News Archive

Professor Mohamed 'Arafa, S.J.D. '13, traveled to Albany Law School for a workshop where he discussed his article that the school's law review will publish in its Fall2020 edition.

Professor 'Arafa presented during the James T. Gathii Faculty Workshop Series on January 28. He discussed his paper, "Islam and Democracy: Helping to Appreciate the Nuance and Complexity of Religious Legal Systems." This work will publish in the Albany Law Review.

In the piece, Professor 'Arafa argues that capital punishment is one of the more complex legal issues in Judaism and Islam, and it requires an in-depth understanding as to why it exists and under what circumstances one can move forward with the punishment. He notes that democracy also is a difficult concept in relation to Islam, as many of its elements as it is practiced in Western societies, free elections, universal suffrage, a parliamentary system of government, among others, do not exist in many Arab and Islamic countries.

Professor 'Arafa is an Assistant Professor of Law at Alexandria University School of Law in Egypt (on sabbatical). In 2018-2019, he was a Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell Law School, where he taught Comparative Middle Eastern Law. He teaches Islamic Law and Comparative Middle Eastern Law as a visiting adjunct professor at IU McKinney.