FOURTEEN Conclusion

§ this survey has sought to catalogue and explain the nature and application of Islamic family law within the US Muslim community. The potential of this community is evident by the wide range and depth of its contributions in this area.

This study has demonstrated that Islamic family law as manifested in the United States has been a subject of significant interest and considerable complexity, both in terms of US domestic and Islamic law, as well as their interaction. In the previous chapter, we have seen that within the United States are significant trends of reform and activism addressing Islamic family law. Yet it is important to keep in mind that these reform efforts also face several potential problems as they progress. For example, one of the main concerns that the Muslim community shares with other religious groups in the United States is the recognition that forward-thinking actions and scholarship that steer away from religious orthodoxy may lose acceptance by the mainstream faith-based system. In a parallel situation, the Jewish orthodox community has, at times, refused to accept terms that do not conform to a traditional understanding of religious rights when those rights were negotiated in a ketubah, or religious pre-nuptial agreement (Greenberg-Kobrin ¹999'∙ 397)-

Another major potential problem lies in the need to differentiate between culture and religion. Enmeshed in this particular question is the role of cultural practice and interpretation. While a cultural practice may actually protect the family rights of an individual, when the family serves as a negotiating representative in marriages, it is possible that a cultural pattern of family interaction can be more limiting than the constraints actually set by religious law (Hashim, interview, 2000).⁹⁷ The Muslim community will have to sift through its multicultural history and traditions and decide which practices will be preserved and which will be discarded if they do not fit an appropriate religious and societal agenda.

Creation of a unified agenda or perspective will remain a challenge for this community. At the heart of this issue is the fact that there remain on-going internal debates in the United States’ Muslim community as to who should be in charge or involved in formulation of community-wide agendas. In some instances, gender has remained a barrier to the full involvement of Muslim women. Different cultural practices are reflected in women’s space in a mosque. For instance, The Mosque in America report notes that there is an increasing practice of separating women in prayer from men by a hung cloth, or having them pray in another room (Bagby et al. 200r. ιι).⁹⁸ While this is not definitive evidence that women are not a part of the general community space, it is interesting to note that there is an increasing trend towards gender segregation in the mosque environment. The study did not reach the conclusion that certain cultural groups had higher levels of segregation in their mosques. This would be a relevant topic to explore in future studies and would provide an analytical tool to differentiate between cultural variables that affect gender participation and religious interpretations that are used to justify segregation. Finally, the reality of class differences among Muslim Americans has been an ongoing divide. For instance, the actions of the immigrant Muslim community have included acknowledgement that they ‘had been guilty of ignoring the persistent and social problems of the indigenous Muslims’ (Dannin 2000: 26).

Another important challenge for the future of Islamic family law in the United States stems from the demographic of Muslims. This report, in talking about Islamic family law in the USA, has assumed a certain level of adherence and belief in Islam as a legitimate organizing system for one’s life and society. We have mentioned the several varieties of interpretation of Islamic law among the diverse Muslims in the United States, but there is also significant variation in levels of adherence to Islam as a source for behaviour in the first place. As noted in both Haddad and Lummis and the Mosque project, Muslim practice ranges from those who are ‘unmosqued’ to those who attend holiday prayers, and those who are more involved in their particular communities (Lummis and Haddad 1987: 9; Bagby et al. 2001: 3). It will be a challenge for Muslim scholars and activists in America to bring together these different types of Muslims and develop a consensus, especially in the volatile area of family law that touches on intimate interpersonal relationships and deep moral values. This is the ultimate challenge for any minority faith: to adhere firmly to its values and traditions while also adapting to the social, legal and cultural contexts in which it exists.

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Source: Welchman Lynn. Women's Rights and Islamic Family Law: Perspectives on Reform. Zed Books,2004. — 328 p.. 2004

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