Muʾmin Shwaideh (Shwaydaḥ) (مؤمن أحمد ذياب شويدح ) was a lecturer in the Faculty of Sharia and Law, and supervisor of Graduate Studies at the Islamic University in Gaza. 

Professor Shwaideh appears to have earned two master’s degrees: the first, in Comparative Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence), from the Putra Malaysia University in the state of Selangor (Malaysia) in 2006 and the second, in General Law, from the Faculty of Shariʿa and Law at the Islamic University-Gaza in 2019. His 2006 thesis addressed inheritance and succession in Islamic law and was entitled, The Impact of Modern Communication Methods on the Inheritance of the Missing in Islamic Jurisprudence. With his specialization in comparative fiqh, he was one of very few young scholars in Gaza to obtain a professorship in this domain. Moreover, this expertise qualified him to join the prestigious Fatwa Council of the Islamic University.

His second thesis (November 2019), in General Law, was entitled, A Legal Discussion Applying the Principles of the Islamic Shariʿa as a Chief Source for Palestinian Legislation – an Applied Analytical Study of Penal Legislation. Photos of his defense and a video of the conferring of his degree can be viewed on his Facebook page here and here. In addition to the two theses, which were published by the Islamic University in Gaza, Professor Shwaideh published an article that treated his longstanding concern with how Islamic law would adjudicate particular novel practices in contemporary society. Entitled, “Profit from the Sale and Marketing of Advertising Services by Websites in Light of Islamic Law,” it appeared in the Journal of Sharia and Islamic Studies (Kuwait University, 2018). 

Professor Shwaideh was an active scholar who sought opportunities to continue to learn and broaden his knowledge about legal matters. As an example, according to his colleagues, he chose to take part in a training course on international humanitarian law. The course was open to academics and judges from the Middle East and North Africa and beyond, and held in Beirut in March 2012. At that time, he was Assistant Vice Dean of the Faculty of Shariʿa and Law at the Islamic University of Gaza.

Alongside his teaching, scholarship and administrative work at the university, Muʾmin Shwaideh was involved with the al-Quds Society for Islamic Research and Studies and a member of the League of Islamic Scholars of Palestine. 

Muʾmin Shwaideh died on 23 November 2023 (some sources say 18 November) when his home in Dayr al-Balah was bombed by Israeli forces. He was 39 years old. He was killed along with his brother, academic Mustafa Shwaideh, and other members of his family. The youngest relative who died with him — Ya’la Muʾmin Ahmed Shwaideh — was only one year old and carried his name. 

Photo credit: IPS