Workshop: Islamic Law, Imperialism, Colonialism, and the Modern State

Location: Zoom | Time: 12 pm to 2 pm EST | Date: Friday, May 16, 2025

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Workshop Presenter: Dilyara Agisheva

Dilyara Agisheva is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Toronto.

Our workshop series aims to investigate the transformations in Islamic law under the influence of imperial powers, colonialism, and the modern state. Since September 2024, we have been meeting monthly to delve into the latest scholarly literature on Islamic legal practices within various imperial contexts. Each session has focused on different aspects of Islamic legal institutions, such as courts, legal education, legal practitioners, property practices, marriage, and other institutions affected by imperialism, colonialism, and modern state in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Our geographical scope includes the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and less-studied regions such as the Russian and European areas of former Ottoman provinces, as well as different regions in West Africa.

A key feature of the workshop series is the participation of authors whose books we will discuss. These scholars will present their work and engage in Q&A sessions with the audience, providing a platform for in-depth discussions. Our goal is to foster a multifaceted understanding of how Islamic law was influenced by imperial and colonial forces from the 18th century onwards.

For our May workshop, we will read and discuss an introduction to the book entitled Entangled Domains: Empire, Law, and Religion in Northern Nigeria (2023) by Rabiat Akande. Please read the Introduction (pp. 1-28) ahead of our workshop.

Bio:

Rabiat Akande is a legal scholar specializing in legal history, constitutional and international law, Islamic law, and (post)colonial African law. She joined the University of Maryland Carey School of Law in 2024. Her book Entangled Domains (Cambridge, 2023) has received multiple honors. Akande’s research appears in major journals including the American Journal of International Law, Law and History Review, and Journal of Law and Religion, and in edited volumes from leading academic presses. She is currently co-editing several publications on law and religion and African legal history, and working on a book about Malcolm X. Formerly at Osgoode Hall Law School, she earned her SJD from Harvard Law School, where her prizewinning dissertation focused on law and religion in colonial Nigeria. Akande leads the international legal history project at the African Institute of International Law and holds fellowships from institutions including the Gerda Henkel Foundation and the NSF.