Sharia Law and International Commercial Arbitration: The Need for an Intra-Islamic Arbitral Institution

Authors

George Khoukaz

Abstract

The goal of this Comment is to address the relationship between Middle-Eastern Islamic countries with the rest of the world from an international commercial arbitration perspective. To do that, we will first briefly address the historic sectarian divide between the two main sects in Islam—Sunna and Shia—which will allow the reader to gain a better understanding of the theoretical differences within Islam, resulting in different legal systems and competing political interests. Section II will also briefly address the modern history of both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran) because these two countries are currently the powerhouses of both Sunni and Shia Islam, respectively, and are considered as the torchbearer of the Sunni and Shia causes. Section III will highlight the differences between the Islamic conceptualization and understanding of commercial arbitration versus the current, Western-based system of transnational commercial arbitration. Section IV will address the proposal of developing a homogeneous intra-Islamic transnational commercial arbitration structure which will serve as the first step in the process of bringing Islamic Middle-Eastern States into the international commercial arbitration (ICA) system.

Recommended Citation

George Khoukaz, Sharia Law and International Commercial Arbitration: The Need for an Intra-Islamic Arbitral Institution, 2017 J. Disp. Resol. (2017)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/jdr/vol2017/iss1/14