News & Events

On 2 July 2025, the BILQIS research team presented a panel at the BRISMES Annual Conference in Newcastle, UK, titled Reimagining Muslim Women’s Access to Justice: The Past and Present of Islamic Family Laws in Europe in Transnational Perspective. Chaired by Professor Roja Fazaeli, the panel featured research from across the BILQIS project, highlighting how Muslim women engage with Islamic family law in both historical and contemporary contexts.

Dr Nazife Kosukoglu examined a legal transformation in early 20th-century Thessaloniki, where sharia courts began allowing full testamentary freedom, enabling women to inherit the entirety of their husbands’ estate. Drawing on court records and women’s periodicals, her paper explored how this shift emerged from grassroots change and intersected with broader socio-economic and cultural dynamics in a Mediterranean port city.

Dr Maria Kokkinou presented on Western Thrace, Greece, where Islamic family law continues to apply to the Muslim minority. Her analysis focused on how Muslim women navigate overlapping religious and civil legal systems, revealing the everyday negotiations and contestations that shape their pursuit of justice.

Dr Tiba Bonyad explored how Afghan and Iranian women in Sweden respond to the tensions between their Islamic ethical commitments and the secular frameworks of a multicultural welfare state. Her paper highlighted the strategies women adopt to manage family life, religious practice, and legal uncertainty.

Dr Joel Hanisek analysed the production and reception of fatwas in contemporary Europe, examining how they shape Muslim socio-religious practice in relation to national legal and policy environments. His paper traced how fatwas address issues of authority, integration, and adaptation in Muslim family life.

You can find the conference program here.