The International Criminal Court, Islamic Legal Tradition, and the Arab World: Quo Vadis?

Almost twenty-five years after the conclusion of the Rome Statute, a groundbreaking international treaty which established the world’s first permanent and (intended) universal International Criminal Court (icc), the Court appears to have reached a quagmire, whereby its reach and jurisdiction is far
from universal. The intended universal reach of the Court that was envisioned in 1998 has been undermined throughout the past quarter of a century by a singular operation of the Court and narrow interpretation of the Rome Statute that have placed Western international law principles and
institutions on a pedestal, and largely neglected the alternative visions of law that exist in the world, particularly Islamic Law. The implication of this has been to alienate Islamic law countries from reach of the Court, notwithstanding that many of prosecutions that have been brought before
the icc have related to the Muslim world in one way or another. It is therefore critical that steps are taken to redirect the course towards a more inclusive, pluralistic Court, which acknowledges the legal traditions of the whole world, and not just those belonging to the West. In light of this, this essay
seeks to provide some solutions for the Court, by illuminating the historical development of the Court and its place in the Muslim world, and exploring the points of contact and tension between international criminal law as it is traditionally conceived by Western international law institutions and Islamic law.