For Syed Mumtaz Ali, 77, an India-born Islamic lawyer and scholar who is the driving intellectual force behind the institute, a Muslim cannot be a Muslim without following Shariah.
The court ruled on a petition submitted by an Islamic lawyer, Dr Mohammad Aslam Khaki, following a police raid of a hijra colony in the historical city of Taxila.
Rulings by the Council of Guardians, a 12-member supervisory body of top clerics and Islamic lawyers, have eliminated 402 candidates nominated by reform groups.
An Islamic lawyers association in Lahore, Pakistan, won a court injunction on Wednesday against the popular social networking site Facebook, after someone suggested online that other users should post drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Guardian Council, whose six clerics are handpicked by Ayatollah Khamenei and six Islamic lawyers appointed by the judiciary, took over screening of election candidates after the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.
The Guardian Council, a group of 12 clerics and Islamic lawyers who screen candidates and legislation and must ultimately approve the election results, suggested that there had been "numerous irregularities" in the election, including lost ballots.
Muhammad Salim Al-Awwa is an Islamic thinker, lawyer and international arbitrator, supported by Al-Wasat (centrist) Party.
This comparison and other satires appeared in her book "My Reactions as a Citizen" and prompted Yusuf Akin, an Islamic-oriented lawyer based in Izmir, to file a complaint against Ms. Cig and her publisher, Ismet Ogutcu.
If a majority of the council does not find a piece of legislation in compliance with the constitution or if a majority of the council's Islamic canon lawyers find the document to be contrary to the standards of Islamic law, then the council may strike it down or return it with revisions to the Majles for reconsideration.
Among prominent Islamists, Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a lawyer, Islamic activist and candidate for the Egyptian presidency, has refused to endorse the Azhar Charter.
The only defendant whose motion to dismiss was denied was Dubai Islamic Bank; a lawyer for the bank did not respond to a request for comment.
