By: Asifa Quraishi-Landes “I remember as a child having to describe Pakistan as that small country next to India. I haven’t used that description in a long time. By now, Americans have heard of Pakistan, and the reference is no longer exotic. Instead, the name conjures up confused images of women and non-Muslims in a […]
By: Nevine Abdullah “On August 16, 2010, The New York Times reported that the Taliban, in Afghanistan, ordered their first public executions by stoning since their fall from power. They stoned a young couple who had eloped. The punishment was carried out by hundreds of the victims’ neighbors in a village in northern Kunduz Province.
Patriarchal Customs, Not Shariah Law Read More »
By: Noha Adel Bakr ” Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafii” (d. 204/820) was one of the most influential theoreticians of Islamic law during his time and remains so to the present day. As a student, then critic, of the two leading legal minds of his time, namely, Muhammad al-Shaybani and Malik ibn Anas, al-Shafii”presented a middle
Shafii Qawaid Fiqhiyya: ‘Al-‘Ada Muhakkama’ (Fourth/Tenth to Tenth/Sixteenth Century) Read More »
By: Noha Adel Bakr ” In this chapter, we will examine the Hanafī school’s perspective on ‘āda through the general principle ‘al ‘āda muhakkama’, or ‘custom is an arbiter’ from the earliest qawā’ id sources through those of the tenth/sixteenth century.”
Hanafi Qawaid Fiqhiyya: ‘Al-Ada Muhakkama’ (Fourth/Tenth to Tenth/Sixteenth Century) Read More »
By: Noha Adel Bakr ” In this chapter, I have briefly traced the position of custom, or ‘Urf, in the Islamic legal tradition from it’s inception through the mid-seventh/ thirteenth century. Throughout this period, the use of custom went through two important stages of legal development. The first stage was the absorption of pre-Islamic customs
Āda and ‘Urf in Hanafi and Shafii” Fiqh Read More »
By: Noha Adel Bakr ” The earliest phase of jurisprudential development in the Islamic context is characterized by a shift in focus from the Qurʾān to the sunna of the Prophet Muhammad as the preeminent source of guidance in legal matters facing the Muslim community. This shift mirrors and anticipates a similar shift in the
An Introduction to the Study of Al-Qawaid Al-Fiqhiyya Read More »
By: Raja El Habti “Mahr is the obligatory gift given by the husband to the wife at the time of marriage. It is an expression of the man’s love, respect, and serious commitment to his wife to be and to married life. It is the right of the woman, and hers alone. She may do
Mahr in the Context of The Islamic Marriage Contract Read More »
By: Mohammad Fadel This Essay takes a critical look at a doctrine that is often cited – by Muslims and non-Muslims alike – as indicative of Islamic law’s systematic gender discrimination in favor of men and against women: the legal requirement that a Muslim woman, prior to her marriage, must gain the permission of her
By: Abed Awad, Esq. Our country needs a legal remedy to protect women within our secular legal system. The U.S. Supreme Court anchors its separation of church and state jurisprudence in elaborate balancing tests. To best serve our clients, lawyers must balance the secular, legal remedies with our clients’ religious requirements.
Chipping Away at Divorce Quagmire For Muslim and Jewish Women Read More »
By: Julie Macfarlane The primary objective of the study was to document, using a qualitative, interview-based approach, how North American Muslim communities manage divorce. Specifically, the study explores Islamic approaches to marriage, reconciliation, and divorce and the meaning and significance they retain for Muslims in North America. Men and women who had experienced religious divorce
Understanding Trends in American Muslim Divorce and Marriage Read More »
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