Intisar A. Rabb

Intisar A. Rabb serves as Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Professor of History in Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, where she also directs the Program in Islamic Law. Her academic journey includes previous appointments as Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Associate Professor at NYU Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and NYU Law School, and Assistant Professor at Boston College Law School. She has also held visiting positions including Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School.

Her research focuses on Islamic law in historical and modern contexts, with particular expertise in legal maxims, constitutionalism, and criminal law. Rabb's scholarly work bridges historical Islamic jurisprudence with contemporary legal systems, examining how Islamic legal principles interact with modern constitutional frameworks. Her research methodology combines historical analysis with comparative legal studies, often drawing connections between medieval Islamic legal traditions and contemporary legal challenges.

Rabb has pioneered digital approaches to Islamic legal studies through SHARIAsource, an online portal launched in 2015 that provides universal access to information on Islamic law and history while incorporating AI tools for research. Her recent work critically examines AI's capacity to handle Islamic legal research, identifying significant gaps in digitized sources that limit AI's effectiveness in this field.

• MacArthur Foundation Grant for SHARIAsource (2015)
• Henry R. Luce Foundation Grant for SHARIAsource (2015)
• Carnegie Scholar for work on contemporary Islamic law (2010)

Rabb has advised numerous academic initiatives and serves on editorial boards including the Journal of Islamic Law and Society and Law and Social Inquiry. Her scholarly leadership extends to chairing the Section on Islamic Law for the American Association of Law Schools and co-chairing the Islamic Law and Society Collaborative Research Network for the Law and Society Association. She has conducted extensive field research in Egypt, Iran, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries, grounding her theoretical work in practical understanding of contemporary Islamic legal practice.