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Biography
Sumaiyah joined the School of Law in 2025. She obtained her LLB and LLM in International Law, Crime, Justice and Human Rights from University of Birmingham where she is currently finishing her AHRC-funded PhD project. Her thesis develops a concept of 'spiritual equality,' a novel framework for understanding Muslim women's religious subjectivities and for identifying new forms of disadvantage and harm within the domain of spirituality.
Teaching Summary
Criminal Law; Introduction to Law and Legal Theory
Research Summary
Sumaiyah's research develops an emerging concept of 'spiritual equality' as a new perspective on the relationship between law and religion. Her doctoral thesis examines prohibitions on Muslim women's… read more
Current Research
Sumaiyah's research develops an emerging concept of 'spiritual equality' as a new perspective on the relationship between law and religion. Her doctoral thesis examines prohibitions on Muslim women's veiling to reveal the harms and disadvantages experienced in the realm of spirituality, a dimension of life that has yet to be recognised as a site of inequality. She draws on socio-legal and critical legal approaches to articulate spirituality as an intimate dimension of religious freedom that has been overlooked within dominant human rights frameworks, yet remains central to how Muslim women negotiate piety, obligation, and everyday life.
Beyond the case study of veiling, her work highlights the broader potential of spiritual equality to address discrimination faced by religious minorities across diverse contexts. Her research contributes to critical engagements with human rights, feminist legal thought, and decolonial approaches to law, situating spirituality as a vital dimension in the pursuit of equality.
Sumaiyah also maintains a strong interest in decolonial and anti-racist approaches to legal pedagogy, exploring how teaching practices can challenge dominant epistemologies in law and create space for alternative ways of knowing and learning. She is passionate about widening participation and tackling structural barriers to legal studies. Her approach to teaching reflects a broader ethos of inclusivity and social justice, working to ensure that legal education is accessible, supportive, and transformative for students from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences.