Dr Imranali Panjwani

Imranali Panjwani For media enquiries please contact the Press Team
Senior Lecturer
Faculty:
Faculty of Business and Law
School:
Economics, Finance and Law
Location:
Chelmsford
Areas of Expertise:
Law , Family law , Medical law , Islamic Law , Human rights , Jurisprudence
Research Supervision:
Yes

Dr Imranali Panjwani has lived, studied and worked in the UK, Middle East and Australia as an academic, lawyer, chaplain and community worker. He researches Islamic and Western Law focusing on the subject of the law, interpretation of scripture, moral development and access to justice and human rights for minority communities. His country expert reports for asylum seekers have been commented upon by judges and lawyers and draw upon his diverse legal, cultural and religious experiences. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

For his access to justice work in immigration and spiritual care for palliative patients, he received the national Spirit in the Community award at the GG2 Leadership & Diversity Awards in 2025 and Highly Commended Access to Justice award at the UK Diversity Legal Awards in 2021.

[email protected]

Connect with Imranali on LinkedIn

Visit the Diverse Legal Consulting website

Background

Dr Panjwani is the Head and Founder of Diverse Legal Consulting, a consultancy that specialises in country expert reports on Middle East & North Africa (MENA) for asylum seekers. Drawing upon his seminary and university studies, his work cuts across scriptural exegesis, jurisprudence, philosophy, logic and metaphysics. By re-examining the subject of the law, a critical evaluation of how laws are derived from religious and non-religious sources can take places. This also means broadening our notions of evidence to understand other legal systems better so that the dignity of minorities can be recognised.

In his spare time, he engages in interfaith dialogue in Muslim and faith communities worldwide and likes playing racket sports such as tennis, padel, pickleball and more and doing charity work. He enjoys spending time with family and when possible, escapes into the world of fantasy football and all other idiosyncratic creative outlets.

Awards

Spoken Languages
  • English
  • Arabic
  • Persian
  • Gujarati
Research interests
  • Islamic law, jurisprudence and exegesis
  • Logic and legal reasoning
  • The rights of asylum seekers and minority communities
  • The relationship between law, religion and spirituality
  • Legal education
  • Decolonisation

Areas of expertise

  • Law
  • Family Law
  • Medical Law
  • Islamic Law
  • Immigration and Human rights
  • Jurisprudence
  • Scripture and Exegesis
  • Logic and Legal Education
  • Decolonisation
Areas of research supervision
  • Comparative Islamic and Western jurisprudence
  • International human rights
  • Jurisprudence

Imranali's current research projects include:

  • REF Impact case study research for CAJI on access to justice for asylum seekers through a greater recognition of religious, cultural and linguistic evidence
  • Chapters for edited collections published by De Gruyter Brill & Al-Mahdi Institute on Islamic Law, Family Law and Qur’anic Exegesis as well as a chapter for ARU CAJI’s edited collection on access to justice to be published by the University of London Press.
Teaching

Imranali teaches the following modules at ARU:

  • Family Law
  • European Union Law
  • Medical Law
  • Civil Litigation (previously taught)
  • Business Law (previously taught)
  • English Legal System & Skills (previously taught)
Qualifications
  • Post-Doctoral Research & Persian Language Studies: The Research Institute of Al-Mustafa International University (Jami'at al-Mustafa), Mashhad, Iran
  • PhD in Theology & Religious Studies, King’s College London  
  • PGDip in Academic Practice (Teaching Certificate), King’s College London
  • PGDip in the Legal Practice Course (LPC), University of Law, Birmingham
  • Seminary Training in Islamic Studies & Arabic, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham
  • LLB in Law, University of Sheffield
Memberships, editorial boards
  • Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy
  • Member, Electronic Immigration Network (EIN) Expert’s Directory
  • Book reviewer, Religion (Taylor & Francis Journal)
Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

Consultancy

Country expert reports submitted to the UK Immigration & Asylum Tribunal and commented upon by judges (sample list):

  • ‘Country Expert Report on Nigeria’ submitted to the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). Case Number: UI-2022-006531, 9 July 2024
  • 'Country Expert Report on Saudi Arabia' submitted to the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Appeal Number: PA/04774/2019, 11 March 2020
  • 'Country Expert Report on India' submitted to the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Appeal Number: HU/14446/2016, 29 April 2019
Selected recent publications

Edited Books

Journal articles

Chapters

Entries

  • Panjwani, I. (2019) 'Bahrain'. In Merskin, D. (Ed)., The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media & Society(Los Angeles: Sage Publications).
  • Panjwani, I. (2017), ‘Ali b. Abi Talib’, ‘Ghaybah’, ‘Hadith’, ‘Husayn’, ‘Ilm’, ‘Ismah’, ‘Ithna-Ashariyyah’, ‘Ja’far al-Sadiq’, ‘Mahdi’, ‘Repent’, ‘Qur’an’ and ‘Yazid’, in Cakmak, C (ed)., Islam: A Worldwide Encyclopaedia - 4 volumes (California: ABC-CLIO, 2017)
  • Panjwani, I. (2014) 'Soul'. In: Kalin, I., Ayduz, S. and Dagli, C. (Eds). (2014) The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Science and Technology in Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 267-273.

Submissions to the UK Parliament

Recent presentations and conferences
  • ‘Human Trafficking of Young Albanian Males to the UK’, EUROCRIM conference, The American College of Greece, Athens, 3-6 September 2025
  • ‘A Lacuna in Shi’i Legal Theory: Human Experience’, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, 17-18 July 2025
  • ‘Creative ways to discuss race, gender, identity and politics in the classroom’, ARU Engage Conference, 24 June 2025
  • ‘Was the Imami socio-political model ever conceived as a ‘minority’?’, Communal Organization and Coexistence in Shiʿism and Ibadism, International Symposium, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, 12-14 June 2025
  • ‘An Evaluation of the Rationalist Hermeneutical Approach in Qur’anic Exegeses’, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, 14-15 April 2025
  • ‘The impact of AI on faith and humanity’, Artificial Intelligence and Faith conference, Abrar House, London, 11th September 2023
  • ‘An evaluation of Qaidat al-Firash (the rule of the wedlock) in Islamic & English law’, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, 6-7 July 2023
  • ‘Fostering EDI in the classroom’, ARU Learning & Teaching Conference, ARU Cambridge, 3rd June 2024
  • ‘Decolonisation and the role of logic in teaching law’, ARU’s Engage Conference, 28th June 2023
  • ‘Interpreting history and human struggle: the migration of the Khoja Shi’a Ithna Asheries from India to East-Africa’, AHSS Research Conference, ARU Cambridge, 22nd June 2023
  • ‘The importance of religious, cultural and linguistic evidence in immigration and asylum cases’, 23rd International Roundtable for the Semiotics of Law held at Pontificia Università Antonianum, Rome, 25th May 2023
  • ‘The Verses of Law in the Qur’an’, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, 27th April 2023
  • ‘The importance of understanding religious and cultural linguistic terms in asylum claims’, Centre for Access to Justice & Inclusion Research Series, 22nd February 2023
  • ‘The Need for a Language Database: How Asylum Seekers become Passive Participants in Formulating their Identities in a Democratic Society’, Participation through Language: Actors, Practices, Ideologies, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, 25th – 26 March 2021
  • ‘The Ignored Heritage of Western Law: Islamic Law’, Decolonisation of Law conference, University of Bristol, 13 September 2019
  • ‘An Evaluation of the Chapter of Legal Judgement in Islamic Law’, University of Copenhagen – Nordic Mosques Research Network held in Gotenburg, Sweden, 21-23 August 2019
  • ‘A Critical Examination of Nafaqah (maintenance) in Islamic Law’, Multiple Materialities in Muslim Marriages, University of Amsterdam, 13-14 June 2019
  • 'The Creation of Minority Case Law: A Possible Solution for the Recognition of Muslim Refugee Rights in European Countries’ (Muslim minorities and the refugee crisis in Europe. Narratives and policy responses. SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland. Organised by Erasmus+: Programme of the European Union, 8–9 November 2018).
  • 'Broadening the Role of Imams: Imam as Key Brokers between Muslim & Non-Muslim Communities’ (Brokerage in Diverse Europe Workshop. Organised by The Open University/Göttingen University, Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Council for European Studies held in London, 12-13 Jan 18).
  • 'Case Law as a Solution for Reclaiming Minority Rights & Identities’ (Islamic Human Rights Commission & Universal Justice Network Conference, Penang, Malaysia, 25-26 October 2016).
  • 'Constructing a Framework for Human Dignity in Islam: The Thought of Zayn al-Abidin’ (Exploring the Meaning & Application of Human Dignity in Islam, Imam Hasan Centre, Sydney, 16-17 July 2016).
  • 'From Theory to Practice: The Relevance of English Case Law in Shi'i Jurisprudence’ (Symposium on Shi'a Jurisprudence, Al-Mahdi Institute & Durham University, Durham University, 16–18 August 2015).
  • 'A Lacuna in Shi'i Legal Theory: The Role of the Subject in the Derivation of Law’ (Research Institute of Al-Mustafa International University, Mashhad, 7 June 2015).
Media experience

Imranali has appeared in online, local and international news. Some of his recent press coverage includes: