What is ILLI?
The ILLI is a pioneering public education program designed to make the Islamic legal tradition accessible, practical, and relevant for Muslims.
Our Approach
The Islamic Law Initiative (ILLI) at Maʿruf Commons begins with a simple question:
How can we preserve the strengths of existing approaches to Islamic legal learning in the community, while addressing their limitations and reducing the risks that emerge when an approach is used outside the role, purpose, or institutional context it was designed for?
Rather than replacing or duplicating existing efforts, we seek to complement and strengthen the valuable work underway in our communities. Our approach draws on the unique benefits each tradition offers—rigor, historical insight, peer review, and wide reach—all while responding to the gaps and pressures that shape Muslim life today.
ILLI complements the teaching of fiqh offered through many institutes by exploring Islamic Law’s development, boundaries, and applications alongside broader aspects of Islamic legal institutions, customary practices, and their intersections with social, political, and moral domains.
ILLI addresses a critical gap in understanding Islamic law. Many in our communities lack foundational knowledge of how Islamic law historically functioned and its practical relevance to daily life, leading to reliance on distorted or overly rigid interpretations.
Underlying this effort is a core conviction: all Muslims need and deserve a foundational Islamic legal education that is faithful to tradition, attentive to history, and responsive to contemporary realities.
Components
ONLINE COURSES
DEEP DIVES
TOOLKITS
GLOSSARY
BLOG ESSAYS
Our Team
Our team brings together members of our communities with expertise across academia, education, research, community development, faith-based leadership, and lived experience. Together, we share the responsibility of stewarding relevant research and developing enriching programs that serve and strengthen Muslim communities.