Amasya, Türkiye | June 24–26, 2026
Amasya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi
We invite proposals for a workshop devoted to expert readings and translations of texts from the Ḥanafī legal tradition. This workshop offers a forum for scholars to present original, source-based research and to critically engage with the genres, reasoning, and textual forms that have shaped Ḥanafī legal thought across time and space.
Conceived as a collaborative space for inquiry, the workshop will center on a curated set of Ḥanafī legal materials—including understudied texts and genres—with the goal of rethinking how Islamic legal authority, authorship, and textual transmission are constituted and interpreted. Alongside traditional close readings, we will explore the possibilities and limits of digital humanities tools for tracing patterns, structures, and trajectories within the fiqh tradition.
Selected papers from this workshop will also contribute to the concluding Hanafi Workshop of this series, to be held in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2027. In addition, they will be considered for inclusion in the planned collective volume, A Reader in Ḥanafī Legal Thought.
Submission Guidelines
Paper abstracts of no more than 500 words should be sent to Dr. Samy Ayoub (sayoub@utexas.edu) by Monday, December 1, 2025. Submissions are welcome from academics at all career stages, including tenured, pre-tenure, non-tenure-track faculty, fellows, visiting assistant professors, adjunct faculty, and graduate students.
Participants are expected to submit a draft paper focused on a primary Ḥanafī legal text by June 1, 2026 (see list below) with the following components:
A critical introduction to the selected text and its context.
A full English translation of the text or representative selections
A guided close reading section, to be presented and discussed at the workshop.
Possible Texts and Genres Include
Legal theory (uṣūl) treatises.
Positive law (furūʿ) texts and commentaries (ẓāhir al-riwāya and nādir al-riwāya collections).
Fatwa compilations; waqiʿāt/nawāzil literature.
Judicial procedure (adab al-qāḍī) and judge manuals (e.g., al-Fuṣūl, Jāmiʿ al-Fuṣūlayn).
Formal legal documents (maḥāḍir, sijillāt, ḥujjāt, waqfiyyāt, tamasūkāt, etc.).
Thematic legal texts (e.g., Aḥkām al-Nisāʾ, Aḥkām al-Ṣibyān, Aḥkām Ahl al-Dhimma, Kutub al-Awqāf).
Sultanic or bureaucratic-legal literature (e.g., al-Maʿrūḍāt, Qawānīn Āl-i ʿUthmān).
Legal disputation texts (kutub al-khilāf).
Codified legal texts such as the Mecelle.
Reading Process
This workshop adopts an interactive reading model to encourage active participation. The reading exercise is designed to share background information, introduce key terms, provide historical and legal context, and solicit audience feedback. This approach fosters collective engagement with the text and facilitates rigorous, erudite discussion. We suggest the following guiding questions:
Why this text?
How should it be understood?
What is its scholarly or pedagogical utility?
Logistics & Funding
The organizers will cover all local expenses, including accommodation, meals, in-city transportation in Amasya, and a meaningful cultural program. Limited funding will also be available to cover some travel costs for graduate students and selected participants unable to secure support from their home institutions.
Organizers (Alphabetically):
Samy Ayoub, PhD, University of Texas at Austin
Murteza Bedir, PhD, Director, Center of Islamic Studies (ISAM)
Serdar Kurnaz, PhD, Berlin Institute for Islamic Studies
Hasan Yerkazan, PhD, Amasya University