Saudi Arabia and the Global Trajectory of Islamic Law

This seminar was delivered at the Middle East Centre on Thursday 5 February 2026 by Dr Dominik Krell (Wolfson College), and was chaired by Professor Pascal Menoret (Magdalen College). This talk explores how Saudi legal thought is shaping the ways in which Islamic law is applied by Islamic courts beyond the Arabian Peninsula. Since the 1960s, Saudi Arabia has made significant efforts to promote a distinct Saudi understanding of Islam globally, mainly through international students at Saudi universities such as the Islamic University of Medina. Dr Krell examines how this understanding of Islamic law has influenced Islamic courts in two contrasting contexts: The Gambia and Sri Lanka, two countries with a similar number of graduates from Saudi universities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with Islamic judges and scholars in both countries, the talk looks beyond simple depictions of “Salafisation” or “Wahhabisation”. It explores both the reasons for, and the consequences of, the differing receptions of Saudi ideas in court practice, and the implications this has for everyday Islamic adjudication in local settings.

You can listen to Saudi Arabia and the Global Trajectory of Islamic Law online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Saudi Arabia and the Global Trajectory of Islamic Law is an episode from Middle East Centre by Oxford University.

This episode is 56:27 long.

This episode was published on Feb 18, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Middle East Centre when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.