This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (Public Law 111-5).
This project examines proposals for Islamic law in Western democracies, focusing on the United Kingdom and Canada and assessing the implications of these proposals' adoption or rejection. Muslim citizens in several countries have sought an arena of state-sanctioned Islamic law for use within their own communities. The response of both lawmakers and the public in these countries has been generally hostile, on grounds of women's rights and the principle of democratic secularism. However, it is likely that as Muslim minorities in Europe and North America become both larger and more politically active, demands for Islamic law in some form will become more common. This is not a matter of a "clash" between Islam and democracy, but of a debate over what democracy requires or allows with regard to religion, law, and rights. Does democratic pluralism extend to the legal realm, or does this put at risk a consensus of fundamental values that makes democratic politics possible?
This project investigates three key elements of the issue: (1) current and recent Islamic law proposals, (2) the variables that affect why, and where, such proposals are put forward, and (3) the factors affecting the popularity of, or hostility toward, such proposals in Muslim communities and in the general population. The project uses a mixed-methods approach combining field research and secondary-source research. This allows both extensive investigation of the two primary cases and examination of several additional cases to provide greater comparative context.
The question of Islamic law in the West is a crucial one that will shape the character, and possibly the legitimacy, of democracy in states where it has been longest established and most deeply entrenched. This project addresses an understudied issue that is becoming increasingly important to scholars in political science, law, and other fields, as well as to policy makers in several countries.
