By Haroon Bashir
While the gradual abolition thesis gained popularity, as demonstrated in the previous essay, it was by no means universally accepted.  Scholars such as Ḥusayn al-Jisr (d. 1327/1909) and Yūsuf al-Nabahānī (d. 1932) argued that abolition was a modern innovation and a form of theological corruption.[1] In a bid to preserve…

By Haroon Bashir
It is often stated in contemporary discussions on slavery and Islam, almost to the point of ubiquity, that Islam always aimed to abolish slavery.[1] Yet, the first explicit articulation of this claim emerged only in the late nineteenth century, advanced by the Egyptian reformer Muhammad Abduh (d. 1323/1905).[2] As I…

By Haroon Bashir
Slavery has been a near-universal institution throughout human history, and its formal abolition is a relatively recent development.[1] Like all scholars, Muslim jurists were shaped by their historical context—a world in which the slave trade was normalized.[2] Consequently, references to enslavement and emancipation appear throughout classical legal manuals. This raises…

Dr. Haroon Bashir is Associate Professor of Contemporary Islam at the Markfield Institute of Higher Education. His research explores contemporary Islamic thought, Quranic hermeneutics, and the ethical engagement of Muslim scholars with issues such as abolition, justice, and social reform. His recent monograph, Slavery, Abolition and Islam: Debating Freedom in the Islamic Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2025),…

Thank you, Dominik Krell and Muhammad Zubair Abbasi for joining us as guest blog editors in April. In case you missed their essays, here they are:

• Is Saudi Arabia’s Legal System Still ‘Islamic’?
• The New Grand Mufti and the Future of Islamic Law in Saudi Arabia
• The Expansion of Taʿzīr in Modern Saudi Arabia
• Expanding

…

Editor’s Note: In the previous three essays of this series, Dominik Krell explored codification, muftis, and legal change in contemporary Saudi Arabia. In this final essay, Muhammad Zubair Abbasi takes up these themes in a comparative context.
By Muhammad Zubair Abbasi
Introduction
The Personal Status Law of 2022 (PSL) forms part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision…

By Dominik Krell
Introduction
Saudi Arabia has a reputation for harsh criminal punishments. In 2025, a record number of 356 people were executed in the Kingdom.[1] Apart from the extensive use of the death penalty, Saudi judges regularly impose year-long prison sentences even for minor offenses, as well as high fines and, until 2020,…