1 April 2009
1 April 2009
The research group “Changes in God’s Law” is established at the Institute. The group, led by Nadjma Yassari, represents an expansion of the Institute’s Islamic countries law desk. Refugee and migration movements have sparked considerable interest in the law of Islamic countries. The group’s interdisciplinary team of researchers focuses on family and succession law. The group becomes a hub for scholarship and fields many inquiries from all branches of government, including the courts.
In 2009, the country desk for the law of Islamic nations is succeeded by the research group “Changes in God’s Law – An Inner-Islamic Comparison of Family and Succession Laws” under the leadership of Nadjma Yassari. The group comprises scholars from various disciplines, who conduct long-term research on Islamic law, comparing and analysing concepts from different Islamic countries, in search of connections between political structures and family and inheritance law.
In 2017, the research group “Changes in God’s Law” establishes an information portal on Syrian family law for lawyers, judges, and other officials. The portal is later expanded to include family law in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The group is also committed to sharing its expertise, serving as a point of contact for courts and government agencies confronting more and more cases involving the law of an Islamic country.
The creation of the “Changes in God’s Law” research group marked a special milestone, as only three such groups have been formed in the Institute’s 100-year history. The research-group model first appeared in 1975 with the inauguration of the “Social Science Research Group”, which combined lawyers and sociologists. It was migrated to the University of Bremen in 1982. Today, the Minerva Fast Track research group “Artificial Justice”, led by Katharina Isabel Schmidt, is exploring the possibilities and limitations of automated legal decisions.