics, banking, management, bioethics, and environment that were not considered strictly the domains of Islamic law. Critical studies by the traditionalists, and moderate Islamists also keeps this theory alive. My presentation is, however, limited to an introduction to al-Shatibi’s theory and its critical study by Tahir b. Ashur. Muhammad Khalid Masud Presently, an Ad Hoc judge of the Shariat Appellate Bench, Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Dr Muhammad Khalid Masud has been formerly the Chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology, Director General, Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan, Academic Director ISIM, and Professor of Islamic law at Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands, Distinguished Professor of Islamic law, International Islamic University, Malaysia, and Senior Lecturer, Centre for Islamic Legal Studies, Ahmadu Bello University Nigeria. His areas of research interests include Islamic law, history of Islamic law in south Asia and Spain, Islamic political and legal theories, modernity, and contemporary Sharia Debates. In addition to more than 60 book sections and more than one hundred research articles in journals of international repute, his major publications include "Shatibi’s Philosophy of Islamic Law" (1995), Iqbal’s "Reconstruction of Ijtihad" (1995), "Shari’a Today" (2013), edited and co-edited volumes Islamic Legal Interpretation (1996), "Travelers in Faith" (2000), Dispensing Justice in Islam (2006), "Islam and Modernity" (2009), "Freedom of Expression in Islam" (2021), and "Sharia in the Twenty First Century" (forthcoming 2021). More info: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/shatibi%E2%80%99s-theory-of-the-objectives-of-sharia

  Published at 21 10,,, 21 2021
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  IF @NA2: Participative banking institutions and financial inclusion in Morocco

  On Thursday 27 May we offer the second session of the Islamic Finance series, which on this occasion analyses the situation of participative banking in Morocco. Islamic or “participative banking”, as it is known in Morocco, has developed only very recently, in comparison with other places in MENA. It was only in 2017, when the Central Bank of Morocco (Bank Al-Maghrib) granted the first licenses for five banks to start operating with participative financial products in the country and the establishment of three Islamic windows (branches of conventional banks offering Sharia-compliant banking services). Since then, further regulations have been implemented and it is expected that the operation of Takaful services (Sharia-compliant insurance services) will be finally allowed soon, which will contribute to the consolidation of the industry. These years have also witnessed an increase in bancarization rates, those percentage of population with a bank account or having access to the banking services, which implies an improvement of financial inclusion in the country, that surely responds, at least partly, to the introduction of Islamic banking in the country. In the current context, “participative finance” represents an important opportunity for increasing this financial inclusion and contributing to the development of the Moroccan economy. Organized by Casa Árabe and SCIEF in the framework of its Observatory of Islamic Finance in Spain, and in collaboration with the research group Cresppa-GTM (CNRS) and Durham Centre for Islamic Economics and Finance, the roundtable aims to bring onboard diverse industry experts and players, including bankers and legal practitioners, to share their views and opinions on the Islamic Banking and Finance industry development in Morocco. It will count with the participation of Abderrahmane Lahlou, President of the Academy of Participative Finance (APAF); M. Wail Aaminou, Chair of Al-Maali Group, and Dalal Aassouli, Associated Professor and Coordinator of the MSc in Islamic Finance at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. Being moderated by Gonzalo Rodríguez, SCIEF General Coordinator, it will count as well with a first reaction by Mehmet Asutay, director of the Durham Centre for Islamic Economics and Finance. The roundtable it is part of the Roundtable Discussion Series, IF @NA: current developments and prospects in times of [digital] change, dedicated to analyze the state and evolution of Islamic Finance in the north of Africa. More info: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/if-na2-participative-banking-institutions-and-financial-inclusion-in-morocco Photo: Mhobl. The rich and the poor

  Published at 40 21,,, 21 2021
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  How Isis Fights: Military Tactics in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt

  On Monday 24 May, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies professor Omar Ashour and Wesleyan University professor Emy Matesan will try to shed light on how a small terrorist group can transform itself into a proto-state. How did ISIS –a widely-hated, massively outnumbered and outgunned organization– manage to occupy over 120 cities, towns and villages from the Southern Philippines to Western Libya? Seeking to understand ISIS’s combat effectiveness, Omar Ashour analyses in his latest book the military and tactical innovations of ISIS and its predecessors in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. He argues that their ability to blend conventional military tactics with innovative guerrilla warfare and urban terrorism strategies allowed ISIS to expand and endure beyond expectations. Taking advantage of this new publication by Edinburgh University Press, Casa Árabe is organizing a homonymous talk and inviting its author, currently an Associate Professor of Security Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, to engage in dialogue with Emy Matesan, Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University. This talk is a must for anyone interested in understanding how a small terrorist group can morph into a proto-state. The event will be presented by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe's International Relations Coordinator. Omar Ashour is an Associate Professor of Security Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. He is the Founding Director of the Critical Security Studies Graduate Program (MCSS). He obtained his PhD in Political Science from McGill University in Canada and his BSc and MA in Political Science (International Relations) from the American University in Cairo. Professor Ashour is specialized in asymmetric warfare, insurgency and counterinsurgency, Islamist movements and ideologies, democratization (with focus on security sector reform and civil-military relations), security, terrorism, and strategic military studies. He is the author of The De-Radicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements (Routledge, 2009). He served as a senior consultant for the United Nations on security sector reform, counter-terrorism, and de- radicalization issues (2009-2013; 2015) and co-authored the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (UN-ESCWA) paper on security sector reform during the transitional periods of the Arab Spring. Professor Ashour served as a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution (2010-2015) and as an Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) in London (2015-2016). Ioana Emy Matesan is an Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University. Her research focuses on Middle Eastern politics, particularly security and political violence, democratization, and Islamist movements. In Egypt and Indonesia, Matesan conducted fieldwork supported by the National Science Foundation to explore why groups adopt or abandon violence and how tactical and ideological change happens within Islamist movements. She has also researched and published on Hamas and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, new security challenges in the Middle East and North Africa after the Arab Spring, and the dynamics of resistance to foreign rule. Her book The Violence Pendulum (Oxford University Press 2020) examines what drives Islamist groups to shift between violent and nonviolent tactics. Her articles have appeared in Journal of Global Security Studies, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, Journal of Strategic Security, and Nations and Nationalism. She holds a master's degree from Arizona State University and a PhD from Syracuse University. More info: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/how-isis-fights-military-tactics-in-iraq-syria-libya-and-egypt

  Published at 43 19,,, 21 2021