Salim Farrar

Salim Farrar is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney Law School. He serves as Co-Director of the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law and Director of Islamic Law within that centre. Additionally, he acts as the University’s Muslim Chaplain. His academic qualifications comprise an LLB and LLM from the University of London, a Diploma in Sharia Law and Practice from the International Islamic University Malaysia, a PhD from the University of Warwick, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education from Coventry University. Before joining the University of Sydney in 2009, Farrar held the position of Associate Professor at the International Islamic University Malaysia, where he taught since 2004. He is presently a DPhil candidate in Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, with research centered on Practical Sufism and Living Sharīʻah through case studies of three contemporary Ṣūfī networks.

Farrar’s research specializations encompass comparative law, Islamic law, law and religion, law and development in the Islamic world, Malaysian law, criminal justice, and Islamic banking and finance. His major publications include the co-authored book Accommodating Muslims under Common Law: A Comparative Analysis with Ghena Krayem (Routledge, 2016; paperback edition 2018), analyzing Muslim accommodation in Australia, the UK, and Canada. He guest-edited the special issue “Law and Development in the Islamic World” for The Law and Development Review (2020). Other significant works are “International Law and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation” in Oxford Bibliographies in International Law (2021); “Islamic Ethics and Truth Commissions in the Muslim World: Towards a Just and Ecologically Sustainable Peace?” in Towards a Just and Ecologically Sustainable Peace (Springer, 2020); “Building Islamic Ethics into Development: Exploring the Role and Limitations of ‘Islamic’ Microfinance in Poverty Alleviation – An Indonesian Case Study” with Tanvir Uddin (The Law and Development Review, 2020); “The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation: Forever on the Periphery of Public International Law?” (Chinese Journal of International Law, 2014); “Accommodating Islamic Banking and Finance in Australia” (UNSW Law Journal, 2011); and “Islamic Jurisprudence and the Role of the Accused: A Re-examination” (Legal Studies, 2003). Farrar contributes to Sydney Law School research themes such as Law in the Region and the World and Governments, Legal Institutions and Rights, and is associated with the Sydney Institute of Criminology and Julius Stone Institute of Jurisprudence. He has delivered presentations at international conferences on topics including organ transplantation in Islam and religious claims in criminal law.

Professional Email: salim.farrar@sydney.edu.au