Abstract
AbstractThis article examines the historical roots of juridical moral regulation in modern Egypt, assessing the relationship between modern law and shariʿa through the lens of the influence of the Islamic practice ofḥisbaon courts and legislators. The article engages critically with scholarship on Islamic law and postcolonial theory regarding the impact of Western colonialism on law in Muslim societies and problematizes the understanding that shariʿa was secularized in the Egyptian legal culture through the translation of Western legal concepts. Instead, a different narrative is offered, one that recognizes the agency of local actors in the process of secularization and considers the influence of shariʿa in the legal development of contemporary Egypt.
Highlights
In the years following the 25 January Revolution in Egypt in 2011, there was a notable uptick in the number of individuals sentenced for their sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political opinions, or moral standing
This article examines the historical roots of juridical moral regulation in modern Egypt, assessing the relationship between modern law and sharia through the lens of the influence of the Islamic practice of h isba on courts and legislators
The article engages critically with scholarship on Islamic law and postcolonial theory regarding the impact of Western colonialism on law in Muslim societies and problematizes the understanding that sharia was secularized in the Egyptian legal culture through the translation of Western legal concepts
Summary
On 10 September 2014, the Cairo criminal court held a public hearing in the trial of twenty-three defendants charged with participating in an unauthorized protest. The court dedicated the session to examining evidence, including a video the police had found on a defendant’s confiscated laptop. This article calls for up to five years of imprisonment or a fine for anyone who exploits and uses religion in advocating or propagating by talk or in writing or by any other method, extremist thoughts with the aim of instigating sedition and division or disdaining or showing contempt to any of the heavenly religions or the sects belonging thereto, or prejudicing national unity.58 In arguing his case against Sabir, prosecutor Sharif al-Sharawi stated: Each society is founded on certain virtues, and one of the deeply entrenched bases for Egyptian society is religious belief and rituals that must not be insulted. The purpose is to maintain a certain type of social cohesion between individuals and to expunge any nonconforming presence from the public sphere of this imagined coherent paradigm of Muslim society
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
