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This training delves into Islamic conceptions of land and property rights, exploring their relevance in Muslim societies and how they can support housing rights. It discusses the gap between principles and practices and how Islamic principles can inform state policies and land discourse.
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TRAINING ON LAND, PROPERTY AND HOUSING RIGHTS IN THE MUSLIM WORLD UN-HABITAT 2009 ISLAMIC LAND FRAMEWORKSESSION 1
SESSION LEARNING OUTCOMES 1 Reflect uopn the focus on Islamic conceptions of land and property rights 2 Explore the rationale of engagement with Islamic dimension of land 3 Critically consider arguments in favour of foucusing uopon Islamic law and methodologies 4 Critically consider arguments against focus upon Islamic law and methodologies
OPENING THOUGHTS!!! 1. What experience do you have of Islamic principles? 2. Why do you think Islamic principles are relevant in Muslim societies? 3. How can Islamic principles support land, property and housing rights?
KEY CONCEPTS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW Private Property rights are protected, but ultimate ownership belongs to GOD Land, property and housing rights ZAKAT (charity obligation) and SADAQA(voluntary) Land rights
Construe forcible evictions Aid good governance and human rights Explicitly recognizes women’s property rights Subject to both consevative gender deprecating interpretation and cultural parctices Gap between principles and practices HOW CAN THE CONCEPTS BE USED?
development of a variety of innovative, anthentic land rights tools Demonstrates obligations of State to develop and implement policies Land and property falls within social transactions Underpin specific property rights WHY ARE THESE CONCEPTS RELEVANT?
Security of tenure vital for land rights Tenure through variety of ways Clarify the nature and scope of property rights and secure tenure and access to land Supplement the application of international standards and goals IS ISLAM RELEVANT TO SECURE TENURE??
Generally promote private property rights but emphasising the rights of the landless Requires all rights to be exercised Creat an egalitarian society within the Islamic leagal and ethical framework Clear foundational Islamic principles relating to land DOES ISLAM RECOGNIZE LAND RIGHTS?
HOW DOES ISLAM DISCUSS LAND ISSUES? Land is addressed in the larger context of socio-cultural and religious norms Eg. Land transactions, emphasis on mutual respect, honour and righteous conduct Islamic positive law encompasses two general categories
Is considered to be a complete way of life and peoperty. Impact to varying degrees on the lived experiences of Muslim. Inform State policies and land discourse. Distinctive Islamic approaches evident in the fields of land administration, land registration, urban planing, water policies and environmental protection. Aspects of Islamic principles may provide legitimacy and durable solutions through incorporating or at least considering authentic Islamic contributions. HOW ISLAM CAN BE STILL RELEVANT?
DO MUSLIMS HAVE DUTY TPWARDS POOR? 2 3 1 4 Zakat (literally purification) POOR Charitable obligations Monetary terms Payment
Islamic law and systems are based on the ethical dimension of the divine revelation. There are certan basic Islamic concepts or ‘ golden threads’ that embody the spirit of the Shari’a. GOLDEN THREADS HAQQ (concepts of rights) QIST (equity) ADL (justice) WHAT ARE THE “ GOLDEN THREADS”? Frequency in Qur’an: 15 times 13 times 227 times
Property rights lay stress on reposibility, poverty allevation and redistribution. Formulation based on unity (tawhid), stewardship (khalifa) and trust (amana) implies that land ownership and enjoyment must be just and responsible. Islamic doctrines envisage rights for including women, children, landless and minorities. Repeated Islamic emphasis on obligations regarding philanthropy, fairness and poverty allevation are influential in land rights argumentation. CAN ISLAM FACILITATE ACCESS TO LAND?
Islamic norms are those derived from certain divinely inspired principles through a particular methodology. Muslims parctices need not be Islamic, and therefore if certain Muslims abuse Islamic principles, this cannot be attributed to Islamic doctrines. MUSLIM = ISLAMIC?? • Muslims may be secular or adopt customary traditions, this may be in contrast (or compatible) to Islamic practices.
Elaborated in Islamic law Remedies for the individuals wrongly deprived of property by official action Such is the importance attached to property rights, that theft under Islamic law falls within the crimes which are severely punished. ARE PROPERTY RIGHTSPROTECTED BY ISLAM?
Land use is subject to equitable and redistributive principles. Qur’anic references to the effect that all of humanity benefits from nature’s resources. Charity breaking up land monopolies and large estates. Islamic property rights have redistributive element. DOES IT SUPPORT LAND REDISTRIBUTION?
Equitable and durable foundations to market-based access to land. Not a culturally isolated economic mechanism serving to equilibrate supply and demand a workable and socially acceptable market structure. WHAT RELEVANCE TO MARKET FORCES? MARKET FORCES Eg: Islamic economists address market equilibrium through permissible activities, responsibilities and ‘just market price’ (Prophet’s hadith)
Islam two major sects Shi’a Sunni (majority of muslims worldwide) Twelvers Ismailis Zaidis Hanafi Shafi’i Maliki Hanbali ARE THE PRINCIPLES SAME ALL OVER? The considerable variety owing to their specific historical and colonial context, the State ideology and the extent of Islamic law Main structure: Four main jurisprudent schools These schools were named after their leading jurists and each is the dominant authority in different parts of the world.
DOES ISLAMIC SCHOOLS MATTER? Important to know which Islamic school is prevalent in a particular country or community. Necessary to engage with Islamic law in a particular context. Eg, Hanafi, the most widespread of the four schools, is considered the flexible and open to innovative interpretations of its core doctrines.
India Hanafi Hanafi Maliki Practice vary Afghanistan ‘BEST PRACTICE’ approaches: cross fertilization and innovative approaches Toleration of divergence of opinion HOW DO THE SCHOOLS DIFFER? DIFFERENCES: • The methodology of patching (talfiq), by which jurists may give authorotative support to the compilation of a legal regulation from the views of more than one school of law, a method used in the creation of modern legal Codes.
FACTS: may result in wasteful land subdivisions in some cases, but it creates also opportunities for land readjustment and communal holdings. Communal or tribal lands were a feature of some Muslim countries. SOLUTIONS: MASHA SYSTEM involved a periodic reallocation of shares of arable land involved a periodic reallocation of shares of arable land DOES IT SUPPORT LAND READJUSTMENT?
Land management is seen as supervising land Mandated to administer land, efficiently and fairly No ideal Islamic State and Muslim States selectively adopt Islamic principles according to their interpretation. Often sought to derive legitimacy for their land reform measures DOES IT SUPPORT LAND REFORM
Case study: Ottoman land history SUPPORT FOR LAND ADMINISTRATION? SUPPORT FOR LAND ADMINISTRATION Cadastre and tax collction systems Islamic principles do not inhibit effective land administration systems. Land administration through an elaborate network of laws and guidelines The vastness of land requires local management
FACTS: Cadasre found in early Muslim history: Ottoman Torrens system or equivalent titling programmes in colonized Muslim countries EXAMPLES: Jordan, Algeria and Morocco: cadastral preparation activity from Yemen to Indonesia: extensive support for land titling projects attitudes vary but nothing frustrates these attempts SUPPORT FOR LAND ADMINISTRATION?
Difficult to generalise A need to improve land governance Land is seen as a currency of political patronage and corruption. Exploitative rent-seeking behaviour can flourish at the expense of the poor. WHAT ABOUT LAND GOVERNANCE?
Problems in land administration Miuse of power and corruption are repeatedly stressed in Islamic literature. Justice (adl) and cinsultation (shura), are influential. The influence of Islam is varied and may be less than sometimes assumed. WHAT ABOUT LAND GOVERNANCE?
poverty alleviation redistribution support of the landless fund access to land for the landless poor IS THERE SUPPORT FOR LANDLESS? Rights for landless poor, slum-dwellers and squatters could be addressed through public interest policy. Redistribution, revival or mewat (dead) lands or optimizing endowerment (waqf) lands. the public treasury (baitul-Maal)
Modern corporate institution Most parts of the Muslim world, now expanding and gaining a strong voice. Contemporary Islamic activism is keen to produce anthentic tools true to Islamic priciples and values Revival and invigoration of such institutions as the endowment (waqf) DOES CIVIL SOCIETY MATTER?
Considerable leeway on orienting land policy Not forseeing some challenges At a jurisprudential level LAND MANAGEMENT WHAT INPUTS INTO LAND MANAGEMENT? Traditional Islamic principles Personal reasoning (ijtihasd) Public interest (masalaha)
WHY PUBLIC INTEREST MATTERS? No rule of law can be violate any of these five essentials and the ultimate intent of the law Benefit of community Complements requirements categories Public interest (maslaha) A tangible benefit Embellishments The prservation of din (religion) Nafs (life) Aql (intellect) Nasl (progeny) Mal (property) Compatibility with Islamic law Essentials
Rapid urbanisation: a serious issue, similar to cities elsewhere. Relevance of Islamic planing permeate the planing debate, underpinning socio-religious dimensions. easy to romanticize the Islamic city Diverse modified over time Renewed interest in Islamic planing systems may or may not provide wholesome alternative paradigm but should be explored. IS THERE ISLAMIC URBAN PLANING?
Earth has to be exercised with care as a trusteeship (amana) Inviolable zones (al-har’ym) Large grants (iqta), special reserves (hima) as conservation zones Charitable endowments (awqaf) specific environmental or conservation purposes. IS ISLAM INTERESTED IN ENVIRONMENT?
Water shortage, disputes crtical in Muslim world Frequently mentioned in Qur’an WATER Questions of individual ownership over water water rights over individual lands bought and sold during the Ottoman period Land could be sold without water rights and vice versa. CAN WATER BE OWNED?
HOW DO SADAQA AND ZAKAT IMPACT? Islamic philanthropy is a vital factor in facilitating innovative pro-poor land policies. Zakat is one of the five pillars and obligations of Islam (which many countries have institutionalized) Sadaqa refers t vluntary, meritrius giving Landless are a categry priorities as beneficiaries
IS LAND FRAMEWORK GENDER SENSITIVE? In most parts, the Islamic framework for land facilitates gender sensitive approaches or has the potential tp do so Facilitate Resistant Diagram 2 Diagram 3 Gap Diagram 2 Diagram 3 Gap between theory and practice Aspects of the classical or consercative interpretation of Islamic system may be more resistant
Qur’an refers frequently to rights and justice. Strong socio-economic rights foundation which supports extensive land rights Some differences between classical Islamic conceptions and modern human rights. Possible and necessary to find areas of complementarily and covergence. IS ISLAMIC FRAMEWORK RIGHTS BASED?
