International Journal of Middle East Studies (2020), 52, 665–684 doi:10.1017/S002074382000080X ARTICLE Law and Moral Regulation in Modern Egypt: Ḥisba from Tradition to Modernity Ahmed Ezzat Faculty of Asian and Middle East Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Corresponding author. E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract This article examines the historical roots of juridical moral regulation in modern Egypt, assessing the relationship between modern law and shariʿa through the lens of the influence of the Islamic practice of h isba on courts and legislators. The article engages critically with scholarship on Islamic law and postcolonial theory regarding the impact of Western colonialism on law in Muslim societies and problematizes the understanding that shariʿa was secularized in the Egyptian legal culture through the translation of Western legal concepts. Instead, a different narrative is offered, one that recognizes the agency of local actors in the pro- cess of secularization and considers the influence of shariʿa in the legal development of contemporary Egypt. Keywords: colonialism; Egyptian law; h isba; Islamic law; shariʿa In the years following the 25 January Revolution in Egypt in 2011, there was a notable uptick in the num- ber of individuals sentenced for their sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political opinions, or moral standing. Cases based on both citizen complaints and law enforcement interventions—by the police or prosecution authorities—were brought against writers, activists, artists, and bloggers. The state’s prosecu- tion of individuals for their opinions, sexual behaviors, and religious beliefs has been couched using the Islamic principle of h isba, a religious concept enshrined in the Qurʾan and sunna and debated extensively by Muslim jurists.