معرفی
Felicitas Opwis serves as a Research Fellow in Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, where she has held academic positions since 2005. She is currently engaged in the Freiburg Research Collaboration Programme (FRESCO) as a Senior Fellow through December 2025.
Education
- Doctorate in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Yale University
Research Focus
Dr. Opwis specializes in the dynamics of Islamic jurisprudence, examining how legal scholars achieve change while preserving scriptural foundations. Her work analyzes historical evolution of concepts like public interest (maslaha) and juristic preference (istihsan), with particular emphasis on 11th-century ethical transformations in legal reasoning. She investigates authority construction within Islamic legal schools and contemporary shifts in religious legitimacy, bridging medieval scholarship with modern applications of Islamic law.
Publications Overview
Her scholarly output includes articles and book chapters addressing legal reinterpretation, authority structures, and reform debates in Islamic law, culminating in a recent monograph on 11th-century jurisprudence. These works consistently explore intersections of ethics, legal theory, and socio-political contexts across historical and contemporary frameworks.
Teaching & Affiliations
At Georgetown, she teaches courses on Islamic religious sciences, conceptions of justice, and modern transformations of religious authority. Her primary research affiliation is the Freiburg Research Collaboration Programme (FRESCO), facilitating interdisciplinary investigation of Islamic legal traditions.
