Justice central to Sharia law
Most of our ulema insist that Sharia law is divine and hence there is no question of any flexibility in its application. It is supposed to be immutable. This does…
Oklahoma and Sharia law
AS voters in the American state of Oklahoma went to the voting booth on Nov 2, an unusual question awaited them. State question 755, also dubbed the ‘Save our state…
Decolonising the law
TOWARDS the end of World War II, the idea of ‘decolonisation’ with its attendant images of freedom fighters, ouster of the English colonisers and creation of independent nation states had…
Need for standard Shariah stock screening criteria
The act of narrowing down the universe of all potential stocks to a selected group of equities that meet the requirements of a certain investment strategy is known as stock…
Qisas & diyat laws
IN case after case of murder and severe bodily harm to innocent people, the perpetrators are often given a clean chit by Pakistan’s courts. The accused, even more emboldened, returns…
What is the domestic violence law?
The opposition to the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2021 exposes both the societal paradox that violence in one form or another is necessary to sustain our family structure,…
Does the Shariah permit trading shares?
The law is always catching up to the inventiveness of merchants. Islamic jurisprudence and commercial law, is no exception. Two modern inventions-the fiat-money banking system and the business corporation-have posed…
Law of binding precedents – I
In view of the hierarchical character of the judicial system in Pakistan, it is of paramount importance that the law declared by courts should be certain, clear and consistent. Inconsistencies…
Women and the law
There is no specific provision in the constitution to protect inheritance rights. The rights of legal heirs are, however, protected under the West Pakistan Muslim Personal Law (Shariat Act, 1962)…
When the law promotes slavery
The Punjab bill on the prohibition of child labour in brick kilns is a double-edged weapon. Ostensibly, the bill is designed to end the evil of child labour in a…
