Publications
African Constitutionalism and the Role of Islam 
- Authors: Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im
- Projects:
- Law, Religion, and Human Rights
- Islamic Legal Studies
- Format: Book
- Published: 2006, University of Pennsylvania Press
- ISBN: 9780812239621
- 216 pages
According to the author, constitutionalism is succeeding in Africa incrementally through practice. The book examines the dynamic relationship of general principles of constitutionalism and experiences in realizing these principles in the local context of a range of African countries. It also explores the "contingent role of Islam," that competing understandings of Islam can either be supportive or detrimental to the development of constitutionalism in African Islamic societies, depending on a variety of factors. This thesis and analysis, as a specific example of the broader thesis of the book as a whole, is applied to the development of constitutionalism in Sudan, Nigeria, and Senegal. Sponsored by CSLR, the American Council of Learned Societies and the Emory University School of Law.
About the Author: Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na`im is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University. Prior to joining Emory in 1995, he was Executive Director of Human Rights Watch/Africa. In February 2009, An-Na`im received an Honorary Doctorate from the Universite catholique de Louvain (UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve) and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U. Leuven, Leuven), Belgium. He also serves as Global Legal Scholar at the Law School, University of Warwick, UK (until August 2010); and Extraordinary Professor at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (until December 2010). An-Na`im has published more than 60 articles and book chapters on human rights, constitutionalism, Islamic law and politics. As a 2009 Carnegie Scholar, he is working on a project entitled, “Enhancing Citizenship: American Muslims and American Secularism,” in which he is applying the thesis presented in his 2008 book, Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari`a. This book is available for download free of charge in eight languages of Islamic societies at (http://sharia.law.emory.edu).
Selected Publications by This Author
- "A Theory of Islam, State and Society" in New Directions in Islamic Thought: Exploring Reform and Muslim Tradition
- African Constitutionalism and the Role of Islam, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006

- "An Akan Perspective on Human Rights" in Human Rights in Africa: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, The Brookings Institution, 1990
- "Central Asia and the Caucasus" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
- "Civil Rights in the Islamic Constitutional Traditions: Shared Ideals and Divergent Regimes," The John Marshall Law Review, Vol. 25 (1992): 267-293
- "Competing Visions of History in Internal Islamic Discourse and Islamic-Western Dialogue" in Time and History: The Variety of Cultures
- Cultural Transformation and Human Rights in Africa, Zed Books, 2002
- "Cultural Transformation and Normative Consensus on the Best Interest of the Child," International Journal of Law and the Family, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1994): 62-81
- "East and Central Africa" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
- "Global Citizenship and Human Rights: From Muslims in Europe to European Muslims" in Religious Pluralism and Human Rights in Europe: Where to Draw the Line?
- "Globalization and Jurisprudence: An Islamic Perspective," Emory Law Journal, Vol. 54, No. Special Edition: 25-51

- "Horn of Africa" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
- Human Rights and Religious Values: An Uneasy Relationship?, Rodopi, 1995
- "Human Rights and the Imperative of Cross-Cultural Dialogue: An Islamic Perspective"
- Human Rights in Africa: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, The Brookings Institution, 1990
- "Human Rights in the Arab World: A Regional Perspective," Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 23 (2001): 701-732
- "Human Rights in the Muslim World: Socio-Political Conditions and Scriptural Imperatives - A Preliminary Inquiry," Harvard Human Rights Journal, Vol. 3 (1990): 13-52
- Inter-religious Marriages Among Muslims: Negotiating Religious and Social Identity in Family and Community, Global Media Publications, 2005

- "Interreligious Marriage: Three Muslim Case Studies," March 28, 2003
- "Introduction" in Human Rights in Africa: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, The Brookings Institution, 1990
- "Introduction" in Inter-religious Marriages Among Muslims: Negotiating Religious and Social Identity in Family and Community, Global Media Publications, 2005
- "Introduction" in Cultural Transformation and Human Rights in Africa, Zed Books, 2002
- "Introduction" in Cultural Transformation and Human Rights in Africa, Zed Books, 2002
- "Introduction" in Proselytization and Communal Self-Determination in Africa, Orbis Books, 1999
- Islam and Human Rights: Advocacy for Social Change in Local Contexts, Global Media Publications, 2006

- Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari`a, Harvard University Press, 2008

- "Islamic Ambivalence to Political Violence: Islamic Law and International Terrorism," German Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 31 (1988): 307-336
- Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
- "Islamic Foundations of Religious Human Rights" in Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Religious Perspectives, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1996
- "Middle East" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
- Misrepresenting Islam
- "North Africa" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
- "Problems of Universal Cultural Legitimacy for Human Rights" in Human Rights in Africa: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, The Brookings Institution, 1990
- Proselytization and Communal Self-Determination in Africa, Orbis Books, 1999
"Q & A with the Experts: Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im"- "Religion and Global Civil Society: Inherent Incompatibility of Synergy and Interdependence?" in Global Civil Society
- "Shari'a and Islamic Family Law: Transition and Transformation" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
- "Shari'a in the Secular State: A Paradox of Separation and Conflation" in The Law Applied: Contextualizing the Islamic Shari'a
- "South Asia" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
- "Southeast Asia" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, , 2002
- "Southern Africa" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
- "State Responsibility Under International Human Rights Law to Change Religious and Customary Law" in Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives, 1994
- "The 'Law of Morality' of Human Rights in Islamic Societies," October 26, 2007
- "The Contingent Universality of Human Rights: The Case of Freedom of Expression in African and Islamic Contexts," Emory International Law Review, Vol. 11 (1997): 29-66
- "The Future of Shari'a: Secularism from an Islamic Perspective," January 29, 2007
- "The Future of Shari'ah and the Debate in Northern Nigeria" in Comparative Perspectives on Shari'ah in Nigeria
- "The Incremental Success of African Constitutionalism and the Challenges of Consolidation and Maturity" in Derechos Humanos, Relaciones Internacionales y Globalizacion
- "The Interdependence of Religion, Secularism, and Human Rights," Common Knowledge, Vol. 11, No. 1 (2005): 56-80

- "The Politics of Religion and Morality of Globalization" in Religion and Global Civil Society, 2005
- "Toward an Islamic Hermeneutics for Human Rights" in Human Rights and Religious Values: An Uneasy Relationship?, Rodopi, 1995
- Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and International Law, Syracuse University Press, 1990
- "Universality of Human Rights: An Islamic Perspective" in Japan and International Law: Past, Present and Future
- "West Africa" in Islamic Family Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book, Zed Books, 2002
Other Resources
Lectures Transcripts
Webcasts
- Silver Anniversary: The Future of Law, Religion, and Human Rights, October 26, 2007
Electronic Catalogs
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Inter-religious Marriages Among Muslims: Negotiating Religious and Social Identity in Family and Community
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