Contents

List of tables I ix Acknowledgements ∣ xi

Introduction 1

Lynn Welchman

PART I Muslim personal status law in Egypt: the current situa­tion and possibilities of reform through internal initiatives 15

Essam Fawzy

Introduction 17

1 Social context 22

Education ∣ 22 Workforce participation ∣ 23 Women’s image ∣ 24 Returning to reality 128 Domestic violence against women 129

2 Personal status law in Egypt: an historical overview 30

Between heritage and modernization 130 Personal status law: residual sources and jurisdiction 131 Regulating the Muslim family in Egypt: the development of personal status law 133 Problems in practice I 39

3 Understanding the law: Egyptian family and social attitudes

(results of the field study) 45

The study 145 The sample 145 Ideal marriage age 147 The right of the young woman to choose her life partner 148 Marriage and marriage arrangements 149 Factors affecting the level of dower 150 The purpose of shabka and dower 150 The position on polygyny 152 The husband’s responsibilities 153 The wife’s work outside the home 153 Physical punishment of the wife 155 Reasons for divorce 156 Conclusion 157

4 Law no.

The legislative process 158 Reaction of the shar'i establishment: scholars and religious tendencies 159 The parliamentary debate 163 Political parties and the law 165 Critical articles of Law no. 1 of 2000 as promulgated 167 The new marriage document 170 Loopholes in the law 171 Results of the field survey: the opinions of the elite 172

Results of the field study: the opinions of the general public 181

General conclusions

87

92

General 187 Proposals for development of the law 189 Administrative Teformsproposedbymembersofthejudiciary 189 Recommendations made by civil society activists 189 Concluding comments 191

Appendix: List of statutes

PART Il Islamic law and the transition to Palestinian statehood: constraints and opportunities for legal reform 95

Edited by Penny Johnson and Lynn Welchman

Introduction 97

6 Legal context: shari'a courts and Muslim family law in the

transitional period 99

Lynn Welchman

Shαri'α courts: jurisdiction and laws 1101 Agesofmarriageand custody 1103 Post-divorce maintenance 1103 Judicial divorce 1104 The Oslo peace process: law and transition 1105 Shar'i institutions in the transitional period 1105 Shar'i establishment positioning on personal status law 1108 Conclusions ∣111

7 Palestinian interim governance: state legitimation, legal

reform and the shari'a 112

PennyJohnson

Interim inequalities and features of the transition 1113 State security, ‘re-masculinization’ and civil society 1114 Islamist opposition and shari'a ‘red lines’ 1115 Uneasy allies: the Authority, women’s movement and donors 1116 The Basic Law 1118 Source of authority, shari'a and legitimacy 1119

8 Attitudes towards legal reform of personal status law in Palestine

Rema Hammami

Attitudestowardsreligion 1128 Religiousvaluesandsecular politics 1129 Supportforwomen’srights 1131 Attitudestowards shari'a law 1134 The shaτi'a family law survey 1135 Reformof personal status law 1139 Conclusions 1143

9 Agents for reform: the women's movement, social politics and family law reform

PennyJohnson

Pre-Oslo agents of political mobilization 1144 The Oslo transition: advocacy and protest 1146 The equality strategy 1147 The 1994 Women’s Charter 1147 The model parliament 1147 Maintenance and inheritance: a conflict between rights and needs? 1148 Strategies in the model parliament 1151 Challenging the parliament’s standing 1151 Islamist discourses 1152 Human rights and Western agendas 1152 Defending the model parliament: defending democracy or the state? 1153 Final session: affirmation of democracy, gender agendas subsumed 1154 Towards a new family law: developments and strategies after the model parliament 1155 Divisions and compromises in the women’s movement 1157 Democratic families, democratic society 1158 Sources and issues for a new family law 1158 Pluralistic elements of a new family law 1159 Conclusions: strategies and issues for action 1160

Appendix: Case history

Fadwa al-Labadi

Context 1164 Limits of male maintenance: females as bread­winners 1166 Governmentandpubliclaw 1167 CustomarylawHives at half value? 1168 Diya between shari'a and customary law 1170 Wasjusticeserved? 1171

PART III No altars: a survey of Islamic family law in the United States

Asifa Quraishi and Najeeba Syeed-Miller

Introduction

10 Islamic family law in American Muslim hands

Authority figures 1181 Intellectual resources 1183

11 The Muslim family in the USA: law in practice

Solemnizing the union 1188 Terms of the contract 1188 Within the marriage ∣192 DissolutionofAmericanMuslimmarriages ∣197 Deliberately opting out of US default rules 1197

12 Islamic family law in US courts 199

The validity of Muslim marriages 119g The enforceability of specific marriage contract provisions ∣ 200 The validity of Muslim divorces 1208 Child custody ∣210

13 Future trends and predictions 213

14 Conclusion 218

Appendix: Table of cases 220

US Supreme Court cases ∣ 220 Federal Court cases ∣ 220 State Court cases 1220

PART IV Domestic violence and shari'a: a comparative study of Muslim societies in the Middle East, Africa and Asia 231

Lisa Hajjar

Introduction 233

15 Domestic violence and shari'a 235

Section i. Gender (inequality, women’s rights and the problem of domestic violence 1235 Section 2.

Contributors I 273

Bibliography ∣ 276

Index I 292

Tables

Part I

1.1 Distribution of sample according to geographical location 46

1.2 Distribution of sample according to sex 46

1.3 Distribution of sample according to standard of education 46

1.4 Distribution of individuals according to marital status 47

1.5 Ideal age for female marriage 47

1.6 Motivating factors for early marriage 48

1.7 Opinion on the young woman having the right to choose her life partner 49

1.8 Desired characteristics of life partner 49

1.9 Factors taken into consideration in choosing life partner 50

1.10 Factorsaffectinglevelofdower 51

I.è Meanings given to the shabka 51

1.12 Purpose of the shabka 51

1.13 Purpose of dower 52

1.14 Reasonsforjustifyingpolygyny 52

1.15 Husband⁵Sresponsibilitiestowardshisfamily 53

1.16 Reasons for allowing women to work 53

1.17 Womengoingouttowork 53

1.18 Dutiesofaworkingwomantowardsherhusbandandchildren 54

1.19 Right of the husband to physically punish the wife 55

1.20 Approval or disapproval of Article 17 regarding divorce from 'uτfi marriage 73

1.21 Approval or disapproval of Article 18 on reconciliation efforts in cases of

talaq and tatliq 73

1.22 Approval or rejection of Article 20 on khul' 75

1.23 Approval or disapproval of the clause denying appeal in khul' rulings 75

1.24 Approval or disapproval of establishment of talaq by witnessing and docu­

mentation 77

1.25 Requirement of the husband’s consent to the wife’s travel 77

1.26 Opinion of the ruling out of imprisonment of husband refusing to pay

maintenance 80

1.27 Distribution of sample according to knowledge of new law 82

1.28 Knowledge of the new law by educational level 83

1.29 Opinion of the khul' position, by urban/rural residence 83

1.30 Divorce from 'uτfi marriage 84

1.31 Documentedandwitnesseddivorce 84

1.32 Wife’s right to travel 85

1.33 Imprisonment of a husband refusing to pay maintenance 85

Part Il

II.³ Theroleofreligioninsocietyversuspolitics 129

II.

11.3 MajorprioritiesforPalestiniansociety 130

11.4 Support for women’s political rights 132

11.5 Support for women’s marital rights 133

11.6 Sample distribution of shari'a family law survey 135

11.7 Degree of satisfaction with courts based on use of the courts over the

last year 136

11.8 Are women under seventeen years of age and men under eighteen years

of age mature enough to choose their spouse? 138

11.9 Should the age of marriage by raised for both males and females to

eighteen? 138

II.to Acceptable reasons for divorce 139

II. 11 Do you think family law should respond to changes and new needs in

Palestinian society? 140

II. 12 Do you favour more, fewer or the same level of rights given to women

in the family law currently existing in your place of residence? 140

II. 13 Palestinian opinion of the Egyptian law on khul' 141

II. 14 Reason for supporting or opposing a khul'∖sw 141