Home About WFLS Awards Ibrahim Shihata Prize

Ibrahim Shihata Prize

The Washington Foreign Law Society seeks to promote and recognize serious student scholarship in the United States and Canada in the area of Islamic jurisprudence and related legal developments in the Muslim World.  In support of this goal, the WFLS has established an annual writing prize in honor of the late Dr. Ibrahim Shihata, former World Bank General Counsel, past recipient of the WFLS Harry Leroy Jones Award, and revered member of the Washington and international legal communities.  The winner of the Shihata Prize will receive a $2,500 cash prize sponsored by the MEH Foundation as part of that organization’s support of the Society’s efforts to promote student scholarship.

The MEH Foundation of Manlius, New York is a private foundation dedicated to the promotion of scholarship in Middle East affairs.  In addition to the Shihata Prize, the foundation supports academic programs at various institutions, national and community organizations promoting inter-religious dialogue, and the Mohamed El-Hindi Book Series on Arab Culture and Islamic Civilization published by the Syracuse University Press

Apply or Nominate a Student

Please email mail@wfls.org to receive application/nomination materials.

Previous Shihata Award Winners

YearAuthorLaw SchoolTitle
2005Seema Saifee Fordham Univ. School of Law, Class of 2004 “Penumbras, Privacy and the Death of Morals-Based Legislation: Comparing U.S. Constitutional Law with the Inherent Right of Privacy in Islamic Jurisprudence,” 27 Fordham Int’l L. J. 370 (2003)
2006Maximilien Turner Univ. of Pennsylvania Law School, Class of 2005 “The Price of a Scarf: The Economics of Strict Secularism,” 26 U. Pa. J. Int’l Econ. L. 321 (2005)
2007Jehan AslamNYU School of Law, Class of 2007“Judicial Oversight of Islamic Family Law Arbitration in Ontario: Ensuring Meaningful Consent and Promoting Multicultural Citizenship,” 38 N.Y.U. J. Int’l L & Pol. 877 (2006)
2011Holly E. RobbinsThe University of Texas School of Law, Class of 2010“Soul Searching and Profit Seeking: Reconciling the
Competing Goals of Islamic Finance,” 88 Texas L. Rev. 1125 (2010)
2012Ann EisenbergCornell University Law School, Class of 2012Law on the Books vs. Law in Action: Under-Enforcement of Morocco’s Reformed 2004 Family Law, the Moudawana,” 44 CORNELL INT’L L.J. 693 (2011)
2014Alex SchankGeorgetown University Law Center, Class of 2014“Sectarianism and and Transitional Justice in Syria: Resisting International Trials,” 45 Georgetown Journal of International Law 557 (2014)
2018Sarah KhanBenjamin Cardozo School of Law, Class of 2018“Faith-Based Mediation in the Pakistan-India Conflict,” Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution (2018)
2020Aisha SaadYale Law School, Class of 2018 “The Corporate WAQF in Law and Practice,” 10 Berkey Journal of Middle East and Islamic Law 1 (2019)