The enduring jurist: qazis, courts and living shari'a in modern India

The endurance of Islamic law in modern Muslim societies remains a heavily discussed and controversial issue in contemporary academia and public life alike. Who has the right to make decisions on points of Islamic law, and how can such edicts be implemented? How can Islamic laws be observed within modern states which aspire to be secular, pluralist nations? With the world's second largest Muslim population and its largest Muslim minority, India makes an essential focal point for considering these questions.

Examining a long historical era from the late-nineteenth century until the present, this project explores understandings of law and legal authority within modern South Asian Islam. Turning away from an emphasis on government legislation and 'formal' legal sources which have dominated much legal history, this project uncovers a range of vernacular discussions, in languages such as Urdu, about the meaning and practice of Muslim laws in the everyday lives of Muslims. How, for instance, did Muslims argue that religious laws could be preserved after the fall of Muslim rule and imposition of British power? Perhaps most importantly, who had the authority to speak on issues of Islamic law, in an era when the courts of state, both colonial and postcolonial, claimed jurisdiction over Muslim legal affairs?

This project focuses upon the 'ulama, the 'traditional' class of learned Islamic scholars and legal specialists. Focusing upon a number of Muslim clerics and religious organisations functioning during the last century, this project examines how, despite being formally divested of their roles as jurists and judges, these religious professionals have continued to claim ongoing command over legal questions affecting Indian Muslims. Their efforts to assert their continued legal authority include expanding and formalising the release of fatwas (edicts), setting up a network of non-government shari'a courts across India, and imposing pressure upon the Indian government at various points on particular legal issues, whether divorce, adoption or alimony. This argument that Muslim religious leaders have preserved an enduring status as legal consultants and practitioners has profound implications for our understanding of legal practice and judicial authority within Islam, and also for our knowledge of the historical relationship between law and religion in the Indian subcontinent.

This project's major academic outputs will include a monograph on the idea of the Muslim 'judge' in modern India, as well as articles on the related questions of the issuing of fatwas and of the protection of women's rights under Islamic law. However, the contemporary relevance of this project will allow a number of engagements with the media, policy forums and non-governmental organisations, both in India and Britain. First, the project will contribute to contemporary discussion of Muslim women's rights in India. In partnership with one of India's most significant Islamic feminist alliances, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, I will organise a workshop entitled 'Shari'a and women's rights in India: modern questions and modern solutions.' This initiative will seek to identify pertinent legal questions affecting Muslim women today and formulate resolutions, which will then inform the work of women's rights activists within Muslim communities. Second, the project will in its later stages seek to compare the everyday realities of Muslim laws in India with those in other Muslim minority societies, such as Britain. A conference on shari'a councils in India and European nations will assess these institutions in different settings, and will also initiate discussion and exchange between a number of academics, lawyers and policy-makers on this complex issue.

This research project engages questions which remain of fundamental relevance in contemporary public and political life. These include the role of shari'a in the modern world, the rights of Muslim women, and the reconciliation of Islamic law with secular and multicultural national polities. As such, the project promises numerous possibilities for public and policy-related engagements, some of which have already been identified, and others of which will be developed during the tenure of the fellowship.

This project involves two main strands of impact activity, each of which draws from different research questions raised by the project. The first entails collaboration with one of India's most important Islamic feminist organisations, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA: the Muslim Women's Movement of India), to address means of improving the social and legal rights of Muslim women. In collaboration with the Ashana Trust, a non-governmental organisation which works under the umbrella of the BMMA, I will make plans for a workshop to be held in India to facilitate exchange among a number of activists, NGOs and community leaders upon numerous contemporary initiatives. The second involves the convening of a conference in Oxford to discuss shari'a-based legal forums in contemporary Muslim minority societies, chiefly India and Europe. The conference will combine contributions from academics and legal professionals working outside of academia, from both Britain and India (please see 'Case for Support' and 'Pathways to Impact' statement). Through these initiatives, the project will have non-academic impacts at local, national and international levels, for a range of beneficiaries.

Benefits beyond the academy: This project will promote meaningful knowledge exchange with a range of professionals beyond the academy who are involved with questions of contemporary Muslim laws in their work, in both India and Britain. These will include lawyers, social activists and those working for third-sector and non-governmental organisations. Both the workshop in Delhi and the conference in Oxford will facilitate dialogue between academics and non-academics, and will encourage the exchange of experiences by those working across these sectors themselves. For NGOs and charities working with questions of Muslim women's development and rights, it is hoped that these discussions will procure significant long-term benefits by providing new insights and strategies for promoting these causes. Equally, through the Oxford conference, legal professionals working with issues of Islamic law in either India or Britain will benefit from the opportunity to engage with European and Indian legal contexts comparatively.

Engagement with contemporary issues and public policy: Both impact initiatives will foster discussion of contemporary legal issues that have significant implications for public policy in both Britain and India, and I will explore these as part of the project. I will reach out to a professional and public audience via a project webpage hosted by the University of Oxford. This will include a blog, which will offer reflections on major contemporary questions addressed by the project, will publish accounts of the deliberations and main findings of both impact events, and will circulate podcasts of key presentations from the Oxford conference. Consequently, the webpage has the potential to become a useful resource for policy makers and interested publics, as well as academics. To increase the likelihood of my research having impact upon policy debates, and of reaching wider audiences, I will also write two non-academic articles that will be submitted to established and widely read online public policy forums and discussion groups, including The Conversation, based in Britain, and Kafila, based in India (see 'Case for Support').