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Table Of Contents

1. Trends In Legal Education - All Social Issues Eventually
Become Legal Issues - U of T Introduces Courses In Islamic Law
U of T Faculty Hires Two Islamic Law Scholars

Thousands of students have asked and wondered "what is a good
area of law to practise? What kind of lawyer should I become?"
The best answer is that you should immerse yourself in whatever
interests you. In this context I suggest:

1. There is no social issue that does not eventually become a
legal issue and;

2. There will be areas of law available in the future that don't
exist (at least in North America) today.

Canada describes itself as being a multicultural society. To be
multicultural implies a tolerance and acceptance of many
religions and legal systems that may be associated with those
religions. In this context it is interesting to see that the
University of Toronto law school has hired two professors who
specialize in Islamic law.

The U of T Press release may be found here:
http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/Final_Anver_Emon_and_Mohammed.doc

This is a fascinating development. What follows is an article
written by a "free lance" journalist.

"Islamic law course hears opening arguments
U of T's hiring of two new profs to expound a different legal
tradition is stirring up the sharia debate

BOYD ERMAN - Special to The Globe and Mail
Saturday, August 6, 2005


Islamic law is coming to the University of Toronto.

Not in the form of sharia tribunals for cheaters or strict dress
codes for female students, but in the form of two professors
hired to teach the subject at the university's law school.

While students are excited about the opportunity to learn about
another legal tradition, especially one that's often in the
headlines, groups fighting to keep sharia out of Canada's legal
system worry that the hirings are a setback to their efforts.

Bringing in Anver Emon, 34, and Mohammad Fadel, 38, to teach
courses in Islamic law is part of a push for a more global focus
that students are embracing, says acting law school dean Lorne
Sossin. Having two full-time professors will give the law school
a bigger concentration on Islamic law than anywhere else in
Canada.

"The early indications are that students are going to be beating
down the doors, and it's a testament to the timeliness of it,
with Islamic fundamentalism in the news abroad and of course the
sharia debate in Ontario just this last year bringing these
issues close to home," Mr. Sossin says.

Too close to home for Homa Arjomand, who heads the International
Campaign Against Sharia Court in Canada, and Alia Hogben,
executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.

Ms. Arjomand has been campaigning to keep Islamic law out of the
Canadian system because in other parts of the world, such as
Afghanistan or Nigeria, women have suffered under strict and
violent interpretations of Islamic law. The hirings are "like a
green light for sharia," Ms. Arjomand says. "I'm so mad."

Ms. Hogben says she's "concerned about the motivation." Canada's
law system should be totally secular so the university shouldn't
be seen doing anything to prepare for the possibility that sharia
law may make inroads, she says.

The issue of sharia law hit the headlines in Ontario in 2003,
after a Muslim lawyer founded the Islamic Institute of Civil
Justice to settle family-law and inheritance-law disputes. The
move was perfectly legal under Ontario's Arbitration Act, which
allows people to voluntarily settle arguments outside the court
system using an arbitrator of their choice. The outcomes are
binding.

Amid an outcry that raised the spectre of Muslim women in Ontario
living under the same restrictions as those under the Taliban,
where adultery allegations could lead to summary executions, the
Ontario government did what governments do. It commissioned a
report.

Marion Boyd, a former Ontario cabinet minister who works as a
mediator, spent six months researching the issue before
recommending that religious law keep a place in family
arbitration as long as safeguards are built in to protect women
and children. Ontario's Attorney-General, Michael Bryant, plans
to respond in the fall.

The Boyd solution can work, according to Mr. Emon, who believes
Islamic law is more open to interpretation than many realize and
can be adjusted to protect the rights of women. Islamic law
studies such as those he will offer at the University of Toronto
are necessary to show students that Islamic law is open to more
liberal readings, he says.

"Islamic law is not just about these rules about cutting hands
off thieves or discriminating against women. It's a living
tradition in which jurists are trying to embrace and engage in
active acts of interpretation," Mr. Emon says.

And, should the Ontario government leave the option of
faith-based dispute settlement in the Arbitration Act, the
University of Toronto's Islamic law courses will mean at least
Ontario will have some lawyers who know their way around sharia
law.

"If the proposal does go through, this would mean that some
students would have the ability to support their clients' efforts
in ways that maybe others don't," he says.

Even if the government rules Islamic law out of bounds in
arbitration, a lawyer working in Toronto may have to deal with
cross-border cases that involve countries where sharia is used,
Mr. Fadel says.

He says Islamic law has come up in his work as a lawyer at
Sullivan & Cromwell, a New York firm known for its work in
business law. "It is increasingly relevant, say, for commercial
transactions in which you have investors who call themselves
Islamic investors, and they want the contracts to be compliant.
It's not something that's so obscure that some percentage of U of
T lawyers won't come across it at some point in their careers."

Mr. Sossin says he is aware that the hirings might raise some
concerns, but ignoring an area of the law because of controversy
is wrong. Instead, "you want to have the scholarship and teaching
in the area," he says. "We're so unfamiliar with the Koran and
the other Islamic law texts that we just lump it all together."

Mr. Sossin has the backing of students such as Kim Haviv,
vice-president of the Students' Law Society at University of
Toronto.

"There's really been a push from the students to broaden the
perspective and increase diversity in the faculty, so from our
end it's a step in the right direction," Ms. Haviv says.
"Teaching students more about different legal systems can't be a
bad thing."

As part of its international focus, the school now offers courses
in Hebrew law, Latin American legal systems and international
human-rights law. Mr. Sossin says the school is looking for more
scholars to broaden that reach. Ms. Haviv agrees that there's
still "work to do."

Mr. Emon comes to University of Toronto from Yale University,
where he completed a law degree. He is working on a doctorate in
history from the University of California at Los Angeles, with a
focus on medieval traditions of Islamic law. He says he was drawn
to the subject by the uproar in the early 1990s when some Muslim
clerics called for the assassination of author Salman Rushdie for
his portrayal of Islam in The Satanic Verses.

Mr. Fadel will teach business law as well as Islamic law, which
he says he studied because of his interest in international
affairs and the Middle East, where "it is always present." He
will join the university next year.

Ms. Haviv, who is heading into her second year, says she would be
interested in taking a course with one of the new teachers,
though is not sure it will fit into her schedule. "But I really
look forward to welcoming the new professors," she said.


This article originally appeared in the August 6, 2005 issue of
the Globe and Mail is reproduced with kind permission of the
author who retains the copyright.


"Shades of grey on Sharia" - by Prof. Anver Emon

Can Islamic and Canadian law coexist?


Prof. Anver Emon has written a commentary in the National Post on
the subject of the proposal to implement Sharia arbitration
panels in Ontario ("Shades of grey on Sharia," July 29, 2005).

http://www.law.utoronto.ca/visitors_content.asp?itemPath=5/5/0/0/0&contentId=1139