Dr. Asifa Quraishi-Landes: 2014 Wisconsin Festival of Ideas: A Background on Islamic Law and Constitutionalism

Dr. Asifa Quraishi-Landes: 2014 Wisconsin Festival of Ideas: A Background on Islamic Law and Constitutionalism
The Go Big Read book this year, “I Am Malala”, focuses on a religion and region of the world that many readers will be unfamiliar with, however throughout this fall we will be providing resources for readers to gain a deeper understanding of the themes and background of the book. The first resource is from Dr. Asifa Quraishi-Landes, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin who specializes in comparative Islamic and U.S.constitutional law. Asifa presented in the Distinguished Lecture Series at the 2014 Wisconsin Festival of Ideas on her current work and shared a background of what Islamic Constitutionalism means. Asifa provided definitions and the background of terms that we hear often in the media today, such as sharia, itjihad, and fiqh.Asifa has served as a public delegate on the United States Delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the Task Force on Religion and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy for the
Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and as advisor to the Pew Task Force
on Religion & Public Life. You can find out more about Asifa, including her publications, educational background, and interests here: http://law.wisc.edu/profiles/aquraishi@wisc.edu