Islamic Law
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International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family
2011
A husband 's authority: emerging formulations in Muslim family laws
Lynn Welchman Subject: Family law. Other related subjects: Legal systems Keywords: Comparative law; Islamic law; Marriage; Morocco; Spouses; United Arab Emirates
*Int. J.L.P.F. 1 ABSTRACT
This article considers the articulation of the husband-wife relationship in Islamic law and specifically the contemporary equation in statutory formulations of Muslim family law that sets the husband 's duty of support, or maintenance, of his wife, as the exchange for the wife 's obedience to her husband. This formulation is currently challenged not only in activism but also increasingly in legislation in Muslim majority states. I begin with a consideration of some of the contestations in English-language scholarship of the ‘meanings’ of ‘Islamic law’ and its relationship particularly to women in the family. I then look at the paradigm of the husband 's authority (qiwama ) over his wife in jurisprudence and pre-modern practice, moving from there to the maintenance-obedience equation in Arab state family law codifications. I end with a comparison of the way in which Morocco and the United Arab Emirates deal with this issue in their recent family law codifications, reflecting that the formulations emerging in the two states are positioned at either end of the current spectrum of Muslim family laws in Arab states.
INTRODUCTION
In 2009, a 12-strong ‘planning committee’ of Muslim academics and activists from 11 different countries launched, in Kuala Lumpur, a ‘global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family’ with the following statement: We hold the principles of Islam to be a source of justice, equality, fairness and dignity for all human beings. We declare that equality and justice are necessary and possible in family law and practice in Muslim countries and communities.1 The website heading adds: ‘The time for realising
International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family
2011
A husband 's authority: emerging formulations in Muslim family laws
Lynn Welchman Subject: Family law. Other related subjects: Legal systems Keywords: Comparative law; Islamic law; Marriage; Morocco; Spouses; United Arab Emirates
*Int. J.L.P.F. 1 ABSTRACT
This article considers the articulation of the husband-wife relationship in Islamic law and specifically the contemporary equation in statutory formulations of Muslim family law that sets the husband 's duty of support, or maintenance, of his wife, as the exchange for the wife 's obedience to her husband. This formulation is currently challenged not only in activism but also increasingly in legislation in Muslim majority states. I begin with a consideration of some of the contestations in English-language scholarship of the ‘meanings’ of ‘Islamic law’ and its relationship particularly to women in the family. I then look at the paradigm of the husband 's authority (qiwama ) over his wife in jurisprudence and pre-modern practice, moving from there to the maintenance-obedience equation in Arab state family law codifications. I end with a comparison of the way in which Morocco and the United Arab Emirates deal with this issue in their recent family law codifications, reflecting that the formulations emerging in the two states are positioned at either end of the current spectrum of Muslim family laws in Arab states.
INTRODUCTION
In 2009, a 12-strong ‘planning committee’ of Muslim academics and activists from 11 different countries launched, in Kuala Lumpur, a ‘global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family’ with the following statement: We hold the principles of Islam to be a source of justice, equality, fairness and dignity for all human beings. We declare that equality and justice are necessary and possible in family law and practice in Muslim countries and communities.1 The website heading adds: ‘The time for realising
References: Musawah (2009: .2). Salime (2009: 145 and 161). See generally Salime (2009). Moors (1999). Anderson (1968). For a review of Anderson 's work in this field and a selected list of his publications, see Edge (2000). Mallat (2007: 355). Moors (1999: 142). Khadduri and Liebesny (1955). Abu Zahra (1955: 132). Abu Zahra (1955: 144 and 142). For a discussion dating from the same period, see Ziadeh (1957) . Abu Zahra (1955: 136). Moors (1995). Abu-Odeh (2005: 460). Tucker (2008: 50).