This talk explores how the Egyptian government's legislative reforms during the rule of its president, Gamal Abdel Nasser (1952-29170), influenced the application of Islamic law in Egypt. Using documents from the Egyptian National Archives and the Archives of al-Azhar, this talk presents Nasser's secular regime as a "religious reform actor" that attempted to reform Islamic law to reflect the goals of its newly created modern nation-state. It argues that the Nasserite government's legislative reforms generated a space for creative engagement with shariʿa by both state and non-state actors. It uses the debates on personal status law reforms as a prism to explore how Egyptian women activists created for themselves a religious space that advanced a post-patriarchal interpretation of Islamic law, denying the Egyptian government and its conservative religious institutions a monopoly on religious interpretation.

Speaker
Ibrahim Gemeah, Humanities Research Fellow, NYUAD

Moderated by
Henri Lauzière, Senior Humanities Research Fellow, NYUAD

In Person (NYUAD Campus) and on Zoom

The seminar is open to the NYUAD community and by invitation. Registration has closed.