Ahmad M Dipu (North South University) has posted Competing Models of Islamic Legal Modernity: Jurisprudential Authority, Codification, and State Legitimacy in Saudi Arabia and Iran with Implications for Bangladesh on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This article examines how Saudi Arabia and Iran—the two most influential contemporary states invoking Islamic law as a principal source of legal and political legitimacy—reconcile the normative demands of classical Islamic jurisprudence with the institutional requirements of the modern nation-state. Drawing upon comparative legal analysis, constitutional theory, Islamic jurisprudence, and recent legislative developments, the article argues that both states represent distinct yet structurally convergent models of Islamic legal modernity. Saudi Arabia increasingly relies upon selective codification, translating Hanbali jurisprudence into statutory law while preserving claims of fidelity to Sharia. Iran, by contrast, constitutionalises juristic authority through the doctrine of Wilayat al-Faqih and the supervisory role of the Guardian Council. Despite significant doctrinal and institutional differences, both systems have developed mechanisms through which the modern state assumes decisive authority over the selection, interpretation, and administration of Islamic legal norms. The article advances a theory of state-managed Islamic legality, arguing that contemporary Islamic states differ less in their substantive commitment to Islamic law than in the institutional techniques through which juristic authority is incorporated into state structures. To develop this argument, the study integrates the theoretical insights of Wael Hallaq, Max Weber, Rudolph Peters, and Mohammad Fadel into a unified analytical framework. The article further explores implications for Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority constitutional democracy navigating tensions between Islamic normativity, secular constitutionalism, and legal modernisation. It concludes that the central challenge of contemporary Islamic governance is not whether Islamic law can coexist with the modern state, but how authority over Islamic law is distributed, legitimised, and constrained within modern legal institutions.
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