Refugee Status in Islam: Concepts of Protection in Islamic Tradition and International Law. By Arafat Madi Shoukri.

Abstract

Refugee Status in Islam is based on Shoukri's PhD thesis (completed in 2007), and addresses a highly significant and generally under-researched area of study pertaining to the development of concepts of protection in Islam. Drawing on a variety of sources, ranging from classical Muslim scholars to the Prophet's traditions (sīra) and hadith, to Arabic literature and poetry, Shoukri traces the history and meaning of key terms relevant to the field of refugee studies, ultimately comparing the Islamic interpretation and practice regarding protection, with the contemporary international legal regime. Following a two page introduction, the book is structured along broadly chronological lines, and consists of chapters of dramatically different lengths (ranging from a 13-page first chapter, to Chapter Four, which is 96 pages long). In the first chapter, Shoukri briefly proposes that during the pre-Islamic period (an era known in Arabic as the jāhiliyya), the concept and mechanisms of granting jiwār (protection) had already been institutionalized through a range of tribal and moral codes prevalent across the Arabian Peninsula. He notes the existence of a variety of spaces considered to have ‘a certain sanctity and inviolability’, including ‘even the normal tents in which the Bedouin lived’ (p. 7), whilst also providing a brief definition of three terms which are pivotal to the subsequent chapters: the first two are mustajīr (the protected) and mujīr (the protector), which in turn lead to an explanation of jiwār, which ‘could in essence be defined as a contract between two parties where one asks for protection and the other grants it to him or her’ (p. 4). Overall, Shoukri suggests that pre-Islamic jiwār ‘was basically an exchange of bounty between the mustajīr and the mujīr. While the mustajīr got the material help and protection needed, the mujīr received praise, fame and high status among the tribes’ (p. 10).