Businessman donates $10M to establish new Islamic law center at Yale Law School
A Saudi Arabian businessman with an estimated net worth of nearly $20 billion has donated $10 million to Yale Law School to establish an Islamic law center there.
“The contemporary challenges of Islamic law are broadly relevant to political events throughout the entire Islamic world and those are developments that are watched by a much larger audience of people who in many cases have not much knowledge at all of the history and traditions if Islamic law,” said professor Anthony Kronman. He will serve as co-director of the new Abdallah S. Kamel Center for the Study of Islamic Law and Civilization.
The Associated Press and the Yale Daily News have stories.
Kamel is chief executive of the Dallah Albaraka Group, a Saudi banking and real estate concern. For the past several years he has sponsored a lecture series on Islamic law. A Yale law grad who works for Kamel introduced him to law school officials.
In addition to continuing the lecture series, the center is expected to support a tenured professorship, rotating visiting professors and research fellowships in Islamic law. Student fellowships will offer opportunities for research, travel and training in the field.
A law school press release provides additional details.
