News Archive

Professor Mohamed 'Arafa, S.J.D. '13, traveled to Italy recently where he delivered lectures at four different universities. He continued his work as a visiting scholar and professor at Cornell Law School, and had two recent papers published.

As part of his work with the Clarke Initiative for Law and Development in the Middle East and North Africa at Cornell Law school, Professor 'Arafa was a presenter with the topic "Uniquely Human and Unthinkable: Is Compatibility Achievable between Islamic Sharie‘a Law and Human Rights Law?" His talk was part of the Berger International Speaker Series at Cornell, and it took place on November 8, 2018. In addition, Professor 'Arafa discussed "Does Islam Need Saving? An Islamic Perspective on Human Rights" at the Center for Security, Race and Rights at Rutgers Law School. The talk took place on November 13, 2018.

Professor 'Arafa's activities as part of the Clarke Initiative at Cornell were part of a report for Fall 2018.

Professor 'Arafa traveled to Italy for talks prior to the end of 2018. He was a presenter with the topic, "Religious Law and Secular Legal Systems in the Muslim World: Shared Roots in the Criminal Law Area." This discussion took place at the University of Milan School of Law in Milan, Italy, on November 27. He discussed "Corporate Social Responsibility and the Battle Against Corruption in Egypt: Divine or Secular Financial Legal System?" This talk was delivered at the University of Parma's Department of Economics, in Prama, Italy, on November 28. He talked about "What the International Human Rights Movement Can Learn from Islam" at the Magna Græcia University of Catanzaro, in Calabria, Italy, on November 29. Finally, he discussed "Islam and Democracy: The Impact of Muslim Declarations Over Modern Legal Systems" at the Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli School of Law (University of Naples II), in Caserta, Naples, Italy, on December 4.

Two of Professor 'Arafa's papers were published recently. His paper, co-authored with Juliano Benvindo and Fernando Acunha, The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 and its Ancient Ghosts: Comparison, History and the Ever-present Need to Fight Authoritarianism, was published in Revista de Investigações Constitucionais (Journal of Constitutional Research). And his paper, The Egyptian Criminal Justice System’s Readiness to Prosecute Core Crimes: Goest Thou? was published by Jurist in the Academic Commentary section on November 7.

Professor 'Arafa will teach a course titled "Comparative Middle Eastern Law: Contemporary Issues" during the Spring and Summer 2019 semesters at Cornell Law School, and from April until July at the University of Brasilia School of Law. He plans to resume teaching his courses on Islamic Law and Comparative Middle Eastern Law as an adjunct professor at IU McKinney during the 2019-2020 academic year.