News and Information
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: November 18, 1998
Contact: Elaine Justice, Assistant Director

EMORY LAW PROFESSOR RECEIVES FORD GRANT TO STUDY MUSLIM DIVERSITY IN U.S., ABROAD

Emory University human rights scholar/activist Abdullahi An-Na'im has received a two-year, $371,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to fund a global survey of Islamic family law that will explore how Muslims reconcile their faith with the needs of their communities today.

An-Na'im, who will direct the project, will coordinate efforts of 15-20 scholars in conducting a "global mapping" of Islamic practices in various regions of the world. "We will examine the cultural, demographic, sociological and political factors that affect Muslim families, especially women and children," he says. "We also will catalogue the constitutional and legislative provisions that affect Muslim marriage, divorce, women's rights and custody of children." Later this year, researchers will examine these findings to decide what specific themes or regional situations to investigate in greater depth.

Another aspect of the project will focus on case studies of Islamic family law in two countries: the United States, where Muslims are a growing minority; and Egypt, where Muslims are a majority.

An-Na'im expects the project's findings to challenge common assumptions about how Islam is actually practiced today. "There is little understanding of the diversity of Muslim practices, even within Muslim communities themselves," he says. Likewise, "The whole encounter between Islam and modernity is not well understood."

Through global mapping and in-depth case studies, An-Na'im hopes to spell out "differences in the ways Islamic communities adapt Islamic law to their own context and conditions" and to identify the types of political, legal and social initiatives that are emerging in Islamic communities. The project will culminate in the spring of 2000 with an international conference in which participants will attempt to connect the project's findings and conclusions with viable advocacy strategies, which An-Na'im regards as essential to effective public policy research.

"Personally, I challenge the assumption that Islam and secularism are incompatible," says An-Na'im. "This project will give us a chance to test our hypothesis."

Beginning next month, An-Na'im will travel to England to consult with research colleagues at the University of London, then to Uzbekistan, where he will teach a course on human rights at the Academy for State and Social Construction and begin preliminary investigation of how Islamic identity is being constructed in the post-Soviet republics.