Salma Waheedi, Clinical Instructor and Lecturer on Law at the International Human Rights Clinic and Associate Director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program: Law and Social Change, has co-authored a book chapter with Kristen A. Stilt, Professor of Law and Director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program, that appeared in the recently-published volume Comparative Judicial Review, edited by Erin F. Delaney and Rosalind Dixon. The chapter, titled “Judicial Review in the Context of Constitutional Islam,” identifies and examines different models of judicial review in countries with constitutional Islam clauses.

The chapter begins by providing a brief background to Islamic law and constitutional design. The authors develop a classificatory scheme that outlines the different institutional design models for constitutional interpretation in Muslim countries.  These include a secular model, an Islamic model, and a hybrid model, with different countries falling along a spectrum of variations. The authors consider several case studies, including Kuwait and Egypt for the secular model, Iran and Saudi Arabia for the Islamic model, and Malaysia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan for the hybrid model. The chapter concludes by highlighting ways in which the political context and certain choices in constitutional drafting can foster one system or another along the spectrum.