Islamic Legal Studies Program

Annual Report July 2009 June 2010

Harvard Law School

Table of Contents
The Program 3 5 5

Part One: Report of Activities

A. Summary of the Academic Year 20092010 1. Executive Summary 5

2. Research, Scholarship and Project Activities Overview 5

ILSP Visiting Fellows 7 Events 8 10 11 12

Publications

3. Contributions to HLS Teaching Program

4. ILSP Student Program/Participation of HLS Students in Program Activities 5. Faculty Participation 13 13

6. Other Contributions to the HLS Community 7. Law Reform and Advocacy 13

8. Connections with the Practice and Profession

14 14

9. Collaborations with Other Schools and Departments at Harvard University B. Plans for the Academic Year 20102011 1. Executive Summary 15 16 15

2. Research, Scholarship and Program Activities 3. Contributions to HLS Teaching Program 17

4. Participation of HLS Students in Program Activities 5. Faculty Participation 18 18

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6. Other Contributions to the HLS Community 7. Law Reform and Advocacy 8. Connections to the Profession 18 18

9. Collaboration with Other Schools and Departments at Harvard University

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Part Two: Financial Reports A. Financial Statements B. Balance Sheets 20

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C. Representation Letter

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ILSP Annual Report 20092010

D. Additional Information

20 20 20

D.1. Staffing 20092010

D.2. Payments to Harvard Personnel and Related Parties D.3. Other Arrangements D.4. Fiscal Oversight 20 20 20

D.5. Space Requirements

Part Three: Fundraising Report

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ILSP Annual Report 20092010

The Program

arvard Law Schools Islamic Legal Studies Program (ILSP), established in 1991, seeks to advance knowledge and understanding of Islamic law. As outlined in its statement of objectives (incorporated into the terms of its major grants), the Program is dedicated

to achieving excellence in the study of Islamic law through objective and comparative methods. It aims to foster an atmosphere of open inquiry that embraces many perspectives: Muslim and nonMuslim, scholar and practitioner, contemporary and classical, Sunni and Shii, law and religion. It seeks to promote appreciation of Islamic law as one of the worlds major legal systems.

The main focus of work at the Program is on Islamic law in the contemporary world. Since contemporary thought and practice draw continually on the fourteen-century record of Islamic juristic writings and legal practice, the study of this record demands equal attention. The field of Islamic legal studies is vast, spanning the entire world (wherever Muslims live) and the prodigious substantive content of Islamic law (which claims to address every aspect of human life). Islamic law is central to the study of Islamic civilization in all its aspects, since Islamic law not only supplied most of the law and legal institutions of actual states for over a millennium, but also crucially shaped the religious, ethical, political, and social beliefs and practices of Muslim societies.

For these reasons, the study of contemporary Islamic law and legal systems calls for a broader scope of study than other fields of contemporary law. It must respond to the work of scholars from myriad disciplines, from many parts of the University and of academe, and from all parts of the world. The Program endeavors to reflect the subject-matter and disciplinary diversity of the field by varying the representation of subjects, regions, and sectarian affiliation among our visiting professorships, research positions, lectures, conferences, and publications.

The Program provides scholarships and specialized programs for students at Harvard Law School, especially for individuals from the Muslim world. The Program fosters Western scholarship in Islamic law by supporting young scholars, and it encourages innovative

ILSP Annual Report 20092010

scholarship across many disciplines. The Program also collaborates with other institutions and individuals at Harvard University to advance the study of Islamic law, Islam, and the Muslim world. In addition, it has established and will continue to establish close relationships with scholars and institutions abroad.

During its nineteen years of existence, the Program has developed an enviable reputation for sustained, careful, unbiased scholarship advancing the comparative understanding of Islamic law.

ILSP Annual Report 20092010

Part One: Report of Activities

A. Summary of the Academic Year 20092010
1. Executive Summary

he 20092010 academic year was the final year with Acting Director Baber Johansen at the helm. ILSP continued to take to heart its mandate at Harvard University to be the institution responsible for teaching and research into all aspects of Islamic law, from

legal history and contemporary application to adjoining fields such as legal development, legal anthropology, or political Islam, to name just a few. Examples of its commitment to present Islamic law from various perspectives are the workshop on Islamic Law in the Law of National States in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the continuation of the Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri Lecture Series on Legal Interpretation in the Muslim World, and several ISLP lectures on historical topics with implications for todays world. In addition, ILSPs Islamic Finance Project capitalized on the increasing interest in all aspects of the field, hosting a panel discussion on Islamic Finance, Petrodollar Recycling, and Economic Development, as well as once again holding its very successful biennial forum on Islamic finance. These initiatives and others are further described below.

2. Research, Scholarship, and Project Activities

The Programs support of research and scholarship is the defining character of its mission. The Program seeks to accommodate the diversified nature of Islamic legal studies and the wideranging interests of its multiple constituencies.

Overview
Each year the Program hosts a number of visiting researchers, who reside at the Program and spend a term or the entire year in independent research and writing. During 20092010 the visiting researchers hailed from Belgium, Israel, Turkey, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Korea, and the United States.

The Program maintains a program of eventsconferences, lectures, seminars, workshopsthat are intended to introduce ongoing research and matters of contemporary interest to the larger

ILSP Annual Report 20092010

public. In 20092010 the workshop on Islamic Law in the Law of National States in the Middle East and Southeast Asia brought together a group of scholars working on the development of national law in these regions and the status assigned by national laws to Islamic law. The fifth Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri Lecture Series on Legal Interpretation in the Muslim World was given by Dr. Badria Al-Awadhi of Kuwait in two lectures, the first on personal status law in Gulf states and the second a discussion of progressive issues in the Arab family codes. While at Harvard, Dr. Al-Awadhi also participated with HLS faculty in an ISLP-organized panel on womens rights, nationality law, and the protection of the environment in Gulf countries

The Programs Islamic Finance Project (IFP), under the direction of Dr. Nazim Ali, continues to thrive at Harvard Law School. Under ILSP auspices, this project addresses Islamic finance from the legal and Sharia points of view. In the fall of 2009, IFP hosted a panel on petrodollar recycling. In late winter, the IFP continued its collaboration with the London School of Economics, holding a workshop on the topic of ethics and finance in Islamic finance as well as a public lecture entitled Global Perspectives on Islamic Finance. IFP also hosted the 9th Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance. In addition to such events, IFP continues work on the large Islamic finance information database (the IFP Databank) with which the Project has been occupied since its inception.

Support of students is always a priority of the Program and last year ILSP continued its grant and scholarship programs. Student-organized lectures, panels, and other events were supported by ILSP funds, and, as always, a large amount of scholarship money was paid in financial aid to HLS students. The Program continues to give the highest priority to building a renowned research collection in Islamic law and in the positive law of jurisdictions where Muslims form a major component of the population; considerable funds are contributed to the Law School Library for this purpose, and continued progress is made in these areas.

A publication program, consisting of the monograph series Harvard Series in Islamic Law and of Occasional Papers, and published proceedings of the IFP forum rounds out the Programs research and scholarship contributions. Details about the items in the preceding paragraphs of this section follow.

ILSP Annual Report 20092010

ILSP Visiting Fellows

Each February ILSP chooses in a formal competition the visiting researchers who will spend the coming academic year or term pursuing an innovative research project of their own at HLS. During their stay they make use of the research facilities of the University and participate in the intellectual life of the Program. Visiting researchers receive HLS appointments, office space at the Program, and usually a stipend. They participate in all Program activities and are asked to present their ongoing work at a lecture during the year.

In 20092010 the Program welcomed the following researchers from Belgium, Israel, Turkey, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Korea, and the United States:

Guy Bechor (The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel) was a fall fellow. His ILSP lecture was entitled, The Sanhuri Code and the Emergence of Modern Arab Civil Law. Marie-Claire Foblets, from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, was also a Visiting Professor at HLS during the fall semester, teaching a course on Islamic family law in Europe. Her research at ILSP focused on the relationship of cultural and religious diversity and legal practice in Europe. Havva Guney-Ruebenacker, an S.J.D. Candidate at Harvard Law School, continued research on her dissertation, Towards Islamic Legal Reform: A Study of Islamic Family Law as a Part of Property, Slavery, and Jihad Law and a Proposal for Its Modernization. Iza Hussin came to ILSP from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. Her research topic was Politics of Islamic Law: Local Elites, Colonial Authority and the Negotiated Muslim State. Hauwa Ibrahim, an independent scholar and legal practitioner in Nigeria and Italy, was a Joint Fellow of ILSP and the Human Rights Program (HLS). Her experiences as a jurist and lawyer formed the basis for her ILSP lecture. Eugenia Kermeli (Bilkent University, Turkey) was a spring fellow at ILSP. Her research focused on the relation between non-Muslim minorities, their courts, and their relations with the Muslim courts of the Ottoman Empire. Gideon Libson (Hebrew University Law School, Jerusalem), a fellow for the full academic year, made significant progress on his second book on Maimonides Halakhic writing in the context of Muslim law and the jurisprudence of the period. Leonard Wood recently received his Ph.D. in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvards Faculty of Arts and Sciences. An ILSP fellow for the academic year, Wood finished his dissertation on the historical development of a new understanding of Islamic law among Egyptian legal scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries.

ILSP Annual Report 20092010

Jiyoung Yang of South Koreas Financial Supervisory Service continued her research on how Islamic finance has expanded in the global market, lecturing on that topic, as well as contributing to IFPs Ninth Forum with a paper on Islamic finance in Korea.

In addition to Visiting Fellows who were in residence for a semester or for the academic year, ILSP also hosted three summer fellows. Nimrod Hurvitz (Ben Gurion University, Israel) visited in 2009 to do research on the second and third generations of the Hanbalis; Sadiq Reza (New York Law School), also in 2009, spent the summer working on the project for which he was named a 2008 Carnegie Scholar: researching rules of criminal due process in Islamic jurisprudence and practice; and Aaron Spevack (Loyola University New Orleans), returned to ILSP in June of 2010 to work on law, theology, and Sufism in the late Sunni tradition.

Intisar Rabb, Assistant Professor of Law at Boston College Law School, was also in residence as ILSP Affiliate in Research. Rabbs primary research interests are in comparative law and legal

history with a focus on the intersection of criminal justice, legislative policy, and judicial process in American law and in the law of the Middle East and the Muslim world.

Events In 20092010 the Program offered a varied program, both singly and in collaboration with various fora at the University: November 10, 2009 and November 12, 2009: Fifth Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri Lecture on Legal Interpretation in the Muslim World. The lecture, given by Prof. Badria Al-Awadhi, Director of the Arab Center for Environmental Law, and former Dean of the Law School at the University of Kuwait, was held in two parts. The theme was recent developments in family law in Arab countries. The first lecture was entitled, An In-Depth Study of the GCC Personal Status Law, and the second lecture, "Selected Progressive Issues in the Arab Family Codes. November 11, 2009: Panel discussion on Women's Rights and Nationality Law in the GCC Countries and the Protection of Environment in Islam, led by Prof. Badria Al-Awadhi, with Profs. Janet Halley, Marie-Claire Foblets, and Baber Johansen. Sponsored by ILSP, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and the Center for the Study of World Religions. November 17, 2009: Lecture by Guy Bechor (Lauder School of Government, Strategy and Diplomacy, The Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel; ILSP Visiting Fellow, Fall 2009), "The Sanhuri Code and the Emergence of Modern Arab Civil Law." November 18, 2009: Islamic Finance Project panel discussion on Islamic Finance, Petrodollar Recycling, and Economic Development. Paper presented by Mahmoud A. El-Gamal (Professor and Chair, Department of Economics, Rice University, Houston, Texas). Panelists:

ILSP Annual Report 20092010

Prof. Eric Chaney (Dept. of Economics, Harvard University), Prof. Samuel L. Hayes (Harvard Business School), Prof. Baber Johansen (Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Law School), and Prof. Jahangir Sultan (Bentley University). November 30, 2009: Lecture by Marie-Claire Foblets (Professor of Anthropology, Catholic University of Leuven, Faculty of Law, Belgium; ILSP Visiting Fellow, Fall 2009; Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; Erasmus Lecturer on the History and Civilization of the Netherlands and Flanders, Harvard University), Muslims under Secular Jurisdiction. A False Problem? January 25, 2010: Lecture by Hauwa Ibrahim (independent scholar, Nigeria, Italy; ILSP Visiting Fellow and HRP Visiting Fellow, 20092010), Practicing Law in Shariah Courts: Reflections of a Legal Practitioner. February 8, 2010: Lecture by Gideon Libson (Professor, Hebrew University Law School, Jerusalem; ILSP Visiting Fellow 20092010), Jewish and Islamic Law: The Islamic Legal Background of Maimonidean Approaches. February 24, 2010: The London School of Economics and Harvard Law School held a joint public lecture on Islamic Finance, entitled Global Perspectives on Islamic Finance, which explored the role of faith-based finance in shaping global markets. February 25, 2010: Islamic Financial Ethics and Governance, a workshop organized by ILSPs Islamic Finance Project in partnership with the London School of Economics, London, UK. March 10, 2010: Lecture by Iza Hussin (Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst; ILSP Visiting Fellow 20092010), Paradoxes in Islamic Law Local Elites, Colonial Authority and the Making of the Muslim State. March 22, 2010: Lecture by Jiyoung Yang (Financial Supervisory Service, South Korea; ILSP Visiting Fellow, 20092010), Islamic Finance: A Comparative Study of Regulation. March 26, 2010 & March 29, 2010: Workshop on Islamic Law in the Law of National States in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. March 2728, 2010: 9th Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance on Building Bridges across Financial Communities, presented by the Islamic Finance Project. March 29, 2010: Lecture by Havva Guney-Ruebenacker (S.J.D. Candidate, Harvard Law School; ILSP Visiting Fellow 20092010), An Islamic Legal Realist Critique of the Traditional Theory of Marriage and Divorce in Islamic Law. April 5, 2010: Lecture by Eugenia Kermeli (Lecturer in History, Bilkent University, Turkey; ILSP Visiting Fellow 20092010), Legal Pluralism in the Ottoman Empire and the Role of Custom. April 12, 2010: Lecture by Leonard Wood (Ph.D. Candidate, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; ILSP Visiting Fellow 20092010), Reconstructing the Golden Age of Comparative Law in Egypt, 19231952.

ILSP Annual Report 20092010

Publications Books
Islamic Finance: Innovation and Authenticity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Islamic Finance Project, Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School, 2010, 317 pp., ISBN 0970283571. This book is a compilation of selected papers presented at the Eighth Harvard University Forum on Islamic Finance held in April 2008. Edited by S. Nazim Ali, Director of Islamic Finance Project (IFP), and with an introduction by Rodney Wilson, Professor of Economics at Durham University, the publication featured ten papers from leading scholars and practitioners from the field of Islamic finance on issues related to innovation and authenticity in Islamic finance, Islamic monetary union and national financial regulation, sukuk, and Islamic and socially responsible investment. In addition to the papers, the keynote speech delivered by Nobel Laureate Robert Merton and the Eighth Forum Address by Umer Chapra are also included.

Newsletter During 20092010, the Program published one combined issue (full academic year) of its newsletter.

Website The ILSP website is kept up-to-date by Program Coordinator Ceallaigh Reddy, with event notices, a listing of fellows, and various announcements. The newsletters and Occasional Publications are available online in PDF format. Reports generated by ILSPs past research projects as well as selected papers from a variety of events are also online.

Library
The Librarys research collection of Islamic and Middle Eastern legal materials is critical to ILSP and its mission of promoting the study of Islamic law. ILSP whole-heartedly contributes to the Law Library personnel and to funding collection needs. This collection is one of the most important in the non-Muslim world, and it is constantly being enhanced by the work of the Librarian and his/her staff, often assisted and influenced by activities and travel of ILSP affiliates.

The position of Librarian for Islamic Law remained open for the academic year 20092010 while the committee searched for a successor to Martha Jenks. This position, two-thirds of which is

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funded by ILSP, is critical to the Harvard Law School Library and its mission. As of this writing, candidates have been interviewed and we expect that a selection will be made for this position by the beginning of the academic year 20102011.

3. Contributions to HLS Teaching Program

An objective of the ILSP is to expand Islamic law instruction throughout Harvard. The Programs core teaching remains based at the Law School, where Professor Johansen taught a course in spring 2010. The Program also provides support for faculty, either permanent or visiting, at the Law School or other Harvard schools. Since ILSP is the sole venue for Islamic legal studies at Harvard, and since Islamic law is innately interdisciplinary, minutely intertwined in the fields of religion, anthropology, history, economics, and political thought, the Program benefits from and collaborates with a broad network of faculty from many disciplines throughout GSAS and the professional schools.

Courses at HLS Prof. Johansen taught one course in the 2010 spring term: Introduction to Islamic Law (3 credits). ILSP Visiting Fellow Marie-Claire Foblets, also Visiting Professor at HLS and Erasmus Fellow at Harvard University, taught Islamic Comparative Law in the fall semester 2009.

Related Courses In addition to his 20092010 teaching responsibilities at HLS, Prof. Johansen taught two courses at Harvard Divinity School, where his primary professorial appointment is. His two courses there were: Islamic Rules on Women: Muslim Feminists Critique of Classical Legal Norms (fall 2009) and The Intellectual Biography of an Eleventh-Century Transoxanian Legal Scholar, Shams al-Din al-Sarakhsi: Seminar (spring 2010).

In Spring 2010, a first-of-its-kind seminar on Islamic finance was offered at the Harvard Business School. The seminar, entitled Principles of Islamic Finance, was lead by Taha Abdul-Basser (A.B. '96, A.M. 06), IFP Affiliate and former lead researcher at IFP for the Shari`a Database, the Islamic legal component of the IFP Databank. The Independent Study Review (ISR) course was initiated at the request of a group of interested M.B.A. students and was organized and sponsored by members of the Business Schools Islamic Society.

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4. ILSP Student Program/Participation of HLS Students in Program Activities

ILSP has consistently supported Harvard students in their academic endeavors and considers this an important priority. Ranging from travel grants to financial aid for HLS students, and from support for student-organized activities to research assistance across the whole campus, the Program encourages students to take advantage of its funding resources, in addition to welcoming their participation in the ILSP scholarly community.

Students as ILSP Visiting Fellows ILSP tries to include qualified HLS S.J.D. students or Harvard University Ph.D. students among its visiting fellows. In 20092010, the program hosted one HLS student and one FAS student (from the Department of History) as fellows. These fellows participated fully in program activities. Each gave an ILSP lecture as well as presented at the workshop on

Student Participation at ILSP Events The public lectures that since 2008 are required from our fellows always draw at least 56 HLS students, often more. In the Islamic Finance Project events, we always draw a public of at least 50 60 students of whom a sizeable percentage come from HLS. Travel Grants and Internships The Program gave its first student travel grant in January of 1996, and since that time has helped many students at the Law Schoolcandidates for the J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degree programs by providing them with needed funding to travel abroad for extended periods of time for research, internships, or to take part in conference or courses relevant to their work. No travel grants were ultimately disbursed in 20092010 due to various factors. One grantee was not able to complete her trip due to health issues; another was disqualified because her affiliation was not at HLS. We hope to further encourage applications and award grants in the upcoming year. Tuition Assistance In 20092010 the Program gave financial aid for four S.J.D. candidates and six LL.M. students.

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Activities for Students and by Students ILSP receives frequent requests for funding from a wide variety of university groups. Among the requests granted, In 20092010, ILSP supported a number of student-run activities. ILSP was happy to contribute to the activities of HLSs Middle East Law Students Association, helping to support talks by Asad Abukhalil on Obamas Middle East Policies: The Persistence of the Bush Doctrine and by Joseph Massad, entitled Pre-Positional Conjunctions: Sexuality in/and Islam.

5. Faculty Participation
As part of Prof. Johansens active role in directing the project, he introduced and led discussion for all of the ILSP lectures. He also organized and led the workshop on Islamic Law in the Law of National States. He also was a panelist at the Islamic Finance Projects panel on petrodollar recycling and addressed participants at the Ninth Forum on Islamic Finance.

Although direct faculty participation in the research activity of ILSP is limited, several HLS and Harvard University faculty participated in ILSP events throughout the year. HLS professor Duncan Kennedy participated in the aforementioned workshop on Islamic Law in the Law of National States. Profs. Samuel L. Hayes (Harvard Business School) and Eric Chaney (Dept. of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences) were panelists at IFPs event on petrodollar recycling. Prof. Hayes also chaired a session at the forum on Islamic finance, as did HLS professor Noah Feldman. Other Harvard faculty participating the forum were Shahab Ahmed and Jay M. Harris (both of the Dept. of Near Eastern Languages & Civilization, Faculty of Arts and Sciences). HLS professors Janet Haley, John Mansfield, Duncan Kennedy, and David Kennedy participated in the discussions of the Sanhuri events given by Dr. Badria Al-Awadhi. Prof. Mansfield was also present at several ILSP lectures.

6. Other Contributions to the HLS Community

A contribution by ILSP helped fund guest lecturer Talal Asad, a speaker in Prof. Janet Halleys seminar on post-colonial feminism.

7. Law Reform and Advocacy (not applicable)

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8. Connections with Practice and the Profession

The Program receives annually many requests for expertise on aspects of Islamic law and law of the Muslim world, from law firms, academics, authors, human rights practitioners, government agencies, international organizations, and the media, and is able to provide answers as appropriate.

The Programs Islamic Finance Project is also a first line of call for many law firms and businesses, as well as colleague programs in aspects of Islamic finance or banking, for answers to questions regarding its field. IFP Director Nazim Ali represented ILSP at a number of fora during the past year, for example, the World Islamic Banking Conference in Bahrain, the Islamic Finance Summit in the United Kingdom, and the Islamic Development Banking Global Forum in Azerbaijan.

With regard to professional obligations in the academic field, Prof. Johansen engaged in various activities outside of the university. These included a panel discussion at the CUNY Graduate Center Great Issues Forum on The Rise of Intellectual Reform in Islam; a workshop in Berlin on Images of the Divine and Cultural Orientations, organized by the WissenschaftlichTheologisches Seminar, Institut fr Systematische Theologie/Dogmatik, Heidelberg; and a lecture at the Deutsches Orient-Institut Istanbul on Invisibility and Power in Islamic Religion and Culture. He also was the area editor for Islamic law for the recently published Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History (Oxford Univ. Press, 2009.

9. Collaboration with Other Schools and Departments at Harvard University

As always, due to the multidisciplinary focus of the Program, ILSP was involved in collaborative enterprises at Harvard University in 20002010. The Program contributes a yearly amount to the inter-University project Islam in the West and co-sponsors its lecture series. With the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Committee on the Study of Religion, ILSP co-sponsored a talk by Dr. Cornell Fleischer (University of Chicago) on Abd al-Rahman alBistami (ca. 1380 1455): A Muslim Life in Occult Learning.

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The Acting Director is full professor at Harvard Divinity School. Students from HDS participate regularly in his seminars and courses at HLS. ILSP has, in recent years, hosted as fellows one or two Ph.D. candidates from Harvard University departments.

The Acting Director was active in several university committees, including the Standing Committee on Middle Eastern Studies (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), the Islamic Studies Program Steering Committee (Harvard Divinity School, Faculty of Arts and Sciences), the Medieval Studies Committee (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), and the search committee on Islamic Thought and Life (Harvard Divinity School, Faculty of Arts and Sciences).

Prof. Johansen also was a frequent guest in the HLS seminar given by Janet Halley and Duncan Kennedy, Gender in Postcolonial Legal Orders. In July 2009, he organized a CMES panel discussion on Assessing the Iranian Elections.

An increasing number of HBS professors and students have expressed interest in ILSP. In addition to the regular participation of Prof. Samuel B. Hayes in events related to Islamic finance, the first seminar on Islamic finance was held at HBS, led by IFP affiliate and former lead researcher for the IFP Databank, Tah Abdul-Basser.

B. Plans for the Academic Year 20102011

1. Executive Summary In the academic year 20102011, ILSP will continue its mission to advance knowledge and
understanding of Islamic law. In addition to our scholars listed below, we plan to have an agenda of workshops, lectures, and conferences. However, at the time of this writing, definitive plans are somewhat uncertain as we adjust to our new leadership. Nonetheless, the program is the Program is dedicated to achieving excellence in the study of Islamic law through objective and comparative methods and committed to maintaining a full roster of activities, sponsorships, and interaction with students and faculty of the law school, Harvard University, and the greater public as applicable.

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2. Research, Scholarship, and Project Activities

ILSP plans to hold the sixth lecture in the Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri Lecture Series on Legal Interpretation in the Muslim World in the academic year 20102011. The program will invite a judge from one of the high courts in the Muslim world, or a prominent law professor, to lecture on the ways in which adjudication and doctrine rely on comparative approaches in their interpretation of the law.

In addition, the Islamic Finance Project (IFP) plans to hold its annual workshop and public lecture at the London School of Economics in late winter as it has in previous years. The topic of the upcoming workshop will be Islamic Finance Today in the light of Objective of Sharia, specifically to study the different and most effective regulatory strategy for developing and strengthening the IF industry as well as to examine the role in expanding and empowering Sharia boards.

Also, IFP plans to host one or two events: a panel discussion and/or a seminar to address emerging issues confronting Islamic finance practice. Islamic finance experts, who may include guest speakers from overseas, will deliver the lectures.

We will have eight Visiting Fellows and one Affiliate in Research in 20102011. All of them will give a public lecture on the results of their research during the course of their residence at ILSP. Fellows are in residence for either a semester or year. This year, fall semester fellows generally lean toward Ottoman studies, while those coming in spring have research interests in comparative studies. Sanaz Alasti (post-doctoral scholar, Golden Gate University School of Law) In residence at ILSP: January 1May 31, 2011 Research topic: Death Penalty in Islamic Countries Abdurrahman Atcil (Ph.D. received June 2010, University of Chicago) In residence at ILSP: September 1December 31, 2011 Research topic: Ottoman Law Codes and the Islamic Legal Tradition in the Early Modern Period (14501600) James Baldwin (Ph.D. received June 2010, New York University) In residence at ILSP: September 1December 31, 2011 Research topic: Islamic Law in an Ottoman Context: Resolving Disputes in Late 17th/Early 18th-Century Cairo

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Kambiz Behi (Ph.D. expected September 2010, Harvard University) In residence at ILSP: January 1May 31, 2011 Research topic: Comparative Islamic Constitutionalism: A Critical Approach Havva Guney-Ruebenacker (S.J.D. candidate, Harvard Law School) In residence at ILSP: September 1, 2010May 31, 2011 Research topic: Slavery and Abolition in Islamic Law: In Search for a Theory of Legal Change Erol Ozvar (Associate Professor, Marmara University, Turkey) In residence at ILSP: September 1, 2010May 31, 2011 Research topic: Riba Prohibition, Legal Solutions and Financial Practices in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire Omri Paz (Ph.D. expected June 2010, Tel-Aviv University) In residence at ILSP: September 1, 2010May 31, 2011 Research topic: Criminal Procedure under Reform: Offenders, Victims, and State Officials in Mid-19th-Century Anatolia Intisar Rabb (Affiliate in Research) (Assistant Professor, Boston College Law School) In residence at ILSP: September 1, 2010May 31, 2011 Research topic: Maliheh Zare (Lecturer and Ph.D. candidate, University of Tehran, Iran) In residence at ILSP: September 1, 2010May 31, 2011 Research topic: How to Comply with Both the Contemporary Capital Market Regulation and Islamic Jurisprudence by Islamic Countries

3. Contributions to the HLS Teaching Program

The incoming Acting Executive Director, Dr. Nazim Ali, is not a faculty member at Harvard University and thus will not be teaching in the classroom as have past program directors. However he will continue to be of assistance to HLS students and scholars in their research. HLS Visiting Professor Chibli Mallat, scheduled to arrive in December 2010, will teach Middle Eastern Law in the spring semester. We expect that there will be interaction between Prof. Mallat and the program, as well as participation by students in that class in program events.

4. Participation of HLS Students in Program Activities

One HLS S.J.D. student will be an ILSP fellow for the academic year. In addition, HLS students will participate in the discussions of the Sanhuri lectures, the lectures given by ILSP fellows, and any workshops or conferences organized by the program. Over the last years we have observed a growing interest of HLS students in matters of Islamic law and Islamic finance, and we expect this tendency to remain robust over the next academic year.

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5. Faculty Participation
For the year 200910 we expect HLS and Harvard University faculty participation in the various ILSP events, as topics are of ongoing concern and interest to faculty from a wide range of disciplines. The presence of Visiting Professor Chibli Mallat may further increase participation.

An important issue relating to faculty participation remains that of choosing permanent leadership for ILSP. The choice of Director depends on the kind of vision that HLS and the University has for ILSP. One possibility is to appoint an expert in classical and modern Islamic law who follows the legislation process in the Middle East in particular and the Muslim world in general, providing expertise for HBS and HLS on matters of commerce and civil law, personal status law, gender-related norms, Muslim feminism. As an alternative, one might focus a search for an authority on constitutional law and international law.

(Sections 6, 7, not applicable)

8. Connections to the Profession

ILSP, and especially IFP, maintain contacts and connections with professionals inside and outside the US.

Events such as the Harvard Forum and the workshops in London and Cambridge have been a magnet for professionals in Islamic finance. Each year, hundreds of individuals attend our events and several of them are keen to follow the program electronically. By this means, the program will help to create a closer interaction between the professionals and HLS.

9. Collaboration with Other Schools and Departments at Harvard University

Students from many of the Schools and Departments of Harvard University frequent our courses and participate in our workshops and lecture programs. Faculty of HLS, HBS and FAS participate in the majority of our events.

One of our incoming fellows in 20102011 recently received his Ph.D. from FAS and has frequently attended and participated in ILSP events for many years.

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We provide financial assistance and academic guidance to Ph.D. students from other schools who work on aspects of Islamic law.

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