Blog 2: Decolonial Theory and Legal Studies, Prof Lena Salaymeh

After several teaching staff had asked Prof. Solanke on guidance about incorporating decolonial approaches to teaching law at the University of Oxford in the last Decolonising Law Discussion Group, I realised how much work there was yet to do and how the field of decolonising law is a fluid one marked by many questions. In contrast to that, Prof. Salaymeh, a Comparative Law scholar, adopts more stringent categories by distinguishing between ‘postcolonial’, ‘decolonising’, and ‘decolonial’. At the outset of her presentation, she asserts the difference between decolonial theory—a form of critique—and decoloniality—a practice and way of being. To clarify, she cites examples, such as Indigenous South American groups, highlighting their preference for decoloniality over decolonial theory.

What strikes me the most is that she suggests replacing the terminology ‘religion’ with ‘tradition’ and rejects the former as a colonial word that reduces traditions to categories. I recently attended a seminar on Islamic Law at Oxford University and hoped Prof. Salaymeh, was among the audience, ready to challenge the panellists who reduced tradition and indigenous jurisprudence to the colonial term ‘religion.’

Prof. Salaymeh, also asserts that coloniality produces a myth of modernity, influencing how scholars view the past, shaping historiography and tradition, confirming colonial superiority, and effectively contributing to different implications. Notably, her background as an Islamic Law scholar becomes evident when she emphasises the distinction between studying indigenous law, decolonising indigenous legal traditions, and engaging with decolonial theory.

Although it was an online meeting, Prof. Salaymeh, actively encouraged questions, which allowed individuals to intervene, interrupt and question the definitions she presented, contributing to the disruption of established legal traditions.

There seemed to be a strong interest from the participants in determining whether to situate Wael Hallaq as a decolonial or postcolonial scholar. Which left me wondering if the rest of the lecture attendees had equally strong opinions and a foundational knowledge of Hallaq’s writings on ijtihad[1] and reinterpretation in Islamic law, an essay I struggled to understand during my undergraduate years and quickly faded from my memory thereafter. Wael Hallaq’s work also deals a lot with post-orientalism.

Another thought-provoking question from the audience centred around a topic that had never crossed my mind before—whether Malta is a European colony.

Prof. Salaymeh also notes that human rights were procedurally articulated by the Global North and functionally instrumentalised to serve colonial objectives in the name of individual rights and sovereignty. Admittedly, I was surprised that neither participant had asked questions about the failures of human rights despite the most recent events in the Middle East which also touch upon topics mentioned by Edward Said, who she had referenced frequently.

The lecture is engaging and exciting; it jumps between slides and questions, offering hope for finding more ways to incorporate decolonial approaches to law. Nevertheless, Prof. Salaymeh’s observation that colonial institutions do not reward ‘real’ decolonial work and that most decolonial scholars are not situated in elite institutions in the Global North, leaves me wondering if relocating to attend a non-Western University such as the University of Haifa, the University of Witwatersrand and the American University of Beirut may be an extension of the colonial narrative we strive to reject here. Perhaps, as someone who grew up in the Global North, the unpacking to do, is right here in the middle of the societies that breed our frustrations and discontent.

[1] "Ijtihad" (اجتهاد( is an Arabic term used in Islamic jurisprudence. It refers to the independent reasoning or interpretation exercised by a qualified jurist or scholar to derive legal rulings from the primary sources of Islamic law (the Quran and the Hadith) when there is no clear precedent available.