Overview Of Shari’a and Prevalent Customs In Islamic Societies - Divorce and Child Custody
By Kristine Uhlman
UmHani
Submitted January, 2004
Contents
- 1.0 - Sources of Shari’a
- 2.0 - The Emergence of Islamic Schools of Thought
- 3.0 - Geographical Dispersion of the Juristic Schools
- 4.0 - The Influence of Shari’a on Modern Laws
- 5.0 - Marriage
- 6.0 - Divorce
- 7.0 - Recognition of Divorces Obtained in Secular or Foreign Courts
- 8.0 - Child Custody Following Divorce
- 9.0 - Gender Relations and Restrictions on Women
- 10.0 - Children and the Parent-Child Relationship
- 11.0 - Custody Abduction to the Islamic Countries
- Footnotes
Footnotes
[1] Fatima Akaddaf, Application of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) to Arab Islamic Countries: Is the CISG Compatible with Islamic Law Principles?, 13 Pace Int'l L. Rev. 16 (2001).
[2] Id.; Jamal J. Nasir, The Islamic Law of Personal Status 2 (2d ed. 1990).
[3] Akaddaf, supra note 1, at 16-17.
[4] Id. at 17.
[5] Id. at 18; Azizah al-Hibri, Islam, Law and Custom: Redifining Muslim Women's Rights, 12 Am. U.J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 6 (1997).
[6] Nasir, supra note 2, at 6.
[7] Id. at 7.
[8] Id. at 8.
[9] Id.
[10] Id. at 15.
[11] Dawoud Sudqi El Alami, The Marriage Contract in Islamic
Law in the Shari'ah and Personal Status Laws of
[12] Nasir, supra note 2, at 15; Anne-Marie Hutchinson and Henry Setright, International Parental Child Abduction 14 (1998).
[13] al-Hibri, supra note 5, at 7.
[14] Hutchinson, supra; Alami, supra note 11, at 3.
[15] Alami, supra.
[16] Nasir, supra note 2, at 16.
[17] al-Hibri, supra note 5, at 7.
[18] Nasir, supra note 2, at 17.
[19] Id. at 14.
[20] Id. at 13.
[21] Id. at 15; Hutchinson, supra note 12, at 15.
[22] "The law of
[23] Nasir, supra note 2, at 31.
[24] Id. at 32-35.
[25] See Joelle Entelis, International Human Rights Regarding Women's Equality and Islamic Law 20 Fordham Int'l L.J. 1269-1270 (1997).
[26] John L. Esposito, Women in Muslim Family Law 15-16 (1982).
[27] Id. at 16.
[28] Id.
[29] Jamal J. Nasir, The Status of Women under Islamic Law 7-9 (2d ed. 1994).
[30] Nasir, supra note 2, at 70.
[31] Id. at 61-62; Esposito, supra note 26, at 21.
[32] Nasir, supra note 2, at 62.
[33] Esposito, supra note 26, at 21.
[34] Nasir, supra note 2, at 46.
[35] Id. at 50. The Hanafi school does, however, require a guardian if the woman is of no or limited legal capacity. Id.
[36] Id. at 46; Esposito, supra note 26, at 16-17.
[37] Nasir, supra note 2, at 55.
[38] Esposito, supra note 26, at 16.
[39] Nasir, supra note 29, at 46, 48.
[40] Id. at 46.
[41] Id. at 49.
[42] Esposito, supra note 26, at 23; Nasir, supra note 2, at 56.
[43] Esposito, supra.
[44] Nasir, supra note 2, at 56.
[45] Esposito, supra note 26, at 23.
[46] Id. at 24; Nasir, supra note 2, at 56.
[47] Esposito, supra note 26, at 23.
[48] al-Hibri, supra note 5, at 23.
[49] Id. at 24.
[50] Nasir, supra note 2, at 83.
[51] Id. at 102.
[52] Id.
[53] Id. at 81.
[54] Id. at 103-104.
[55] Id. at 104.
[56] Id. at 105.
[57] Quran, 4:129.
[58] Id. 4:3.
[59] Bharathi Anandhi Venkatraman, Islamic States and the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women: Are the Shari'a and the Convention Compatible? 44 Am. U.L. Rev. 1978 (1995).
[60] Nasir, supra note 29, at 26-27.
[61] Esposito, supra note 26, at 29.
[62] Nasir, supra note 2, at 112-113.
[63] Id. at 115.
[64] Id. at 116.
[65] Id. at 117.
[66] Id. at 117.
[67] Id. at 118-119.
[68] Id. at 120.
[69] Id. at 152.
[70] Esposito, supra note 26, at 21.
[71] Nasir, supra note 2, at 120.
[72] Id. at 154. (Nasir1 154)
[73] Id. at 122; Esposito, supra note 26, at 33.
[74] Nasir, supra note 2, at 124; Esposito, supra note 26, at 33-34.
[75] Nasir, supra note 2, at 123.
[76] Dawoud El Alami and Doreen Hinchcliffe, Islamic Marriage and Divorce Laws of the Arab World 27 (1996).
[77] Nasir, supra note 2, at 122-123.
[78] Id. at 125.
[79] Id. at 126.
[80] Id.
[81] Cairo v. Melani Rena George, Civil Action, Said El Arabi Mohammed Ahmed, South Cairo Court, Circuit 41 Personal Affairs/Foreigners (January 18, 1999) (judicial document) (translated from Arabic).
[82] Id.
[83] Nasir, supra note 2, at 206.
[84] Id.
[85] Id. at 207.
[86] Id. at 185.
[87] Id. at 178.
[88] Id. at 181.
[89] Id. at 172.
[90] Id. at 173.
[91] The Shia and Shafii schools do allow a Jewish, Christian, or, under the Shia school, a magi mother, to have physical custody over a child that shares her religion. Id. at 180.
[92] Id.
[93] Id.
[94] Id. at 173-174.
[95] Nasir, supra note 29, at 139-140.
[96] Nasir, supra note 2, at 187.
[97] Id. at 188.
[98] Joelle Entelis, International Human Rights Regarding Women's Equality and Islamic Law 20 Fordham Int'l L.J. 1269-1270 (1997).
[99] Id.
[100] Quran 46: 15-16.
[101] Id. at 17:24.
[102] Cairo Family Planning Association, Bodily Mutilation of Young Females, in Children in the Muslim Middle East, 168-175 (Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, ed., University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, 477 pp 1995).
[103] Egyptian Ministerial Resolution No. 74, 1959
The information relating to the legal requirements of specific foreign countries is obtained from past experience and is not necessarily authoritative. Questions involving interpretation of specific foreign laws should be addressed to foreign counsel. The author appreciates the editorial support and review of this article by the Washington office of Baker Botts L.L.P.
About the Article: Prepared for the California State Bar 2004 Winter Section Education Institute / International Law / Family Law Workshop on International Custody Abduction: Non-Hague, Islamic Countries. Reprinted with permission.
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