Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Competition Winner
Ian Greer, an MA candidate at the Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations with a specialization in Islamic Studies, recently won a prize for an essay contest organized by the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion. His paper entitled, Angrezi Shariat: Islamic Law in 20th Century Britain and its Colonial Antecedents, discusses a hybrid model of Angrezi Shariat.
Angrezi Shariat: Islamic Law in 20th Century Britain and its Colonial Antecedents
The paper entitled, Angrezi Shariat: Islamic Law in 20th Century Britain and its Colonial Antecedents by Ian Greer discusses how the hybrid model of angrezi shariat currently operating in the English legal system is continuous in principle with previous hybridizations of Islamic and English common law in former colonial territories, especially British Raj India. In the paper, the author examines British legal recognition of Sharia in both British India and contemporary British society. They note the evolution and adaptation of angrezi shariat in the UK and its pre-migratory roots. They then note the accommodations made to British colonial law to support shariah in India and how aspects of shariah were incorporated into British commercial law to demonstrate reciprocity between these two legal systems. The paper is important to the discussion of Muslim settlement in diaspora as it demonstrates how Muslim tradition and legal practice adapt and transform in new contexts, and how societies and institutions also adapt and transform in relation to migrant communities.
Interview with Greer regarding his experience in HUSS
Q: Where are you originally from, and what led you to pursue your studies in ARIC and at AUC?
A: I am originally from Canada, where I did a BA at McGill University. I decided to study Islamic Studies at AUC in order to benefit from the immense scholarly resources that are available here in Cairo, both at the university and outside. There is a case to be made that Egypt is really the center of all Islamic civilization, which of course, makes it an excellent place to study the religion and its history.
Q: You are an MA candidate in Arabic studies with a specialization in Islamic Studies. What is the current focus of your specialization?
A: Most of my classes at AUC are in Islamic law, and that's usually further specialized as Islamic law in Egypt, from the Mamluk period to the 19th century.
Q: In this essay, you examine the British legal recognition of Sharia in British India and contemporary British society. Can you briefly define Angrezi Shariat?
A: Angrezi Shariat is an Urdu term used by the South Asian Muslim diaspora in England to describe the system of unofficial Islamic law, which some among them use in parallel with the official British legal system. Basically, in England today, there are judicial bodies in Muslim communities that pass judgment on legal cases according to Islamic law. Many Muslims, feeling that the official English legal system would give judgments contrary to Islamic requirements in areas related to marriage, divorce and so on, seek the judgment of these courts and abide by their rulings. The interesting thing is that because these courts have become so commonly used, the English system has given them a degree of officiality, by making their judgments binding and legally enforceable; that is, if you make the free choice to accept the arbitration of an Islamic court, you must then accept its judgment, even if it rules against you. There is a push to give the Islamic courts greater recognition and wider scope in the English system, as a huge number of citizens prefer them over the secular courts.
Q: As you look at the evolution of Angrezi Shariat, what is one of your key observations or findings?
A: My big argument is that what we observe in the relationship between English and Islamic law in modern England actually has a precedent (in principle) in India under the British Empire. When the Empire took over the subcontinent, they found a huge class of educated Islamic jurists and a large corpus of legal literature, and decided to integrate the local legal system with their own in what they called "Anglo-Muhammadan Law". In both the colonial Anglo-Muhammadan regime, and the current cooperation of English and Islamic courts, you have a hybrid system in which English common law is supreme, however, it concedes space to an alternative law that operates on a different logic and different assumptions.
Q: What other questions do you seek to explore in your research and writing?
A: I could say one very broad question I hope to answer is, what was going on in the 17th and 18th centuries in Islamic intellectual history? The traditional academic view was that Islamic civilization was in a decline from the 13th century onwards, but this is largely rejected by current scholarship, not least by the President of AUC, Ahmad Dallal, who makes this point in his book Islam Without Europe. Still, this period of history has a lot of books and authors that haven't been looked at, and there's a lot of work to do.
Q: What is next for you, after AUC?
A: I'm hoping to stay in Cairo for some time to keep studying Islamic texts. After that, I will probably pursue a PhD in Islamic studies.