Adnan A. Zulfiqar's scholarship centers on better understanding the theoretical and practical dynamics of legal change in domestic and global contexts. His interdisciplinary approach particularly relies on legal history, including historical roots of the present, to uncover potential conflicts and innovations for legal reform. Zulfiqar’s primary fields of inquiry are criminal law, the laws of war (IHL) and Islamic law. In criminal law, his work explores questions on criminal codification, over-criminalization, and abuse of authority. In Islamic law, he focuses on the formulation, evolution and application of Islamic legal concepts, with particular emphasis on legal obligation in times of war and revolution.
In 2017, Zulfiqar joined the faculty at Rutgers Law as an Assistant Professor. Prior to that, he was a George Sharswood Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (2015-2017) and a Harry F. Guggenheim Fellow. He previously consulted with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), helping draft penal codes and commentaries for the Federal Republic of Somalia and the Republic of the Maldives. Zulfiqar also worked as an Associate in the Investigations, White Collar and Fraud Group at Hogan Lovells, LLP (Washington, D.C.) and was a Legislative Staffer for U.S. Senator Max Cleland (D-GA). He is currently a Fellow at the Truman National Security Project.
Zulfiqar received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and has an M.L.S. in International Affairs (Georgetown) and M.A. in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations (UPenn). He is currently completing his Ph.D. dissertation on collective duties in Islamic law, with a specific focus on jihad and social responsibility, at the University of Pennsylvania.