Over four days, 27–30 May 2013, Habitat International Coalition participated in a regional “Learning Event on Housing Land and Property Rights in the Muslim World,” organized by UN Habitat’s Global Land Tools Network and the International Islamic University of Malaysia.

The learning event aimed to developing capacity on Islamic principles of land and property rights, focusing on the principles and rules of Islamic Shari’a. These principles were discussed in relation to their affect on land management systems and security of tenure world and housing and land issues, specifically, women’s rights in housing land tenure in various parts of the Muslim world.

HIC-HLRN Middle East/North Africa Members and officers participated actively in discussions by sharing experiences and findings related to the existing land practices in the Arab and Asian countries to protect vulnerable and marginalized groups, as well as women in Islamic inheritance systems and practices. One of the principal issues of the learning event was the access to land by impoverished communities in the context of Islamic land tenures and reform. The learning event also coincided with the launch of the Arabic version of the book “Land, Law and Islam: Property and Human Rights in the Muslim World” by Siraj Sait and Hilary Lim (Zed Press, 2006).

[Download English version]

Siraj Sait, Hilary Lim - Land, Law and Islam: Property and Human Rights in the Muslim World

[Download Arabic version]

سيراج سعيت وهيلاري ليم - أرض، وقانون الإسلام: عقارات وحقوق الإنسان في العالم الإسلامي