Mohamed Bachari – A Moroccan-Emirati author wins the Sheikh Zayed Book Award for his distinguished foundational effort in the rights of Muslim women.
Under the patronage of His Highness the President of the State, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award announced the names of the winners in its various categories during its nineteenth session, held by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, through the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language. This session was marked by the well-deserved victory of Dr. Mohamed Bachari, the Moroccan-Emirati thinker and academic, and the Secretary-General of the World Council of Muslim Communities. He won the award in the category of Development and State Building for his prominent work: “The Right to Labor and Effort: Foundational Approaches to the Rights of Muslim Women.”
This work represents a significant contribution to contemporary jurisprudential and legal literature, as Dr. Bachari revisits the concept of labor and effort with a foundational perspective that combines the strength of traditional reference and the depth of purposive considerations. The book addresses the issue of financial justice within the institution of marriage, based on solid jurisprudential deliberations within the Maliki school and other legal schools, highlighting how this concept can form a legal and ethical basis for safeguarding women’s rights to wealth acquired during marriage, grounded in their actual participation and efforts in family finances.
This academic work emerges within a broader societal and legal discourse taking place in several Arab and Islamic countries regarding the necessity of enshrining women’s financial rights in civil laws, particularly in cases of divorce or the husband’s death, to ensure their dignity and enhance family cohesion. The book is distinguished by its ability to reconcile the objectives of Sharia with the requirements of social justice, within a robust scientific discourse that draws from heritage without neglecting contemporary realities.
In his first statement following his victory, Dr. Mohamed Bachari said: “This accolade is not merely recognition of individual effort but also an honor to the spirit of purposive reasoning when the heritage is invoked to provide precise and just answers to contemporary questions. The right to labor and effort is not a new concept but a rich legal principle that is ripe for activation through texts and laws that preserve women’s rights without conflicting with the essence of Sharia.”
Dr. Mohamed Bachari, the Moroccan-Emirati author, is one of the most prominent contemporary thinkers in the fields of purposive jurisprudence and international relations. He has made extensive contributions to promoting values of diversity and coexistence and serves as the Secretary-General of the World Council of Muslim Communities, based in Abu Dhabi, where he works to support initiatives for civilizational understanding and combat extremist rhetoric.
The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is one of the highest literary and intellectual prizes in the Arab world, recognizing works that blend authenticity and innovation, contribute to establishing national values, enhance cultural awareness, and promote human dignity within a refined human knowledge context.
With this accolade, Dr. Mohamed Bachari demonstrates that jurisprudential reasoning, when harmonizing between principles and objectives, transforms into a creative propositional power capable of addressing people’s issues, defending their humanity, and safeguarding their dignity in light of a guiding spirit of Sharia and its objectives.
