The Islamic Law of Pearling: Ritual Obligation and Economic Practice in the Arabian Gulf, ca. 1910–1940

Abstract

In the first half of the twentieth century, the legal landscape of the Arabian sheikhdoms was pluralistic and fragmented. The legal actors who settled disputes included local rulers, qāḍīs, pearl merchants, tribal shaykhs, and British officials. Drawing on fatwas and correspondence between religious scholars and notables in Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Doha, Kuwait and Manama, I examine how Islamic law shaped pearling – the region’s central economic activity – during this critical juncture. I show that Islamic law furnished a structure and repertoire of argumentation that actors in the industry were able to mobilize selectively. I argue that seasonal questions about diver obligations during Ramadan led to broader debates about the economic arrangements that structured the trade, in particular usury and labor coercion. These debates reflect shifting power dynamics in the Gulf and the impact of new ideas about Islam and capitalism in the age of print.