States embracing Islam-based laws are frequently seen as struggling with establishing democratic institutions, jeopardizing human rights and encouraging executive encroachment on the judiciary. This paper explores whether the presence of Islam-based legal language in a domestic legal system is associated with lower levels of electoral democracy, fewer protections for private liberties, women’s rights, and a weak judiciary. Relying on original data covering laws in 29 Islamic law states (2001–2012), we focus on Islam-based legal language in these states’ constitutional and subconstitutional domestic legal systems. By itself, Islam-based legal language is not associated with a weak judiciary or the absence of political liberties. However, subconstitutional—particularly legislative—commitments to Islam-based legal language are frequently associated with lower levels of democracy and fewer protections for private liberties and women’s rights.

接受基于伊斯兰教的法律的国家经常被视为在建立民主制度、危及人权和鼓励行政部门侵犯司法机构方面苦苦挣扎。本文探讨了国内法律体系中基于伊斯兰教的法律语言的存在是否与选举民主水平较低、对私人自由、妇女权利的保护较少以及司法系统薄弱有关。依靠涵盖 29 个伊斯兰法律州（2001-2012 年）的法律的原始数据，我们专注于这些州的宪法和次宪法国内法律体系中基于伊斯兰教的法律语言。就其本身而言，基于伊斯兰教的法律语言与薄弱的司法机构或缺乏政治自由无关。然而，