An Unbeliever Can Rule Dār al-Islām: Ḥanafī Law in the Wake of the Mongol Invasion

What is it about?

When the Mongols invaded the Middle East, they brought their own legal customs, the yasa, which appear to come into conflict with the Islamic legal customs practiced by most people under their rule. In particular, jurists grapple with the question of whether lands under the rule of unbelievers can still be counted as Islamic lands. Some scholars, notably Hanafi jurists, adapted their definition of what constitutes Islamic lands to allow for the possibility that a land ruled by unbelievers can still be considered as Islamic so long as Muslims have some religious freedom to practice their faith. This article then looks at Persian local history to get an idea of how Mongol rule looked like at the local level. It found that while Mongol customs were sometimes applied to Muslims who were in Mongol territories or at court, most Muslims were allowed to continue their observances as before.

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