Women's Rights and Islamic Family Law: Perspectives on Reform
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This volume explores the present-day realities of Islamic family law, with particular emphasis on the rights of women. Three contrasting country cases have been selected: Egypt, the most populous Arab state with a constitutional clause on the place of "principles of the shari`a" as the principal source of legislation; the West Bank and Gaza, family law here being a contested site between different visions of national identity in the process of trying to build a Palestinian state; and the United States, where some in the minority Muslim communities seek to regulate their family relations in accordance with "principles of the shari`a" within the context of a non-Muslim state applying civil law requirements to all family matters. A concluding study ranges further afield in order to explore the challenges and potential of "principles of shari`a" in advocacy on the question of violence against women.
Introduction1Pt. IMuslim personal status law in Egypt : the current situation and possibilities of reform through internal initiatives151Social context222Personal status law in Egypt : an historical overview303Understanding the law : Egyptian family and social attitudes (results of the field study)454Law no. 1 of 2000 : a new personal status law and a limited step on the path to reform585General conclusions87Pt. IIIslamic law and the transition to Palestinian statehood : constraints and opportunities for legal reform956Legal context : shari'a courts and Muslim family law in the transitional period997Palestinian interim governance : state legitimation, legal reform and the shari'a1128Attitudes towards legal reform of personal status law in Palestine1259Agents for reform : the woman's movement, social politics and family law reform144Pt. IIINo altars : a survey of Islamic family law in the United States17710Islamic family law in American Muslim hands18111The Muslim family in the USA : law in practice18812Islamic family law in US courts19913Future trends and predictions21314Conclusion218Pt. IVDomestic violence and shari'a : a comparative study of Muslim societies in the Middle East, Africa and Asia23115Domestic violence and shari'a235
