About the Report

This report is part of the United States Institute of Peace’s 

(USIP) ongoing effort to understand the pluralist legal system 

of Afghanistan. It examines, compares, and contrasts Islamic 

law with traditional forms of justice in an attempt to elucidate 

how such rule of law approaches interact as well as provide a 

fuller understanding of each system to better guide rule 

of law practice, policy, and change.

About the Author

Hamid Khan is the deputy director of the Rule of Law 

Collaborative at the University of South Carolina. He previously 

served as a senior rule of law program officer with the Center 

for Governance, Law, and Society at USIP and formerly was a 

professorial lecturer in Islamic law at the George 

Washington University Law School.

2301 Constitution Ave., NW • Washington, DC 20037 • 202.457.1700 • fax 202.429.6063

Special Report 363 March 2015

© 2015 by the United States Institute of Peace. 

All rights reserved.

Contents

A Tale of Two Laws: 8

Pashtunwali and Islamic Law 2

The Afghan Informal System of Justice 8

and the Role of Religious Leadership 6

An Agenda for Change: The Persistence 8

of Practices Inimical to Islamic Law 10

Hamid M. Khan

UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE www.usip.org

SPECIAL REPORT

Summary

• Afghanistan’s legal system has drawn on a mix of customary tribal law, primarily derived 

from the Pashtun community’s code of Pashtunwali and Islamic legal traditions valued for 

their universal and unifying characteristics.

• Despite popular conceptions that Islamic law holds a supreme legal status, field surveys 

indicate that in practice, its provisions are often disregarded in favor of customary law 

intended to maintain community consensus. This consensus is often not between equals 

but is shaped by the relative authority of the persons resolving the dispute.

• A particular concerning outcome is the marginalization of Afghan women, despite Islamic 

legal precepts that enshrine them with individual rights, particularly in matters of family, 

inheritance, and marriage law that are not extended under Pashtunwali.

• A significant number of survey respondents voiced concerns about the credibility of Islamic 

religious scholars (ulama) participating in resolving disputes at the informal level, citing 

poor levels of training in Islamic legal precepts and concerns over their neutrality. 

• Despite this finding, informal justice actors nonetheless expressed openness to overturning prevailing customary law and signaled their willingness to take a more Islamic legal 

approach to resolving disputes if they were educated by the particulars of Islamic law, 

especially as it pertained to women and understanding gender-related norms.

• Ultimately, religious leaders are in a unique position of wielding a supreme measure of 

authority on issues related to law and morality and can potentially play a role in pushing for 

legal reforms.

Introduction

Securing a stable Afghanistan underpinned by the rule of law has proven exceedingly difficult despite the international community’s avowed consensus of its fundamental importance. 

The rule of law can act not only as an antidote to extremism and violent conflict but also as 

Islamic Law, Customary 

Law, and Afghan Informal 

Justice
2 USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363

a desirable end in and of itself. Afghanistan’s legal system has been shaped by its culture, 

multiethnic and socially diverse population, and long history. That system has historically 

drawn on two primary sources of law: customary tribal law and Islamic law. Afghanistan is 

a highly segmented society, historically split along tribal and clan lines and more recently 

among rival political parties and armed fighting groups. Yet it is also overwhelmingly Muslim. Islam has long served the spiritual needs of Afghans for fourteen centuries and has 

historically been a unifying force and source of law for an otherwise disparate population. 

The current formal legal system aims to blend the customary and Islamic legal traditions within a constitutional order defined by civil codes and formal courts. Yet it struggles 

to establish a firm footing in administering and enforcing these laws, despite more than 

a decade of effort. An overwhelming number of disputes in Afghanistan are still decided 

within the country’s informal system of justice.1

To obtain a clearer sense of how informal justice systems operate within Afghanistan, this 

study widens the aperture of past analysis to decipher the role of Islamic law, and more concretely, the role of the ulama or Islamic religious leaders in the adjudication of disputes within 

the informal justice system. Beginning in 2011, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), in partnership with the Afghanistan-based Peace Training and Research Organization (PTRO), commissioned the first study of its kind to examine the way in which Islamic law affects, influences, 

and determines outcomes within the Afghan informal justice system, particularly emphasizing 

gender-related issues. The multiprovince survey, conducted in Paktia and Takhar, interviewed 

various formal and informal actors, including litigants and their families, as well as informal 

justice leaders, local officials, and ulama members, the long recognized scholars of Islamic law. 

The survey particularly emphasized the convergence of customary and Islamic legal doctrines, confirming a common perception that even as Islamic law is regarded as supreme, its 

superlative standing has only limited weight in Afghan informal justice decisions, particularly in matters involving the family. Instead, Islamic laws are often suborned by prevalent 

customary tribal norms, which are themselves assumed to conform with Islamic law. Despite 

this, informal justice actors nonetheless expressed openness to overturning prevailing customary law and signaled their willingness to take a more Islamic legal approach to resolving 

disputes if they were educated in the particulars of Islamic law, especially as they pertained 

to women and understanding gender-related norms.

A Tale of Two Laws: Pashtunwali and Islamic Law

Pashtunwali Examined

99 percent of our decisions are according to Pashtunwali, because we have to make 

decisions according to our custom and tradition.

—54-year-old informal justice leader, Gardez, Afghanistan

For purposes of both brevity and clarity, this report’s analysis of Afghan customary law centers on the practices of the Pashtun people. This focus excludes many customary practices 

within Afghanistan’s diverse ethnic mosaic, but it is warranted because Pashtuns represent 

the single largest ethnicity in the country and have had an important influence on Afghanistan’s political, legal, and administrative history. Pashtuns inhabit parts of contemporary 

Afghanistan and Pakistan, with a number of them spread throughout parts of Central and 

South Asia since the first and second millennia before the common era—well before the 

advent of Islam. Today, though a precise number is difficult to pinpoint, between 40 and 60 

percent of the current Afghan population identifies as Pashtun.2 They are the single largest 

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily 

reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace, 

which does not advocate specific policy positions.

To request permission to photocopy or reprint materials, 

e-mail: permissions@usip.org

About the Institute

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, 

nonpartisan institution established and funded by Congress. 

Its goals are to help prevent and resolve violent conflicts, 

promote postconflict peacebuilding, and increase conflict 

management tools, capacity, and intellectual capital 

worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering others 

with knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by its direct 

involvement in conflict zones around the globe.

Board of Directors

Stephen J. Hadley, (Chair), Principal, RiceHadleyGates, LLC, 

Washington, DC • George E. Moose (Vice Chair), Adjunct 

Professor of Practice, The George Washington University, Washington, DC • Judy Ansley, Former Assistant to the President and 

Deputy National Security Advisor under George W. Bush, Washington, DC • Eric Edelman, Hertog Distinguished Practitioner 

in Residence, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International 

Studies, Washington, DC • Joseph Eldridge, University Chaplain 

and Senior Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, School of International 

Service, American University, Washington, DC • Kerry Kennedy, 

President, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human 

Rights, Washington, DC • Ikram U. Khan, President, Quality Care 

Consultants, LLC., Las Vegas, NV • Stephen D. Krasner, Graham 

H. Stuart Professor of International Relations at Stanford 

University, Palo Alto, CA • John A. Lancaster, Former Executive 

Director, International Council on Independent Living, Potsdam, 

NY • Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor of Law, George Mason 

University, Fairfax, VA • J. Robinson West, Chairman, PFC 

Energy, Washington, DC • Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice 

President, Leadership Conference on Civil and 

Human Rights, Washington, DC 

Members Ex Officio

John Kerry, Secretary of State • Ashton Carter, Secretary of 

Defense • Gregg F. Martin, Major General, U.S. Army; President, 

National Defense University • Nancy Lindborg, President, United 

States Institute of Peace (nonvoting)
USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363 3

ethnic group in Afghanistan, and for the past three centuries, nearly every ruler of the country 

has been Pashtun. The independent Afghan state originally emerged from a Pashtun tribal 

confederacy in 1747 under the leadership of its first king, Ahmad Shah Durrani.3

As a precise history of the Pashtuns is elusive,4 studying how Pashtuns articulate their 

origins offers insight into how the community organizes and interprets its current culture. 

Among Pashtuns, there is a common myth that their principal ancestor, Qays—also known 

as Kasay, Kish, and Imraul Qais Khan—received Islam directly from the Prophet Muhammad 

after traveling from the Hindu Kush to Arabia. When Qays converted to Islam, he assumed 

the name Abdurrashid.5 According to genealogical tradition, Abdurrashid had three sons, 

Sarbun, Gharghasht, and Baltan, who served as the patriarchs of the three Pashtun descent 

groups to which most Pashtun tribes can be traced. From this myth alone, one can derive 

two important and enduring features of Pashtun culture: first, the primacy of patrilineal 

descent among Pashtuns, wherein an individual is seen as belonging to his or her father’s 

lineage,6 and second, the indivisibility with Islam—and as a consequence, the identification of being Pashtun while abiding by Islamic law.7

Beyond the significance it attaches to genealogical descent and religion, however, Pashtun 

identity emphasizes the importance of acting in accordance with the norms of other Pashtuns, 

or Pashtunwali. To be a Pashtun means observing Pashtunwali, or “the way of the Pashtuns.”8 

This way is divided between a discrete set of values and corresponding norms or practices 

(narkh).9 While typically unwritten, the rules of conduct of Pashtunwali are primarily centered 

around the concept of nang, which is translated as “honor.” This conception involves defending 

one’s own rights and the rights of one’s tribe, as individual identity is inextricably linked to 

tribal identity. Thus, Pashtuns are generally judged as honorable according to their behavior as 

observed by their fellow Pashtuns. Honor, within Pashtunwali, can also be understood as the 

means to establish relationships with others. Certain actions help to build one’s honor, while 

others negate honor or bring about shame.10 Moreover, only men can accrue honor, but both 

men and women can negate it, which imposes a set of norms that are aimed at preventing a 

loss of honor. Because it is not codified, however, honor can only be demonstratively proved 

through various social practices, such as hospitality (melmastia), maintaining community cohesion (jirga), and observing gender boundaries (namus and purdah). 

Namus is routinely defined as virtue,11 but within the realm of Pashtunwali it is perhaps 

better understood as that which must be “defended” to ensure one’s honor is maintained, 

or perhaps less obliquely, not lost.12 The demand for namus has a similar rationale as nang, 

except that it focuses on those members of society for whom a Pashtun man feels responsible 

in a very special way: his wife (or wives) and daughters but also his unmarried or widowed 

sisters and possibly all female members of a household. In the Pashtunwali-based worldview, 

the honor of a Pashtun man and the honor of all females for whom he is responsible are 

interdependent. Defending a female’s honor entails providing them with shelter and care. A 

Pashtun man who does so accrues honor and maintains his reputation within the community.

Another particularly prominent way to maintain a female’s namus is the routine use of 

purdah, or seclusion.13 The rationale for such a stringent measure stems from the importance ascribed within Pashtunwali to how other Pashtuns evaluate one’s behavior. A woman 

who is almost invisible to others cannot shame herself. The combination of patrilineage 

issues with this seclusion—considered a vital means of ensuring namus—often relegates 

women to lowly and isolated social status.14 Women may not own property because the 

norms of namus obligate males to provide from their property to their close females. 

Because of patrilineage, a woman cannot even inherit from her husband, nor may any of her 

female children. They, like their mothers, remain dependent on the male Pashtuns within 

their family. Therefore, a woman, who is deemed only to receive protection from a Pashtun 

Pashtuns are generally judged 

as honorable according to their 

behavior as observed by their 

fellow Pashtuns....Only men can 

accrue honor, but both men and 

women can negate it, which 

imposes a set of norms that 

are aimed at preventing a 

loss of honor.
4 USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363

man, cannot attain the ownership of the means to protect herself. These norms can be seen 

in practice in Afghan marriage customs, which include an abundance of both cross-cousin 

marriages and levirate marriages, wherein the brother of a deceased man becomes obligated 

to marry his brother’s widow.15 Both forms of marriage ensure that property and children 

remain within the protection and control of particular patrilineages. In both forms of marriage, male- and community-centered motives are the chief concern for marital unions as 

opposed to the consent of the bride and groom.

Can Pashtunwali’s norms be considered substantive law? Legal norms differ from most 

social norms because their adherence is maintained by institutions tasked with the function 

of dispensing punitive measures to ensure their enforcement. This distinction becomes blurred 

in the case of Pashtunwali, as individuals and communities see themselves as tasked with 

maintaining their personal honor through directly enforcing sanctions when norms are seen as 

having been broken. This social enforcement mechanism gives Pashtunwali an element of legal 

practice and enforcement when matters of dispute arise. Furthermore, the strong emphasis on 

personally defending one’s status or honor within Pashtunwali makes it difficult for subscribers 

to delegate enforcement to other persons or institutions—including the state. 

Islam and Islamic Law in Afghanistan

Overall I don’t think that our cultural and traditional laws are according to Islamic 

law, because many decisions are against Islamic rules and regulation.

—Twenty-three-year-old informal justice disputant, Gardez, Afghanistan

Islam, as a political social order and faith, began to make inroads into current-day Afghanistan as far back as 652 CE, only two decades after the Prophet Muhammad died.16 Islam’s 

expansion led to the development of a substantive yet flexible legal system. Beginning with 

Muhammad’s reign as head of the city-state of Medina (r. 622–32), followed by the rule of the 

Rightly Guided Caliphate (i.e., Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali) (632–61) and the Umayyad 

(661–751) and Abbasid (751–1258) dynasties, Islam expanded in all directions from Arabia to 

include parts of South and Central Asia.17 It encapsulated new lands, principally populated 

by non-Arab, non-Muslims, who possessed their own distinctive cultural and social practices. 

While generally tolerant of indigenous customary practice (’urf), particularly among faith 

communities designated as People of the Book, this religious-based empire saw a political 

and social need to unify its territory under its own set of laws. 

The origins of Islamic law emerged from the series of proscriptions contained in what 

believers regard as the literal word of God: the Quran (literally “The Recitation”) as revealed 

to the Prophet Muhammad. Despite widespread perception, the Quran, however, was not 

principally a legal text. Of the three hundred verses that can be considered prescriptive, 

nearly half of it is concerned with personal ritual practice (ibadat). The other half, however, 

deal in matters related to marriage, inheritance, commercial transactions, and other economic issues, as well as crimes, punishment, and evidence. These are often conveyed in both 

generalized sentiments as well as prescriptive statements. More than a century after the 

Quran’s revelation, however, scholars came to routinely rely upon a second source of law, the 

Sunnah, or the body of precedents attributed to the Prophet. These were used to contextualize the varied Quranic prescriptions and add to the body of what was regarded as divinely 

ordained. Armed with these sources, scholars sought to make legal interpretation more 

systemic, expansive, and flexible, positing a number of legal doctrines that extended the 

reach of Islamic law to novel situations while attempting to fit within the broader theological outlines of the revealed sources. Debates over the methods of interpretation led to the 

creation of various schools of jurisprudence (e.g., Hanafi, Maliki, Hanbali, Jafari, Shafi’i)18

The strong emphasis on 

personally defending one’s status 

or honor within Pashtunwali 

makes it difficult for subscribers 

to delegate enforcement to 

other persons or institutions—

including the state. 
USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363 5

and the emergence of a scholarly set of elites, regarded as both appropriate interpreters as 

well as guardians of Islamic law,19 known broadly as the ulama.20

Islamic law was not considered simply a scholastic or philosophical endeavor. Alongside 

the ulama stood political rulers (e.g., the caliphs, sultans, amirs, etc.), who were charged 

with establishing order and ensuring legitimacy by creating courts staffed with judges 

(qadis or qazis) and legitimizing the law by dispensing justice equitably to Muslims and nonMuslims and men and women. 

The introduction of Islam also revolutionized the status of women.21 Previously, Arab tribal 

law generally regarded women simply as property, lacking human dignity, personality, or even a 

soul. Islam accorded women equal religious status before God because according to the Quran, 

women and men were created from one soul and both have equal rights to salvation by God. 

The Quran, however, offered women more concrete rights. It specifically banned the killing 

of baby girls and granted women the right to inherit land and property. Marital rules were 

rewritten to include a woman’s right to divorce, and polygamy was dramatically circumscribed. 

Moreover, under Islamic law, marriage was no longer viewed as a status but as a contract 

(nikah), which, while imbued with religious, moral, and spiritual overtones, still required offer, 

acceptance, and consideration in the form of property (mahr). Crucially, Islamic law required 

consent and the capacity to grant consent on the part of the marriage partners.

Islam, along with elements of its legal character, had long been incorporated within 

Afghan society when the first Afghan state emerged in the late eighteenth century. The 

nascent Afghan state began in earnest under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Durrani, whose 

crowning in 1747 came at the encouragement of prominent members of the ulama. From 

that point on, Islam increasingly became a source of authority to unite the disparate peoples 

of Afghanistan. When Abd’ al-Rahman Khan (r. 1880–1901), the Justinian of Afghanistan, 

took the reins of power, he introduced a coordinated state-based court system that made 

Islamic law the supreme law of the land, a legal trait that has largely remained in place to 

the present day.22 Despite his best attempts, however, Abd’ al-Rahman, like his successors, 

was never fully able to consolidate legal authority in the hands of the state. The reasons for 

this failure to extend the legal system beyond Kabul—then and now—include a number of 

elements, such as the lack of infrastructure, human resources, and an overarching lack of 

legitimacy.23 And while legitimacy perhaps appears conceptually vague, it is sought after in 

Afghanistan as the country has witnessed numerous inter- and intrastate conflicts as well as 

an entire spectrum of competing forms of political organization, from monarchy to socialism 

to communism, not to mention attempts at theocracy and the current nascent democracy. 

Fidelity to Islam has perhaps been the only common denominator.

Converging Pashtunwali with Islamic Law

Pashtunwali’s relationship with Islamic law is complicated and, especially with respect to 

women, often contradictory. Most Pashtuns simply assume their practices conform with 

Islamic law, in part because they self-identify as Muslims. Those who have more closely 

examined their norms and the dictates of Islamic law assert that Pashtunwali and Islamic 

law occupy different personal spheres. Islamic law establishes the bounds of one’s personal 

relationship with God and offers a direction to one’s individual moral compass, while Pashtunwali links one’s honor to the collective society. This bifurcation is at best overly simplistic 

and at worst, ignores the whole of Islamic law. It is obvious from even a superficial understanding of the marital rules described above that Islamic law intentionally regulates interpersonal conduct. Islamic law is not simply confined to ritual obligations to God but also 

ethical rules that extend to the proper conduct among believers, between men and women, 

between children and their parents, and with the whole of humanity. Unlike the currency of 

Unlike the currency of honor 

within Pashtunwali, the motive 

for one’s conformity to Islamic 

law stems from one’s individual 

faith in God, as opposed to 

perceptions held among 

clan or tribe. 
6 USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363

honor within Pashtunwali, the motive for one’s conformity to Islamic law stems from one’s 

individual faith in God, as opposed to perceptions held among clan or tribe. 

As Pashtuns routinely invoke the myth of Qays to back up their assertion that Pashtunwali is intimately consistent with Islam and Islamic law, some also assert that any norms 

extending from a place of honor fall within the dictates of Islamic law through doctrine 

that accepts a role of custom, or ’urf.24 Specifically, ’urf refers to “recurring practices that 

are acceptable to people of sound nature.” 25 Historically used to incorporate and explain 

divergences between customary practices and divine law, the doctrine of ’urf remains controversial because it assumes “space” within Islamic law for practices that predated the advent 

of Islam. On a more practical level, the doctrine was intended as a means by which Islam 

could be adopted into local practice to facilitate wider adoption of Islamic law by different 

cultures. According to classical Islamic law, to constitute ’urf, or an acceptable form of customary law, a practice must meet a number of conditions. The most relevant are that, first, 

the custom must represent a common and recurrent phenomenon and, second, the custom 

must not violate a definitive principle of Islamic law. If a violation is absolute, there is no 

doubt that the custom must be set aside. If, however, the custom opposes only certain 

aspects of the text, then the custom may act as a limiting factor on the text.26 Like any 

legal doctrines, however, the accommodative force of ’urf is subject to constant reevaluation 

and interpretation across schools of law and geographic areas. Islamic law’s accommodation 

of customary law is not a constant. 

During the ascendancy of Amanullah Khan (r. 1919–29), the Afghan state made vigorous 

efforts to declare certain aspects of Pashtunwali as contrary to Islamic law.27 Successive 

governments have continued such trends. Even the Taliban, invoking their particular interpretations, concluded that certain customary practices violated Islamic law. Beginning in 

1998, the Taliban issued decrees banning the practice of baad (the selling of young girls in 

marriage as a means of dispute resolution) on the grounds that ’urf did not apply and that 

certain Pashtun practices violated Islamic law. The Taliban also banned levirate marriages on 

the grounds that widows had the right to choose their own husbands, whether or not they 

belonged to the husband’s family or tribe.28

The Afghan Informal System of Justice 

and the Role of Religious Leadership

According to the USIP-PTRO survey, the single greatest source of localized disputes in Afghanistan centered or indirectly touched on matters of property ownership. Land ownership and 

control is often seen as the cause of a number of conflicts, including physical altercations 

and even murder, in addition to disputes over land boundaries, titling, and the permissibility 

of establishing homes. Another related recurrent issue is disputes concerning inheritance—

specifically, how to parcel out land to members of one’s close family when the wishes of the 

deceased are unknown or disputed. Another major subset of disputes, which could not only set 

off property disputes but also perhaps represent the greatest clashes between customary and 

Islamic law, are disputes that arise out of marriage, divorce, and a woman’s right to inherit.

There are two primary structures for adjudicating informal justice in Afghanistan: jirgas 

and shuras. These institutions echo Afghanistan’s dual sources of legal inspiration. As noted 

earlier, in the context of Pashtunwali, identity is inextricably linked to membership within 

a particular tribe, and consequently, individual honor and shame are closely linked to the 

honor and shame of the tribal group to which one belongs. All such questions therefore 

require thorough consultations with other Pashtuns who may be affected by them. In many 

cases, it may be sufficient to ask elders for advice. In other cases, all concerned persons 
USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363 7

are called together for consultations. In the tribal structure of the Pashtuns, the demand 

for consultation has been institutionalized through the jirga. Generally, every gathering 

of Pashtun men that is held to solve a question of common interest may be called a jirga. 

Depending on the matter at hand, a jirga can also be a dispute resolution mechanism in 

which decisions are made by consensus.

A shura, derived from the Arabic term “consultation,” is mentioned in three different 

verses in the Quran, each involving a different set of circumstances.29 The first verse only 

deals with family matters. The second proposes it as a means of securing a positive afterlife. 

The third verse advises on how mercy, forgiveness, and mutual consultation can win over 

people. Given the scope of such a term, the concept of shura was seen under Islamic law as 

either a recommended form of governance or a requisite one, as the requirement to consult 

was imbued by the Prophet among his followers during his lifetime. In Afghanistan, the 

term shura is used widely to describe any organized body of participants, administrative 

body, council, or consultative and meditative process. In essence, all consultative bodies 

organized to bring tribal leaders and representatives together are called shuras.30 

Each of the forums, while broadly similar, maintain some distinct traits. Survey inquiries 

as to which figures are entrusted with decision-making roles within jirgas and shuras also 

yielded broadly consistent results. In predominantly Pashtun areas, such as Paktia province, 

tribal leaders were seen as the preeminent decision makers. In Takhar, where shuras were 

seen as more prevalent, the criteria for decision-maker status was more discretely defined 

but also potentially involved a broader scope of persons: Those figures had connections, 

often tribal, to their respective communities;31 were often chosen from within the community; and possessed generational ties to the practice of dispute resolution, often because 

their fathers had similar positions during their time.32

Understanding the Informal Justice System’s Jurisdiction

Even as the Afghan state has undertaken a long-running struggle to establish a monopoly 

of legal authority within its borders, Afghanistan’s formal and informal legal systems operate in parallel, both drawing on Islamic and customary legal sources. In general, analysts 

of the Afghan legal mosaic have concluded that while the formal system of justice is best 

equipped to adjudicate criminal matters,33 the informal system is better equipped to handle 

civil matters.34 Formal and informal legal actors have used the Islamic legal doctrines of 

huquq Allah, or “the rights of God,” and huquq al-’ibad, or “the rights of man,” to justify and 

rationalize the persistence of these separate spheres of legal authority.35

Generally, Islamic jurists articulated the legal doctrines of huquq al-’ibad and huquq 

Allah to carve out the appropriate—but limited—extent of governmental authority to 

adjudicate disputes in order to ensure that Islamic law operated as a system where the rule 

of law prevailed but also where a balance between the interests of society and one’s private 

interests could be struck. The term rights of God does not actually refer to God’s rights but 

simply those interests that serve the public well-being, such as order and security. The term 

huquq al-‘ibad is understood as a purely private right that attaches to the individual as a 

result of his or her relationship with another individual and thus is concerned with a set of 

expectations that might involve individual concerns (e.g., exclusive possession of certain 

property).36 Under huquq al-‘ibad or huquq Allah, the application of the law is divided 

between matters that deserve the attention of the government to account for a larger public interest and a series of “residual interests,” which, while significant, do not require and 

perhaps even discourage direct government intervention.

In deciding whether a particular injury affects a public or private interest, classical 

jurists generally asserted that the more an injury damaged the community at large, the 
8 USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363

more Islamic law permitted a government to prosecute a wrongdoer. By contrast, the more 

a particular injury damaged or impinged on a private interest, the more reluctant Islamic 

jurists were to involve government to resolve the matter. Such disputes, they argued, should 

instead be resolved between the parties so that governments need not intrude into private 

disputes. This line of thinking was motivated by the principle that governments should never 

become obstacles to justice or, worse, vehicles for politicizing personal disputes. Despite 

these broad principles, jurists often came to different conclusions about whether a public or 

private interest was more at stake for a particular offense.37

Thus, the Islamic legal discourse into huquq al-’ibad and huquq Allah offers observers 

important insights into the jurisdictional divide between Afghanistan’s formal and informal systems of justice. Contrary to the common perception that the formal state system 

of justice competes with the informal, the systems may support one another within delineated areas of jurisdiction and responsibility. The huquq al-‘ibad and huquq Allah legal 

doctrines further suggest that when a dispute reaches the state or formal system of adjudication, it is considered to be within that tribunal’s exclusive domain and, by implication, 

outside the domain of informal jurisprudence. The reverse may also hold true, as disputes 

addressed within the informal system are seen as not subject to state intervention.

The Role of Religious Leaders in Afghan Informal Justice 

All people are Muslim—they want religious leaders to be involved in their decisions.

—Head of a solidarity council, Takahr Province

In the Golden Age of Islam, the ulama were viewed as the institutional guardians of Islamic 

law not only because of their understanding of the particulars of Islam but also because of 

their fealty to God as opposed to any earthly political authority. Remnants of this august 

public perception remain, as identified in this and a number of related studies. A survey 

conducted by the Asia Foundation found that a majority of Afghans felt that religious leaders 

were perceived as serving the interests of Afghan society more than any other type of public figure and, as a consequence, believed “religious leaders should be consulted” regularly 

about local problems.38

The reality is perhaps more complex. Generally, the ulama’s prestige has diminished 

throughout the Islamic world, including in Afghanistan, because their authority has often 

forcibly been linked to political rather than purely religious considerations. As with most 

contemporary Muslim-majority nations, Afghanistan began to incorporate ulama into the 

state’s bureaucracy, and the state began to take control of private religious proprietary 

endowments, or awaqf, which had for centuries financially supported the ulama and 

helped ensure their independence. In 1896, Abd’ al-Rahman began to assert control over 

the religious endowments. In certain instances, the Amir even crushed attempts to evade 

these efforts, such as the Ghilzai revolt in the Ghazni region. The effect has been a steady 

erosion of the ulama’s standing, as religious leaders co-opted by the state began to be 

characterized as state stooges. When it has come to resolving matters at the informal 

level, the role of the ulama has been circumspect or, at times, outright ignored, given that 

they are increasingly seen as formal actors.

According to the survey results for this study, while religious leaders were held in high 

esteem, there was an overwhelming perception among informal justice actors that the ulama 

were not considered to be part of standing shuras. Members of the Afghan ulama, to the 

extent they were involved, were consulted only as knowledge leaders in various discrete 

matters, such as settling disputes concerning marriage, divorce, and inheritance, broadly 

When it has come to resolving 

matters at the informal level, 

the role of the ulama has 

been circumspect or, at times, 

outright ignored, given that 

they are increasingly seen as 

formal actors.
USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363 9

described as family law; making rulings on land and water use; and witnessing agreements 

or serving to persuade individuals to forgive specific grievances. 

Among all legal topics specifically addressed in the Quran and Sunnah, aside from 

purely ritual matters, family law predominates. Scholars both past and present have 

asserted that family law is at the proverbial heart of Islamic law because of the clear and 

explicit nature of what the Quran and Sunnah say about the family. The survey data left 

unanswered what the precise threshold was to trigger consultation with Islamic legal 

doctrine. A significant number of responses, however, indicated that ulama members are 

still important in regulating certain cultural practices. Religious leaders were particularly 

ardent in their opposition to celebrating the holiday of Nowruz, which marks the Persian 

New Year and is believed to have its origins in Zoroastrianism. 

Religious leaders have an important role in conflict resolution, but at the moment they 

do not work honestly, they are not impartial in their decisions.

—Forty-three-year-old provincial council member, Paktia Province

Currently, all the religious leaders are political.

—Thirty-nine-year-old local elder and businessman, Paktia Province

There is a notable disconnect between the recognition of the ulama’s social importance 

and members’ relegation to adjudicating only certain matters. One particularly important 

concern was ulama bias. The USIP-PTRO survey found that a significant number of respondents voiced concerns about the credibility of the ulama who participated in resolving 

disputes informally. Some regarded their participation as either unreligious or worse, as 

self-interested.39 Respondents, while not uniform in their rationale, suggested that perhaps 

the ethnicities of the disputants could explain the bias,40 but others believed it was simply inappropriate for such religious figures to become involved in local dispute resolution 

because they ran the risk of diluting their social standing in the community. Some thought 

religious leaders could be particularly persuaded by bribes. Since the Taliban period, during 

which religious authority took wholesale control of the functions of governance, the reputations of religious figures adjudicating disputes has suffered.

In both Paktia and Takhar, when the survey asked disputants and decision makers what 

their point of reference was for determining the dictates of Islamic law, they noted that 

ulama spoke only of the Quran, making few references to the Sunnah, which includes far 

more maxims of a legal nature than the Islamic sacred text. Rarer still were any precise 

references to a body of jurist-made law, as in Hanafi jurisprudence. The patchy set of references to common religious legal authority raises questions about general awareness of the 

particulars of Islamic law and speaks to the ulama’s perceived willingness to resort directly 

to the Quran without referring to the established body of already interpreted law, representing centuries of intellectual development. The Islamic law that prevails at the informal level 

amounts to a kind of “folk sharia.” 41 At worst, “the Islam practiced in Afghanistan...would 

be almost unrecognizable to a sophisticated Muslim scholar. Aside from faith in Allah and 

Mohammad as the Messenger of Allah, most beliefs relate to localized pre-Islamic customs.” 42

Current Afghan state law regarding family matters is derived from the Maliki—as opposed to 

the prevailing Hanafi—school of jurisprudence, in line with a broader trend among a number 

of Muslim-majority states of embracing the Maliki school’s more tolerant rules regarding a 

woman’s right to obtain a divorce compared to the more restrictive rules of Hanafi jurisprudence.43 Consequently, even to the extent Afghan ulama might apply Islamic law at the 

informal level, their application may not conform with the state’s approach to Islamic law or 

broader trends among Muslim-majority states.
10 USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363

Tensions between Customary and Islamic Law

While the Afghan informal justice system relies on a number of dispute resolution techniques, 

which routinely involve compensating aggrieved parties with livestock, land, and money, a number of customary practices conflict with various understandings of Islamic law. The first category 

of these practices are concrete impingements upon a women’s ability to consent in marriage. As 

mentioned above, under Islamic law’s contractual rubric of marriage, both parties must consent. 

Common forms of redress under informal justice practices, however, include giving away girls to 

resolve disputes (baad), exchange marriage (badal), and purported honor killings, which typically 

stem from a woman’s effort to escape marriage. Despite being one of the principal focuses of 

the USIP-PTRO survey, evidence of the persistence of the practice of baad appeared inconclusive. 

According to those surveyed, the practice does not currently exist in Takhar, and in Paktia, it is 

either nonexistent, goes unreported, or may have changed. Takar respondents repeatedly asserted 

the practice has never really existed and does not now; in Paktia, respondents reported that the 

practice of baad has been eclipsed by offers of land and money.44 Others stated that the traditional practice has been replaced by a similar practice, wherein the victim’s family demands the 

perpetuator’s family pay the price of a dowry and marital costs of a girl the victim’s family has 

chosen from within the victim’s respective community.45

The second category of customary practices that are inimical to Islamic law is the routine 

deprivation of women’s right to inherit property. Under Islamic law, female relatives may inherit property from their male relatives, albeit in smaller shares than identically situated inheriting 

males. In contrast, in Pashtunwali only males have the right to own property. Respondents 

justified the bypassing of Islamic legal dictates in this case on the grounds that society as a 

whole would benefit from greater social cohesion. Any loss of women’s property was explained 

away in terms of the purported benefits accrued through male guardianship. The survey also 

found an overall reluctance among women to press for their inheritance rights for fear of social 

stigma. According to one interviewee, “Women don’t have the courage to ask for their rights 

from their brothers or relatives because it is shameful for them.” Cases where women may press 

for their rights can result in backlash. In one case, two daughters tried to press for inheritance 

rights in Paktia and were rebuffed by a local shura. One daughter committed suicide after most 

of the land was allocated to other male relatives in a bid to promote reconciliation within 

the larger family. When asked why this pre-Islamic custom could continue in the face of clear 

Quranic mandate, one informal justice actor in Takhar suggested that the process for resolving 

local disputes was primarily oriented toward reaching consensus between the parties rather 

than supporting an individual’s favored understanding of the law. 

While the informal system places a high premium on consensus building, the USIP-PTRO 

survey indicates that reaching consensus is not a function of equals under customary law 

but rather the relative authority of the persons resolving the dispute. The makeup of the 

participants to a shura or jirga influences the ultimate result. The ulama might be well 

positioned to adjudicate disputes within the informal system, but their authority remains 

inversely proportional to the legal authority of existing tribal and customary norms, as 

understood by those involved in the dispute. The most salient rationale for limiting or 

intentionally ignoring such positions under Islamic law is deference to customary law and 

perhaps, more obliquely, to maintaining patriarchal and tribal authority.

An Agenda for Change: 

The Persistence of Practices Inimical to Islamic Law

I think the religious leaders [could] play a high role in conflict resolution, but they 

keep themselves very silent. If they preach and advise the people, they can bring many 

Any loss of women’s property 

was explained away in terms of 

the purported benefits accrued 

through male guardianship. 
USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363 11

changes and reform the society, but unfortunately they keep themselves silent and 

don’t want to be involved in conflict resolution.

—Fifty-four-year-old informal justice leader, Gardez, Afghanistan

Although many informal system actors, disputants, and decision makers have limited or 

marginalized the role of the ulama, this is not necessarily a static state of affairs. Many of 

those surveyed insisted that as Afghanistan has faced change and a tumultuous past, they 

have endured and are willing to change as well. Throughout Afghan history, religious leaders 

have been—and are—in a unique position of wielding a supreme measure of authority on 

issues related to law and morality and can potentially help push for legal reforms. Perhaps 

the easiest agenda items for reform within the informal justice system are the practices 

that ulama and Afghans alike have agreed are inimical to Islamic law. The USIP-PTRO survey 

helped identify key areas of concern for both religious leaders and informal justice actors.

First, many informal justice decision makers surveyed lamented that, inasmuch as the 

ulama’s views on certain matters have been disregarded, they nonetheless welcome and seek 

their participation. This desire might be regarded as simply a means to confer legitimacy to 

informal justice decisions, but at the same might offer the best avenue for ulama to involve 

themselves in decisions affecting otherwise marginalized women and young girls. Of course, 

this contention assumes that local ulama are well-versed in the particulars of Islamic jurisprudence, especially as it pertains to family law.

Second, reinvigorating the ulama within Afghanistan requires not only education targeted at understanding Islamic law but also mechanisms that ensure their independence 

from the state’s political and financial control. Additional training is needed to make local 

religious leaders more aware of substantive Islamic law. Also helpful would be training 

that speaks to how local ulama can overcome concerns that engaging in informal dispute 

resolutions could dilute their community status or that their local participation is somehow 

inconsistent with their spiritual and religious leadership within their community. Existing 

Islamic legal or sharia faculties at Afghan institutions of higher learning offer an ideal means 

to train local ulama and strengthen institutions of higher education in the process. 

Third, while religious leaders need to play a direct role within informal justice processes, 

the most important step remains better coordinating these processes with a coherent, wellrespected state judiciary. In the battle among various legal authorities of Afghanistan—

tribal, religious, and state—if the state cannot exert its authority, power will devolve to a 

disinterested or disregarded religious authority or the authority of the various tribes, whose 

traditions, while varied, often take little or no account of the rights of women. If state and 

religious authorities refrain from playing their role as guarantors of individual rights, the 

potential for abuse is even greater. 

Finally, the potent force of religious authority in Afghanistan should be brought to bear 

on the broader discourse of honorable behavior, nominally seen as the exclusive domain of 

Pashtunwali. Islamic leaders inside and outside Afghanistan should employ a fundamental 

concept rooted in the Quran: human dignity (karamah).46 An inherent notion in the Quran, 

Sunnah, and other work within the Islamic tradition, a discourse on dignity not only amplifies and expands widely accepted notions of honor but has the broader effect of speaking to 

the inherent value of both men and women, their inherent capabilities, and, perhaps most 

potently, their value before God and the rights God has bestowed upon them.

While religious leaders need 

to play a direct role within 

informal justice processes, the 

most important step remains 

better coordinating these 

processes with a coherent, 

well-respected state judiciary.
12 USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363

Notes

1. I borrow the definition of informal justice provided by Dr. Noah Coburn: “A series of mechanisms that are outside 

state control—though not necessary beyond its influence—and...are used to resolve disputes and conflicts in 

a manner perceived to be legitimate by local communities.” The UN definition encompasses the resolution of 

disputes by third party actors without recourse to formal state judiciaries and recourse to statutory law. See 

Noah Coburn, “Informal Justice and the International Community in Afghanistan,” Peaceworks no. 84, U.S. 

Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, 2013, 11, available at www.usip.org/publications/informal-justice-and-theinternational-community-in-afghanistan (accessed February 11, 2015). See also Unicef, UN Women, and UN 

Development Programme, “Informal Justice Systems: Charting a Course for Human Rights Based Engagement,” 

New York, 2012, available at www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/democratic-governance/

access_to_justiceandruleoflaw/informal-justice-systems/ (accessed February 11, 2015). Admittedly, no definition 

can be both very precise and sufficiently broad to encompass the range of systems and mechanisms that 

play a role in delivering rule of law and access to justice. As detailed below, informal justice venues vary 

considerably, encompassing many mechanisms of differing degrees and forms of formality. Degrees of formality 

vary with respect to legal or normative framework, state recognition, appointment and interaction, control and 

accountability mechanisms, and systems of monitoring and supervision, including the maintenance of case 

records and the implementation of referral procedures. 

2. See, e.g., Kenneth Janda, Jeffrey M. Berry, and Jerry Goldman, The Challenge of Democracy: Government in America

(New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2010), 46; “Afghanistan’s Complex Ethnic Patchwork,” The Asian Wall Street Journal, 

March 10, 2011; Asger Christensen, Aiding Afghanistan: The Background and Prospects for Reconstruction in a 

Fragmented Society (Copenhagan: NIAS Press, 1995); William J. Taylor, Jr., and Abraham Kim, Asian Security to the 

Year 2000 (Derby, PA: Diane Publishing, 2000), 58; Susan Hawthorne and Bronwyn Winter, September 11, 2001: 

Feminist Perspectives (Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2007), 225.

3. See, e.g., Richard Tapper, The Conflict of Tribe and State in Iran and Afghanistan (London: St. Martin’s Press, 

1983).

4. Most historians acknowledge that the origin of the Pashtuns is somewhat unclear, although there are many 

conflicting theories, some modern and others archaic, both among historians and the Pashtuns themselves: 

“The origin of the Afghans is so obscure, that no one, even among the oldest and most clever of the tribe, can 

give satisfactory information on this point.” Mohan Lal, Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul, vol. 1 

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 3.

5. Ibid., 5.

6. N.V. Benokraitis, Marriages and Families, 7th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2011).

7. See Palwasha Kakar, “Tribal Law of Pashtunwali and Women’s Legislative Authority,” Harvard Law School, Islamic 

Legal Studies Program, n.d.

8. See Asta Olesen, Islam and Politics in Afghanistan (New York: Routledge, 1995). Note, however, that urban and 

educated Pashtuns disdain this image. See also Declan Walsh, “Arithmetic on the Frontier,” Granta 112 (2010), 

161, 171. 

9. There are a number of highly regarded norms and values within Pashtunwali. Central among these are the honor 

of the individual and honor of groups, fighting spirit and bravery, equality and respect for seniors, consultation 

and decision making, willpower and sincerity, compensation and retaliation, generosity and hospitality, and pride 

and zeal. A person who embodies these values and rules of behavior of Pashtunwali and who leaves no doubt 

that he does his utmost to abide by them is respectfully called ghairatman and represents the ideal Pashtun. Lutz 

Rzehak, “Doing Pashto: Pashtunwali as the Ideal of Honourable Behaviour and Tribal Life Among the Pashtuns,” 

Afghanistan Analysts’ Network, 2011, available at aan-afghanistan.com/uploads/20110321LR-PashtunwaliFINAL.pdf (accessed February 11, 2015).

10. The code of honor among the Pashtuns has many similarities with codes of honor in the Mediterranean, the 

Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, and the Philippines. See Mark Moritz, “A Critical Examination 

of Honor Cultures and Herding Societies in Africa,” African Studies Review 51, no. 2 (2008), 99–117; and Todd K. 

Shackelford, “An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on Cultures of Honor,” Evolutionary Psychology 3 (2005), 

381–91.

11. Namus is also defined as “reputation,” “esteem,” “conscience,” and “chasteness.”

12. Rzeha, “Doing Pashto.” 

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Nancy Hatch Dupree, An Historical Guide to Afghanistan (Kabul: Afghan Air Authority, Afghan Tourist Organization, 

1970), 492.

17. During the eighth and ninth centuries, the eastern parts of modern Afghanistan were still in the hands of nonMuslim rulers and populated by Hindus and Buddhists. Abbasid rule in the west, however, began to recede as early 

as 819 as regional sultanates sought to separate authority away from the caliphate and became rulers in their own 

right, particularly in the areas east of Baghdad. From 819 to 999, the Samanid Dynasty, a Persian-Muslim empire, 

took control of most of what was to become Afghanistan. From 977 to about 1080, the Ghaznavid Dynasty, a 

Turkic-Muslim dynasty, replaced the Samanid Dynasty to next take control. By 1040, the Great Seljuq Empire, also 

a Turkic-Muslim dynasty, wrestled control from the Ghaznavids.

18. Much of the debate among the various schools concerned the proper classification of action since an action may 

be classified as either forbidden (haram), discouraged, neutral, recommended, or obligatory (fard). In both the 

Western and Islamic systems of law, only the first and the last of these categories constitute legally enforceable 

categories.

19. The ulama (Arabic for “scholars”) have served as the religious leadership within Islam. Importantly, they gained 

their status through their learned standing rather than through ethnic or tribal prestige. Thus, the ulama may 

refer to anyone who possesses intimate knowledge of Islam (‘ilm). It includes theologians, religious teachers at 

madrasas, and prayer leaders (called imams and mullahs among Sunnis), who often preside over various religious 

functions. The most prestigious members of the ulama are the jurists (fuqaha). Broadly speaking, the jurists 

are viewed as possessing the most intimate understanding of the religious texts and the various doctrines of 

Islamic law, especially those within their particular school of jurisprudence. If designated to the position of mufti 

(a jurist-consultant) or even selected to serve as a judge (qadi or qazis), jurists were expected to adjudicate 
USIP.ORG • SPECIAL REPORT 363 13

disputes in accordance with doctrines of Islamic law and generally obliged to do within their particular school 

of jurisprudence. See, e.g., Senzil K. Nawid, Religious Response to Social Change in Afghanistan, 1919–29: King 

Aman-Allah and the Afghan Ulama (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 1999).

20. The ulama were far more than just the religious leaders within Islam. They served dual roles, one of representing 

the interests of the state to the laity but also the interests of the laity to the state. At the same time, their 

legitimacy historically was predicated upon their general independence from politics and state control. Moreover, 

the existence of the ulama did not translate into a singular unified source of religious authority among Muslims 

because in early Islam, there was no concerted effort to impose a single body of interpretation, especially in 

matters pertaining to Islamic law. Consequently, tolerance of both diversity of religious opinions within Islam 

(ikthtilaf) and of other faiths was considered the rule rather than the exception within early Islam. With both a 

penchant for decentralized religious authority and a lack of significant theological and religious tension among 

the various schools of jurisprudence, the ulama were largely able to retain a considerable degree of autonomy 

from political authorities. The lack of centralized authority or hierarchy among the scholars also made it difficult 

for political authorities to exercise control over them. Consequently, in practice, religious and political spheres 

came to be seen as quite separate, with each realm essentially following a policy of mutual benefit or at the very 

least one of “live and let live.” Khaled Abou El Fadl, “The Place of Tolerance in Islam,” Boston Review (December 

2001–January 2002).

21. See Hamid Khan, “Nothing is Written: Fundamentalism, Revivalism, Reformism, and the Fate of Islamic Law,” 

Michigan Journal of International Law 273, no. 277 (2003), 330. See also Zainab Chaudhry, “The Myth of 

Misogyny: A Reanalysis of Women’s Inheritance In Islamic Law,” Albany Law Review 611 (1997), 511.

22. Hanafi jurisprudence, in particular, was recognized as the preferred school of jurisprudence for Afghanistan. The 

school of law is named after the famed Persian scholar Imam Abu Hanifa (d. 767 CE).

23. In addition, the lack of these resources is complicated by population patterns combined with a varied geography 

within the country. More than 70 percent of the current population resides outside of urban areas—a number far 

lower than at virtually any other period in history—but it serves as a reminder that the reach of justice systems 

is not likely to be improved simply by building courthouses and prisons.

24. Kakar, “Tribal Law.”

25. Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 2003), 369.

26. Ibid., 374.

27. Ali Banuazizi and Myron Weiner, The State, Religion, and Ethnic Politics: Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan (Syracuse: 

Syracuse University Press, 1988), 132.

28. See Juan R.I. Cole, “The Taliban, Women, and the Hegelian Private Sphere”, in The Taliban and the Crisis of 

Afghanistan, Robert D. Crews and Amin Tarzi, ed., (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 118, 143–44.

29. Quran 2:233; 3:159, and 42:38. 

30. Specifically, unlike Paktia, Takhar is populated by a hodgepodge of different kinds of shuras. While a significant 

number of shuras operate along the framework of being headed by a group of community decision makers, there 

is also a discrete set of National Solidarity Program shuras broadly aimed at developing the ability of Afghan 

communities to identify, plan, manage, and monitor their own development projects. The geographic reach of 

a particular shura varies. Some operate at a purely local level. Others have district-wide or even provincial-wide 

coverage.

31. Which earned them the designation “elder.”

32. In Paktia, community decision makers were chosen for their specific leadership within a particular tribe. Some 

community decision makers, however, were often chosen for their particular acclaim within the community, 

meaning they had served as local commanders during the mujahideen years (1979–89). In addition, a 

community decision maker’s behavior and “just manner in reaching decisions” helped them maintain their 

respective position within the community. In any case, mere “election” was a necessary but insufficient condition 

for remaining within their respective positions. 

33. While it often claimed that the informal system only handles civil matters, our survey indicates that the 

informal system remains involved in criminal matters, even if at the periphery. One reported case involved 

a matter in which the police arrested a criminal suspect. An elder intervened with the police, secured the 

suspect’s release with personal guarantees of good behavior, and asserted the elder would seek to broker some 

form of reconciliation in the matter. Informal decision makers would even become directly involved in cases 

of murder or ongoing fighting by arranging ceasefires, visiting a victim’s home to convince them about the 

need for reconciliation. If community decision makers are ineffective or an arranged-upon ceasefire is broken, 

the case is then referred to the relevant government agency or court. This kind of intervention on the part of 

community decision makers is often termed peacemaking and often paves the way for resolving the dispute by 

offering formal judicial actors a set of facts to further investigate a matter and minimize the length of a criminal 

investigation, which is especially important in light of a general scarcity of resources for the justice sector. 

34. See, e.g., Thomas Barfield, “Informal Dispute Resolution and the Formal Legal System in Contemporary Northern 

Afghanistan,” draft report, U.S. Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, 2006, available at www.usip.org/sites/

default/files/file/barfield_report.pdf (accessed February 11, 2015); see also Coburn, “Informal Justice.” 

35. For a more in-depth analysis of Islamic legal treatment of huquq Allah and huquq al-ibad, see, e.g., Anver 

Emon, “Huquq Allah and Huquq al-’Ibad: A Legal Heuristic for a Natural Rights Regime,” Islamic Law and 

Society 13, no. 3 (2006), 325–91. See also Ibrahim Abdullah al-Marzouqi, Human Rights in Islamic Law (Abu 

Dhabi: Diane, 2000), 139–42, asserting that the huquq Allah–huquq al-‘ibad distinction can be used to capture 

both the individual and public interests involved in any rule of law; Miriam Hoexter, “Huquq Allah and Huquq 

al-’Ibad as Reflected in the Waqf Institution,” Jerusalem Studies of Arabic and Islam 19 (1995), 133, 134; Kemal 

Faruki, “Legal Implications for Today of al-Ahkam al-Khamsa (The Five Values),” in Ethics in Islam, Richard G. 

Hovannisian, ed., (Malibu, CA: Undena Publications, 1985), 65–72; and Intisar A. Rabb, “The Islamic Rule of 

Lenity,” Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 44 (2011), 1299–351.

36. According to Bernard Weiss, huquq Allah and huquq al-‘ibad in effect organize the relationship between the 

individual and the Muslim state. For Weiss, huquq Allah represents “public law” and is upheld against individuals 

by the state. Huquq al-’ibad covers private matters that allow individuals to order their affairs without state 

interference. See Bernard G. Weiss, The Spirit of Islamic Law (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1998), 

181–84.

37. To add further complexity, Islamic legal jurists recognized that not all legal disputes could be neatly divided 

between purely public and purely private interests but instead involve a set of “mixed” interests (huquq 

mujtama’a or huquq mukhtalata), and it is here—in a potential sea of mixed rights and interests—where 
arguably the majority of disputes lie. In some cases, the public component is the more significant; in other cases, 

the private component is the more significant element. Islamic legal scholars therefore reasoned that if a private 

interest were more significant, a private individual maintains the discretion either to uphold his right or forgive the 

violation despite the public interest. Alternatively, if the public interest is seen as paramount, the private victim 

may not waive his rights—meaning how an interest was understood carries important legal implications not only 

for the kind of interest involved but whether the dispute in question could be resolved by the government or 

among individual disputants themselves. See Rabb, “Lenity.” 

38. Robert D. Lamb, “Formal and Informal Governance in Afghanistan: Reflections on a Survey of the Afghan People,” 

Occasional Paper no. 11, Asia Foundation, April 2012.

39. In Takhar, the involvement of the ulama was more pronounced, meaning they were consulting in matters beyond 

family law. It was also clear from respondents surveyed that they were regarded as more reputable than those 

surveyed in Paktia.

40. When queried about which ulama members were chosen to aid or assist in resolving a particular matter, it turns 

out that most decision makers typically only consulted local ulama. In both Takhar and Paktia, participating 

members of the ulama typically hailed from the same ethnic group as the disputants or ideally were directly 

related to one of the disputants. This suggests informal actors may ultimately place greater premium on 

geographic proximity or ethnic background rather than the religious acumen of a particular religious leader, which 

has traditionally been seen as the proper standard for religious leader involvement in disputes.

41. See J Alexander Thier, “Reestablishing the Judicial System in Afghanistan,” Working Paper no. 19, Center on 

Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, Stanford University, 2004.

42. Christina Jones-Pauly and Neamat Nojumi, “Balancing Relations between Society and State: Legal Steps toward 

National Reconciliation and Reconstruction of Afghanistan,” American Journal of Comparative Law 52 (2004), 836, 

849-50.

43. Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Law in Afghanistan: A Study of the Constitutions, Matrimonial Law, and the Judiciary, 

(Leiden: Brill, 1997), 159.

44. In one instance, a victim’s family was offered four million Pakistani rupees, or about 37,000 USD.

45. Another example of such changes was in a disputants’ ability to change who represented them in the case of 

appeal. Previously, community decision makers selected parties’ representatives in case of appeal.

46. See, e.g., Mohammad Hashim Kamali, The Dignity of Man: An Islamic Perspective (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 

2002).

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Of Related Interest

• Crescent and Dove: Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam by Qamar-ul Huda (USIP Press, 2010) 

• Religious Authority and the Promotion of Sectarian Tolerance in Pakistan by Michael Kalin and 

Niloufer Siddiqui (Special Report, October 2014)

• Women’s Access to Justice in Afghanistan by Erica Gaston and Tim Luccaro (Peaceworks, July 

2014)

• Engaging Afghan Religious Leaders for Women’s Rights by Palwasha L. Kakar (Peace Brief, 

June 2014)

• Religion and Peacebuilding by Susan Hayward (Special Report, August 2012)