Professor Lena Salaymeh

Professor Salaymeh is concurrently researching two projects. The first project focuses on the contemporary genre of revolutionary Islamic jurisprudence, which argues for or against revolution based on Islamic legal principles. ‘Revolutionary Islamic law’ emerged during and after recent Arab uprisings (2010 and afterwards). Building on her previous scholarship, this research critically analyses this genre’s legal rationales and depictions of Islamic history. The second project investigates decoloniality in specific forms of resistance. Despite challenging entrenched systems of colonial power, modern revolutionary movements often remain trapped within the oppressive framework of coloniality. (Coloniality is a universalising mode of thought that justifies colonialism.) Professor Salaymeh’s research identifies and explicates certain cases that destabilize both coloniality and colonialism. Although controversial and convoluted, these decolonial practices are more subversive than more common, anti-colonial practices.