Dr. jur. Raja Sakrani
Senior Researcher - Scientific Coordinator
Raja Sakrani is a jurist and a cultural science scholar. Currently, she is a senior researcher, responsible for scientific coordination at the European´s Horizon research project: “Judicial Cultures of Independence and Their Meaning for the Rule of Law Compliance: Law in Crisis”, at the university of Bonn. Since 2009 until 2022, she has been scientific coordinator at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Advanced Study “Law as Culture” (Bonn) in the development and shaping of which she has been involved from the project planning stage, via fund-raising to implementation.
Her research focuses on the conceptualization of law and normativity for comparative purposes within European legal systems, but also in relation to Islamic legal normativities. Her investigations dedicated to the history of Islamic Law and the reciprocal presence of Islamic traditions in Europe, seek to grasp how the “Other” is treated in a complicated normative situation. The understanding of this complexity is achieved through her studies trying to cross the characteristic phenomena of Islamic legal cultures: from the religious socialization of Muslims in Europe, to the legal and extra-legal modalities of conflict resolution, passing through the discourses on narrative memories and crossed collective identities. At the same time she continues to observe and analyze the development of human rights in the Muslim world, especially the situation of women and minorities.
Since 2020, she is member of PLURIEL – International Academic Research Network on Islam. She was the co-director of the international and interdisciplinary research project “Convivencia” at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History at Frankfurt (2015-2018). She has conducted research and teaching activities at the Universities of Paris (Sorbonne), Bonn, Basel, New York University, Madrid, Tunis, the International Institute of Legal Sociology in Oñati (IISL) and others.
Dr. jur. Raja Sakrani
1.005
Adenauerallee 131
53113 Bonn
Akademisches Profil
- Member of the interdisciplinary and international research group “Artificial Intelligence and Interreligious Dialogue: Humanities and Technologies for Lasting Peace”. Partners: Institut d’études religieuses – Université de Montréal (études comparées des religions abrahamiques) ; MILA – Montréal Institute for Learning Algorithms; TRENDS Research & Advisory, Abu Dhabi ; Mohammed Bin Zayed University (Humanities) - Abu Dhabi ; IDEO - L’Institut dominicain d’études orientales (Cairo) ; PLURIEL – The International Academic Reserach Network on Islam ; Lyon Catholic University ; Research Center REDESM of the University of Insubria (Como-Varese).
- July 2025: Invited Professor at the Summer School dedicated to the question of „Citizenship and religious pluralism“ as part of the Anawati Chair at IDEO (Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies), Cairo.
- Member of PLURIEL – The International Academic Reserach Network on Islam.
- “Visiting Professor, Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Mai 2024 and January 2025.
- 2021 / 2023: Visiting Professor at Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law (Spain) – Course title: “Islamic Legal Cultures and Accommodation of Islam in Europe”. The first course on Islamic civilization and legal cultures at the IISL – Oñati.
- Winter Semester 2018: Visiting Professor for Religious Studies, New York University Abu Dhabi/Madrid: “Convivencia: A Model for Living Together?”.
- 2015-2018: Coordination of the research group “Convivencia: Iberian to Global Dynamics, 500-1750” together with Thomas Duve at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt; (joint project by the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale).
- 2015-2018: Associate Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt.
- September 2014: Research stay at Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt an Main.
- From December 2012 to July 2015: Project Director of Academic Programs at the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities “Law as Culture”, Bonn.
- Since 2010: Scientific Coordinator at the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities “Law as Culture”, Bonn; decisive involvement in the Center’s development and structure from project planning to fundraising to implementation.
- Since 2010: Member of the DAAD Selection Committee for the post-doctoral stipend program for students with a doctoral degree in the humanities and/or social sciences at Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (Paris).
- 2009-2010: Fellow at the Collegium Helveticum/Zentrum für Religion, Wirtschaft und Politik, Basel (interdisciplinary research group working on the subject “Legitimacy and Religion”).
- 2007-2009: Visiting Lecturer at the Institute for Political Science and Sociology at the University of Bonn (together with Prof. Dr. Werner Gephart) on the basic elements of Islamic law, particularly in regard to a critical image of the tendency of commingling law and religion as instructed by Max Weber.
- 2004-2006: Researcher and Teaching Assistant at Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) - courses on French Civil Law: droit des contrats; introduction au droit; droits des societies.
- 2001: Conducted research at the diplomatic archives in Nantes (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CADN) Research focused on how the colonial authorities applied Islamic law in colonial codifications in the Maghreb.
- 2000-2001: Conducted research at the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Quai d’Orsay, Paris.
- 1998-1999: Conducted research at the National Archives of Tunisia (the aim of the research was to find and analyze the Islamic legal texts used as a source both for Islamic legal compilations of the 19th century and for colonial codifications).
- Member of the interdisciplinary and international research group “Artificial Intelligence and Interreligious Dialogue: Humanities and Technologies for Lasting Peace”. Partners: Institut d’études religieuses – Université de Montréal (études comparées des religions abrahamiques) ; MILA – Montréal Institute for Learning Algorithms; TRENDS Research & Advisory, Abu Dhabi ; Mohammed Bin Zayed University (Humanities) - Abu Dhabi ; IDEO - L’Institut dominicain d’études orientales (Cairo) ; PLURIEL – The International Academic Reserach Network on Islam ; Lyon Catholic University ; Research Center REDESM of the University of Insubria (Como-Varese).
- 2020: Member of PLURIE: The International Academic Reserach Network on Islam.
- 2017: Evaluator for American Journal of Legal History.
- Since October 2014: Member of the Scientific Council of the Observatoire Tunisien de la Transition Démocratique (OTTD), Tunis.
- 2013: Evaluator for the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research). German-funded Tunisian and Egyptian research projects in support of democratic transitions after the Arab revolutions.
- 2012: Rapporteur for the Revue Droit & Société.
- 2008: Clemens Heller Post-Doctoral Stipend from the Foundation Maison des Sciences de l´Homme (FMSH) and Thyssen Foundation.
- 2007 : Grant from the Annemarie Schimmel Foundation for the publication of the book Au croisement des cultures de droit occidentale et musulmane: Le pluralisme juridique dans le Code tunisien des Obligations et des Contrats (2009).
- 2006-2008: Member of GRIC (groupe de recherches islamo-chrétien – Paris Group).
- 2004: Prize for best thesis awarded by the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II).
- Since 2003: Member of the Société de Legislation Comparée, Paris.
- Stipend from the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main (August 2003)
- Stipend from the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, Frankfurt am Main, 2001. Research focused on the pandectists, 19th Century German legal doctrine, and codification of the Bundesgesetzgebung.
- Justice in Islamic Discourse, in : Werner Gephart (ed.): Discourses of Justice. Indicators of Crises ? Émile Durkheim Research Center, Frankfurt am Main, Vittorio Klostermann, 2026 pp. 253-272.
- L´Autre/autre dans la civilisation islamique: entre l´immanence des cultures et la transcendance divine, in: Islam & Altérités - Actes du congrès de Beyrouth 23-27 mai 2021, Dar al-Machreq, Beyrout, 2024, pp. 15-46.
- The Islamic Umma between Inclusion and Exlusion of the Other, in: Communities und the(ir) Law, Witte, Daniel & Gephart werner (ed.), Vol. Law as Culture, Frankfurt am Main, Vittorio Klostermann, 2023, pp. 181-200.
- Images of the Other in Islam: Is there an Islamic Mimetism? in: Wandinger, Nikolaus / Regensburger, Dietmar (ed.): Imagining the Other: Mimetic Theory, Migration, Exclusionary Politics, and the Ambiguous Other, Innsbruck, 2023, pp. 7-29.
- Rechtskulturkonflikte mit dem islamischen Recht: Die Herausbildung von Konfliktlösungsmustern in Deutschland, Frankreich und Großbritannien, in: Collin, Peter (ed.): Konfliktlösung in 19. Und 20. Jahrhundert, Band. 4– Handbuch zur Geschichte der Konfliktlösung in Europa. David von Mayenburg (Gesamtherausgeber), Springer, 2021, pp. 349-359.
- Schura, Islamisch, in: Lexikon für Kirchen- und Religionsrecht LKRR Hellermann, Heribert / Meckel, Thomas / Droege, Michael / de Wall, Heinrich (Hrsg.): Brill 2021, Bd. 4., pp. 124-127.
- Verfassungsrecht, Islamisch, in: Lexikon für Kirchen- und Religionsrecht LKRR Hellermann, Heribert / Meckel, Thomas / Droege, Michael / de Wall, Heinrich (Hrsg.): Brill 2021, Bd. 4., pp. 585-587.
- Elements of Religious Socialization in Islamic Cultures. How to be a “good” Muslin in Europe, in: Welker, Michael / Witte, John /Pickard, Stephan (eds.): The Impact of Religion on Character Formation, Ethical Education and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Pluralistic Societies, Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2020, pp. 123-146.
- Religious Co-narration of Corona, in: Gephart, Werner (ed.): The Corona Crisis in Light of the Law-as-Culture Paradigm, Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 2020, pp. 233-239.
- The Aesthetics of Convivencia: Visualizing a Mode of Living Together in al-Andalus, in: C. Delage, Christian/Goodrich, Peter/Wan, Marco (eds.), Law and New Media. West of Everything, Edinburgh University Press 2019, pp. 31-55.
- Thomas Duve / Raja Sakrani: Introduction: Convivencia(s), in : Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History 26/2018,pp. 92-94, http://rg.rg.mpg.de/de/Rg26
- The Ḏhimmī as the Other of Multiple Convivencias in al-Andalus. Protection, Tolerance and Domination in Islamic Law, in: Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History 26/2018, S. 95-138, http://rg.rg.mpg.de/de/Rg26
- Cultures de droit judaïque et islamique : Un regard durkheimien, in : Werner Gephart and Daniel Witte (eds.), The Sacred and the Law : The Durkheimian Legacy, Frankfurt am Main 2017, S. 93-112.
- Convivencia: Reflections about its ‚Kulturbedeutung‘ and Rereading the Normative Histories of Living Together, Max Planck Institute for European Legal History Research Paper Series No. 2016-02.
- Identité et Religion. Ce que fait la foi dans la ‚communauté‘ (Gemeinsamkeitsglaube) dans le monde arabe, in: X. Philippe/N. Danelciuc-Colodrovschi (eds.): Religions et Transitions. Quels défis après les révolutions arabes?, LGDJ, Institut Universitaire Varenne, coll. Transition & Justice, vol. 4, 2015, S. 23-35.
- From the Revolutionary ‚Sacred‘ to Transitional Justice: How is Sharia referenced?, in: Rechtskulturen im Übergang/ Legal Cultures in Transition. Werner Gephart/ Raja Sakrani/ Jenny Hellmann (Hrsg.), Frankfurt am Main 2015, S. 185-199.
- Raja Sakrani / Werner Gephart: Revolution, Law and the transition towards a democratic society in Tunisia: several ethnographic observations, in: Rechtskulturen im Übergang/ Legal Cultures in Transition. Werner Gephart/ Raja Sakrani/ Jenny Hellmann (Hrsg.), Frankfurt am Main 2015, S. 15-29.
- Je suis français, je suis juif, je suis musulman. Je suis Charlie. On the trail of Convivencia, Kommentar zu den aktuellen Ereignissen in Frankreich, Januar 2015, http://www.recht-als-kultur.de/de/aktuelles/diskurs/January%20Seven/
- The Law of the Other. An unknown Islamic chapter in the legal history of Europe, in: Rechtsgeschichte 22/2014, S. 90-119.
- Rezension zu Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron et Baudouin Dupret: Ordre public et droit musulman de la famille en Europe et en Afrique du Nord, in: Droit et Société 87, 2014, S. 514-518.
- Religion als Legitimation einer Geltungskultur? Islamische Rechtskulturen in Europa im Wandel, in: Religions - Politik I. Alexander Heit und Georg Pfleiderer (Hrsg.), Nomos Verlag, Zürich, 2013, S. 375 - 426.
- Die Präsenz islamischer Traditionen im öffentlichen Raum. Widerstreitende Konzepte von ‚privatem‘ und ‚öffentlichem‘ Raum, in: Religions - Politik II. Zur pluralistischen Religionskultur in Europa. Alexander Heit und Georg Pfleiderer (Hrsg.), Nomos Verlag, Zürich, 2012, S. 187-226.
- Das Verbot von Zinsnahme und Risikogeschäften. Theorie und Praxis islamischer Finanzethik, in: Wirtschaftsethik Kontrovers. Positionen aus Theorie und Praxis. Georg Pfleiderer und Peter Seele (Hrsg.), Nomos Verlag, Zürich, 2012, S. 181-195.
- Raja Sakrani/Werner Gephart: ‚Recht‘ und ‚Geltungskultur’. Zur Präsenz islamischen Rechts in Deutschland und Frankreich“, in: Rechtsanalyse als Kulturforschung. Werner Gephart (Hrsg.), Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main, 2012, S. 103-137.
- Des ordres normatifs fragmentés à l´hybridité juridique: le cas du Maghreb colonial, in: Rechtsanalyse als Kulturforschung. Werner Gephart (Hrsg.), Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main, 2012, S. 231-265.
- Religion und Recht im Islam. Historisch-komparative Zugänge im Lichte der Weberschen Rechtssoziologie, in: Die politische Aufgabe von Religion. Perspektiven der drei monotheistischen Religionen. Herausgegeben von Irene Dingel und Christiane Tietz, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2011, S. 91-101.
- Au croisement des cultures de droit occidentale et musulmane: Le pluralisme juridique dans le Code tunisien des Obligations et des Contrats (321p.). Das Buch wurde durch die Annemarie-Schimmel-Stiftung gefördert und ist in der Schriftenreihe des Instituts für Orient- und Asienwissenschaften der Universität Bonn unter Leitung von Professor Stephan Conermann erschienen: Bonner Islamstudien (BIS) – EB-Verlag, Hamburg, 2009.
- Le jeu d’échange inter-normatifs. Droit, Morale et Religion dans les cultures de droit occidentales et musulmanes, in: RRJ (Revue de la recherche juridique Droit prospectif) 2008 – Nr.4.
- Codifier la morale? La morale dans les codes civils français et tunisien, in: RIDC (Revue Internationale de Législation Comparée) 2008 – Nr. 2, S. 461-485.