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How to “Decolonize” Research on Islamic Legal History: Approaches, Strategies, and Reflections (Workshop vom 11. bis 12. Februar)

On February 11-12, 2026, the ERC-Advanced Grant project, “(De)colonizing Shari’a?” (DeCol), hosted its inaugural workshop event, “How to ‘Decolonize’ Research on non-European (Legal) History and Religion: Approaches and Reflection” at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Social and Cultural Studies (University of Erfurt). The event brought together 21 scholars across multiple disciplines to investigate the methodological challenges of studying law and religion in non-Western contexts. The workshop especially sought to identify the limitations of Eurocentric frameworks to these fields and to explore new pathways guided by postcolonial, decolonial, and other alternative approaches. 

Workshop participants were asked to present cases from their own legal research that considered the following questions: 

• How can we move beyond analytical paradigms embedded in European intellectual traditions? 
• How can we “provincialize” European knowledge production through rigorous analytic paradigms? 
• What other methodological approaches allow for a more inclusive study of legal history? 

Scholars focused on long-standing approaches to conceptual history, the epistemic challenges of translation, and the ongoing utility–or limitations–of the colonizer-colonized heuristics. Drawing on contexts ranging from China and India to Egypt and Palestine, participants leveraged their case studies to push beyond conventional Western disciplinary boundaries. 

The workshop comprised five thematic panels (see full program below) designed to sustain dialogue on these questions, respectively addressing: 

1. Conceptual history and translation
2. Conceptual history of religion
3. Islamic legal studies in colonial and post-colonial settings (2 panels)
4. Decolonizing global legal studies.

In their presentations, panelists embraced a variety of methodological approaches for addressing colonial and postcolonial legal history, particularly in relation to the themes of conceptual history, translation, and Islamic legal transformations: 

• Translation in non-Western contexts: Michael Riegner (University of Erfurt) proposed the notion of “thick translation,” whereby scholars reflectively and collaboratively produce cross-cultural legal translations. Similarly, Sandra Röseler (Max Planck Institute for Legal History) invoked the context of modern China to call for legal translation that accounts for social and institutional structures, not language alone. 
• Rethinking conceptual history: DeCol research associate Dilyara Agisheva elaborated the promises and pitfalls of conceptual history for non-Western legal studies through her research in 18th-century Crimea. Ghazaleh Faridzadeh (University of Vienna) likewise critiqued the notion of legal “reception” and called for the “reconstruction” of legal concepts in contexts like modern Iran. 
• Transformations in Islamic law: focusing on colonial-era Islamic law–the core topic of the DeCol project–Samy Ayoub (University of Texas) elaborated the theme of “creative destruction” as a metaphor for transformations of Islamic law in late-19th-century Egypt. Baudouin Dupret (CNRS/Sciences Po-Bordeaux) likewise argued for the concept of legal “positivization” as a key analytical lens in modern Islamic legal history. 

A final wrap-up session underscored the thematic axes of translation, conceptual history, and entangled spaces for future study alongside ongoing debates about the promises of post- and decolonial frameworks. 

Future events will build on these themes with specific attention to the project’s goal of tracing colonial-era Islamic legal thought and practice in the Middle East and North Africa. To that end, the project recently completed its call for papers for the conference, “Rupture and Continuity in Islamic Law,” to be held June 9-11, 2027 in Istanbul. Stay tuned for the program and further information!

Program