The UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law (JINEL) is published once a year. As the first law school journal in the West dealing with this topic, JINEL’s goal is to emphasize and critically analyze all legal issues--social, political, civil, historical, economic, and commercial--that are of particular relevance to Muslims and Near Easterners in both Muslim and non-Muslim societies. Thus:

• We will present issues relating to the laws of the Near East and their effects on the people and countries of the region and worldwide;
• We will present issues relating to the theoretical aspects of Islamic law and jurisprudence, and its application;
• We will discuss laws as they have affected the people of the Near East outside the region.

Because the Near East is not a static geographical region, JINEL has adopted the broad policy of looking at each submission on a case-by-case basis and within the context of history to determine its relevance. Areas of traditional study (e.g., the Arabian Peninsula, the Iranian Plateau) will of course be included, yet we will not overlook areas of study that have had a significant impact on, and been acculturated in one way or another into the region (e.g., North Africa and Central and South Asia).