Sources of Islamic and International Diplomatic Law: Between Tension and Compatibility

Abstract

The question of compatibility between the principles of Islamic siyar and modern international law has exacerbated a cornucopia of controversies among scholars of Islamic jurisprudence and international law. Exponents of the exclusivist theoretical view have maintained that modern international law does not and cannot accommodate any rules or principles of Islamic international law due to the incompatibility between the two legal regimes. Ford, for example, is of the view that “[t]he siyar cannot be said to be genuinely compatible with modern international jurisprudence with respect to treaty principles, customary law, general principles of law, precedent or even the teachings of eminent publicists.”1 He further argues that any attempts at finding compatibility in the two jurisprudential systems will be tantamount to “merely whitewash [ing] genuine discrepancies between international norms and the principles grounding the siyar.”2 Bouzenita equally concludes that the fact that Islamic international law and modern international law originated from different historic and cultural developments with distinct sources, concepts, and objectives, will ultimately make the two legal systems incompatible.3