Lutforahman Saeed is a distinguished scholar in Islamic law and human rights. He formerly served as a faculty member at the Faculty of Islamic Studies (Sharia) at Kabul University (KU), where he taught for over 27 years. Dr. Saeed earned his B.A. in Islamic Studies from Kabul University in 1991, followed by an LL.M. from the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle in 2010. He completed his Ph.D. with summa cum laude honors in Islamic Law and Human Rights from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany, in December 2019. His doctoral dissertation received the STAEDTLER Foundation's Award for Outstanding Dissertation in 2020.
Dr. Saeed’s research mainly focuses on Islamic law, Islamic studies, and the intersection of custom and human rights, with an emphasis on Afghanistan. His scholarly work includes several articles in national academic journals as well as his 2022 monograph, Islam, Custom, and Human Rights in Afghanistan. He was also editor-in-chief of the Journal of Afghan Legal Studies from 2017 to 2022. His research currently focuses on women's right to freedom of movement within Islamic law and under Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. His work advocates for a nuanced understanding of Islamic legal traditions and their contemporary implications, especially in contexts marked by authoritarianism and ideological control. Through scholarly analysis and engagement with current legal discourse, he aims to amplify critical perspectives on women's rights in Afghanistan today.
In addition to his academic endeavors, Dr. Saeed has held several significant public and institutional roles. He served as a member and vice president of the Independent Commission for Overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution (ICOIC) for four years. Currently, he is a visiting scholar at the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS) at J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, where he teaches Islamic Law.
