Summary
With regard to an ideal type, Islamic marriage and inheritance belongs, as stated at the beginning, to the patriarchal type. The husband is not only head of the family, he also represents his family in the public and controls the woman’s body, while having certain prerogatives such as polygyny, repudiation right, guardianship and inheriting twice as much as a woman.
The separation of property has led Islamist feminists to argue that Islamic law is ‘modern’ because it gives women a right to property.110 However, this has to be seen as a part of the whole picture of gendered relation in marriage. Mahr, even if not stipulated in the contract, has to be paid before the first marital sex and maintenance is withheld from a woman who is nashiza, which is defined by the jurists as a woman refusing to have intercourse with her husband and/or who does not obey him in other areas. The husband is responsible for maintenance and if he is not able to provide it, the wife can ask for the dissolution of marriage. This is corroborated by Ibn Rushd, who argued that maintenance is either seen as a counter-value of sexual utilization (istimta ', lit. enjoyment) or as compensation for the fact that she is confined (mahbusa, lit. ‘captive’) because of her husband in case of his absence.111 Thus, Islamic marriage can be seen as a relation of money in exchange for sexual service and obedience, the property separation being a special Islamic flavour of patriarchal family structure but not an expression of gender equality. This core and kernel of gender relations have not been changed or dissolved yet. Female and male activists engage in developing new role models and types of masculinity and femininity against the backdrop of development toward a nuclear family as well as the increasing education and professional life of women. They fight for more gender equality and to curtail the husband’s right to polygyny and divorce. Still, central male prerogatives — with the exception of Tunisia and Turkey — have not yet been abolished. In a law passed in 2004, Morocco recognized husband and wife equally as head of the family (art. 4) but polygyny still is possible and dower is still part of the contract.What is the future of Islamic family law? Azza Karam defines three ideal types of feminists in the Muslim world: Islamist feminists, who consider man and woman, not as equal, but as having complementary rights and who (re)define the gender relation in a hierarchical way keeping many male prerogatives; Muslim feminists, who are convinced that gender equality and Islamic law can generally go together — both groups refer to Islamic sources but engage in new interpretations; and secular feminists, who opt for the acceptance of international human rights standards including gender equality.112 Is there a chance for gender equality to be realized in the Muslim nation states? The development surely depends on the bargaining power these different social groups display. The legislator in Tunisia demonstrated the general flexibility of the Shariah more than half a century ago by creating a personal status law based on gender equality, prohibiting polygyny and giving women equal access to divorce. Other states have not followed this radical course but have made smaller steps towards more gender equality by curtailing some of the male prerogatives. It is thus evident thatfiqh, the human interpretation of God’s law, is adaptable to different times and regions and that it has shown plurality in its interpretation throughout the pre-modern time as well as in modernity.
Notes
1 Asaf A. Fyzee, Outlines of Muhammadan Law, 4th edn (Dehli: Oxford University Press, 1974), 90.
2 By ‘pre-modern’ I mean the time before the first codification of family law in 1875 by Qadri Pasha in Egypt, which was based on Hanafi law. For reasons of convenience, the expression ‘family law and succession’ is used in this chapter.
3 I use the Qur’an translation of Arthur John Arberry.
4 Rudolph Peters, Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 53-4, 59-64.
5 S ee also Irene Schneider, Women in the Islamic World: From the Earliest Times to the Arab Spring (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2014), 22-30.
6 Irene Schneider, Women in the Islamic World, 5-10.
7 S usan Spectorsky has not only compared the broad range of different legal interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunnah in the four Sunni schools of law but has also found some substantial differences in the legal classifications and arguments between the formative and the classical time of Islamic law. See Susan Spectorsky, Women in Classical Islamic Law: A Survey of the Sources (Leiden: Brill, 2010).
8 Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964), 40.
9 Irene Schneider, ‘Islamisches Recht zwischen gottlicher Satzung und temporaler Ordnung? Überlegungen zum Grenzbereich zwischen Recht und Religion’. In Recht und Religion in Europa: Zeitgenossische Konflikte und historische Perspektiven, ed. Christine Langenfeld and Irene Schneider (Gottingen: Universitätsverlag Gottingen, 2008), 142-6.
10 In what follows, references are made to one pre-modern ikhtilaf text written by Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) and entitled Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihayat al-Muqtasid. Ibn Rushd, however, takes only the Sunni schools of law into consideration. He will be quoted below with two page references, giving first the reference of the Arabic edition and second the reference of the English translation.
11 Noel J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1964), 183.
12 According to the Hanafis, women were allowed to be judges in family law matters but the other schools objected, only the Tabari giving women the right to be a judge in all legal matters. There seem to have been only a few if any women judges in Muslim history. See Irene Schneider, ‘The Position of Women in the Islamic and Afghan Judiciary’.
In The Shari‘a in the Constitutions of Afghanistan, Iran and Egypt: Implications for Private Law, ed. Nadjma Yassari (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005), 83-101.13 Takhayyur. See Noel J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law, 185-96.
14 Basem F. Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam: Birth Control Before the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 10-11.
15 Irene Schneider, Women in the Islamic World, 97-102.
16 Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer: A Translation of Bidayat al-Mujtahid, trans. Imran Ahzan Khan Nyazee, vol. 2 (Reading, Berkshire: Garnet, 1994-6), 31/36.
17 Ibid., 73/87; Irene Schneider, Women in the Islamic World, 38.
18 Frederic Lagrange, ‘Sexualities and Queer Studies’. In Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, Edited by Suad Joseph (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 419-22.
19 Rudolph Peters, Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 61.
Frederic Lagrange, ‘Sexualities and Queer Studies', 419—22.
Noel J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law, 111; Shahla Haeri, ‘Divorce in Contemporary Iran: A Male Prerogative in Self-Will'. In Islamic Family Law, ed. Chibli Mallat and Jane Connors (London: Graham & Trotman, 1990), 58.
Joseph Schacht and Aharon Layish, ‘Mirath’. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn, ed. P. Bearman et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2012), http://dx.doi.org.encyclopaediaofislam.han.sub.uni-goettingen. de/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0747 (accessed 24 July 2018); Wilhelm Heffening, ‘Mut'a’. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn, ed. P. Bearman et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2012), http://dx.doi. org.encyclopaediaofislam.han.sub.uni-goettingen.de/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0819 (accessed 24 July 2018).
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 3/2; Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 3rd edn (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2002), 47.
David Pearl and Werner Menski, Muslim Family Law, 3rd edn (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1998), 140; Joseph Schacht and Aharon Layish, ‘Mirath’; Asaf A.
Fyzee, Outlines of Muhammadan Law, 89.Because they are of great importance for the Islamic concept of marriage and family those financial rights and the connected duties are mentioned in a separate paragraph.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 3—8/13—8.
Ibn Rushd states that the majority of the jurists agree that marriage is to be subsumed into the religious category of recommended acts, some even see it as obligatory: Ibn Rushd, The Distin- guishedJurist's Primer, vol. 2, 2/1; Shahla Haeri, ‘Divorce in Contemporary Iran', 57.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 8/8; Noel J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law, 111.
Shahla Haeri, ‘Divorce in Contemporary Iran', 57.
Joseph Schacht, Ghaus Ansari, Jean Boyd, J. Knappert, Aharon Layish, J. M. Otto, S. Pompe and Ron Shaham, ‘Nikah’. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn, ed. P. Bearman et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2012), http://dx.doi.org.encyclopaediaofislam.han.sub.uni-goettingen.de/10.1163/1573-3912_ islam_COM_0863 (accessed 24 July 2018).
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 17/19—20.
Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law, 161; Susan Spectorsky, Women in Classical Islamic Law, 157.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist 's Primer, vol. 2, 6/6.
Ibid.
Ibid., 7/7; Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law, 162.
David Pearl and Werner Menski, Muslim Family Law, 143—5; Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 79.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 15—17/17—19.
Susan Spectorsky, Women in Classical Islamic Law, 164—70.
Irene Schneider, Women in the Islamic World, 63—75.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 8—17/8—17.
Ibid., 2, 9/9.
Ibid., 12/13.
Ibid., 13/14—15; Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 53.
Susan Spectorsky, Women in Classical Islamic Law, 151.
I.e. having reached puberty.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 4-5/3-5; Susan Spectorsky, Women in Classical Islamic Law, 151).
Ibid., 6/5—6.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 32—54/36—59.
Ibid., 32/37.
Ibid.
Ibid., 42/49.
Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 69; AsafA. Fyzee, Outlines of Muhammadan Law, 46.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 54—7/63—7.
Ibid., 55/65.
Ibid., 56/66.
Ibid., 18-32/20-36.
Ibid., 18/20.
Ibid., 18/21.
Ibid., 22/25.
Ibid., 27/31.
Susan Spectorsky, Women in Classical Islamic Law, 154.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 54—57/63—67.
Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 95.
It is interesting that the jurists use this terminology for a woman whose husband is absent. They thus seem to recognize her difficult situation but are not, at least not all of them, willing to support her to be freed.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 54/63.
Ibid., 55/64.
Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 81.
Qur’an 31:14.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 93/112.
Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 146.
David Pearl and Werner Menski, Muslim Family Law, 400, 408—10.
Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 159—61; David Pearl and Werner Menski, Muslim Family Law, 410—38.
Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 155.
Joseph Schacht and Aharon Layish, ‘Nikah’.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 61—66/71—79.
Joseph Schacht and Aharon Layish, ‘Nikah’.
Ibid., 63/75.
David Pearl and Werner Menski, Muslim Family Law, 281.
Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law, 164.
Noel J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law, 112.
Joseph Schacht and Aharon Layish, ‘Miräth’.
HREA. The Moroccan Family Code (Moudawana) of February 5, 2004. Global Human Rights Education and Training Centre, http://www.hrea.org/programs/gender-equality-and-womens- empowerment/moudawana/ (accessed 24 July 2018).
See Irene Schneider, ‘Translational Turn and CEDAW: Current Gender Discourses in the Islamic Republic of Iran’. In Indonesian and German Views on the Islamic Legal Discourse on Gender and Civil Rights, ed. Fritz Schulze, and Noorhaidi Hasan (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2015), 133—65. Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 88—97/105—117.
Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 137.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 85/101.
Susan Spectorsky, Women in Classical Islamic Law, 160.
Ibid., 161.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 104—14/127—41.
Ibid., 99-104/121-7.
Qur’an 58:1-4.
Qur ’an 2:336.
Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 114.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 66-70/79-84.
Qur ’an 2:229.
Jamal Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 115.
Qur’an 4:35.
Susan Spectorsky, Women in Classical Islamic Law, 172-8.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 115-22/140-50.
Qur’an 24:6-8.
Ibid., 50-4/58-63.
Noel J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law, 185.
Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer, vol. 2, 50-4/58-63.
Ibid., 51-2/60-1.
Noel J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law, 207.
Ibid., 31-2.
Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law, 170.
108 Noel J. Coulson, A History of Islamic Law, 113—14.
109 Ibid.
110 David Pearl and Werner Menski, Muslim Family Law, 184—5.
111 Ibn Rushd, The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer, vol. 2, 63/54.
112 Azza Karam, Women, Islamism, and the State: Contemporary Feminisms in Egypt (New York: St Martin's Press, 1998), 9—14; Irene Schneider, Women in the Islamic World, 173—9.
Selected bibliography and further reading
Coulson, Noel J. A History of Islamic Law (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1964).
Fyzee, Asaf A. Outlines of Muhammadan Law, 4th edn (Dehli: Oxford University Press, 1974).
Haeri, Shahla. ‘Divorce in Contemporary Iran: A Male Prerogative in Self-Will'. In Islamic Family Law, ed. Chibli Mallat and Jane Connors (London: Graham & Trotman, 1990), 55—69.
Heffening, Wilhelm. ‘Mut‘a'. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn, ed. P. Bearman et al. http://dx.doi.org. encyclopaediaofislam.han.sub.uni-goettingen.de/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0819 (accessed 24 July 2018).
HREA. The Moroccan Family Code (Moudawana) of February 5, 2004. Global Human Rights Education and Training Centre. http://www.hrea.org/programs/gender-equality-and-womens-empowerment/ moudawana (accessed 24 July 2018).
Ibn Rushd, Abu al-Walid Muhammad b. Ahmad. Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihayat al-Muqtasid. Ed. ‘Abd al-Halim Muhammad (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya, 1983).
Ibn Rushd, Abu al-Walid Muhammad b. Ahmad. The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer: A Translation of Bidayat al-Mujtahid, trans. Imran Ahzan Khan Nyazee, 2 vols (Reading, Berkshire: Garnet Publishing, 1994-6).
Karam, Azza. Women, Islamism, and the State: Contemporary Feminisms in Egypt (New York: St Martin's Press, 1998).
Musallam, Basem F. Sex and Society in Islam: Birth Control before the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).
Nasir, Jamal. The Islamic Law of Personal Status, 3rd edn (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2002). Pearl, David, and Werner Menski. Muslim Family Law, 3rd edn (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1998). Peters, Rudolph. Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). Schacht, Joseph. An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964).
Schacht, Joseph and Aharon Layish. ‘Mirath'. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn, ed. P. Bearman et al. http://dx.doi.org.encyclopaediaofislam.han.sub.uni-goettingen.de/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_ COM_0747 (accessed 24 July 2018).
Schacht, Joseph. ‘Talak'. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn, ed. P. Bearman et al. http://dx.doi.org. encyclopaediaofislam.han.sub.uni-goettingen.de/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_1159 (accessed 24 July 2018).
Schacht, Joseph, Ghaus Ansari, Jean Boyd, J. Knappert, Aharon Layish, J. M. Otto, S. Pompe and Ron Shaham. ‘Nikah'. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn, ed. P. Bearman et al. http://dx.doi. org.encyclopaediaofislam.han.sub.uni-goettingen.de/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0863 (accessed 24 July 2018).
Schneider, Irene. ‘The Position of Women in the Islamic and Afghan Judiciary'. In The Shari'ah in the Constitutions of Afghanistan, Iran and Egypt: Implications for Private Law, ed. Nadjma Yassari (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005), 83-101.
Schneider, Irene. Women in the Islamic World. From the Earliest Times to the Arab Spring (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2014).
Schneider, Irene. ‘Translational Turn and CEDAW: Current Gender Discourses in the Islamic Republic of Iran'. In Indonesian and German Views on the Islamic Legal Discourse on Gender and Civil Rights, ed. Fritz Schulze and Noorhaidi Hasan (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2015), 133-65.
Spectorsky, Susan. Women in Classical Islamic Law: A Survey of the Sources (Leiden: Brill, 2010).