Background. Islamic marital jurisprudence : Marriage (zawaj زواج) * Divorce (talaq طلاق, Khulʿ : خلع )
Marriage and Divorce 
[This entry contains two sub-entries: Legal Foundations Modern Practice] Source: The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World.
Gender and Sexuality in Islam [Listing from the Cornell online catalog]
Khul‘ [divorce) practices in the modern world. IN: a special edition of Islamic Law and Society,Volume 26 (2019): Issue 1-2 (Jan 2019)
Marriage in transition : gender, family and Muslim social reform in colonial India / by Asiya Alam.
Gender Equality and Women’s Rights in the Constitutions of the Middle Eastern and North African Countries
in Oriente Moderno Volume 98 (2018): Issue 2 (Sep 2018)
TALAQ [divorce] | Islamic Sharia / 
, UK
Divorce - Islamic perspective - question and answers
Marriage and Divorce: Modern Practices oxfordislamicstudies.com
8 Legal Issues for Islamic Marriage and Divorce oxfordscholarship.com
Importance of Marriage in Islam al-islam.org.
Islamic Philosophy of Marriage www.muslim-marriage-guide.com
Legal Marriage Age in Muslims and World Wide www.muslim-marriage-guide.com
Religions - Islam: Weddings bbc.co.uk*An 1874 Islamic marriage contract.
Gender, Islam and judgeship in Egypt International Journal of Law in Context [The issue of women serving as judges has been a contentious one in Egyptian society for nearly eight decades. While other Muslim majority countries started appointing women judges as early as the 1950s and 1960s, it was not until 2003 that the Egyptian government announced the appointment of its first ever female judge. Despite the approval of Egypt's religious scholars, her appointment was fiercely contested, among both the general public and the legal profession.]
Marriage in Islam [From Wikipedia]
Women and Gender in the Middle East and North Africa ...Mapping the Field and Addressing Policy Dilemmas at the Post2011 Juncture',MENARAFinal Reports, n. 3, March 2019.
The Women Bringing Sex Ed to the Arab World / The New York Times Thursday, November 18, 2021. Activists are using social media to do what Arab countries have failed to do: teach women about their bodies. They’re aiming for a cultural awakening.
For Women in Mauritania, Divorce Is Cause for Joy, Not Sorrow / By Ruth Maclean and Laura Boushnak
1,571 words 4 June 2023. The New York Times
Guides
Women in Place by
While much has been written about the impact of the 1979 Islamic revolution on life in Iran, discussions about the everyday life of Iranian women have been glaringly missing. Women in Place offers a gripping inquiry into gender segregation policies and women's rights in contemporary Iran. Author Nazanin Shahrokni takes us onto gender-segregated buses, inside a women-only park, and outside the closed doors of stadiums where women are banned from attending men's soccer matches. The Islamic character of the state, she demonstrates, has had to coexist, fuse, and compete with technocratic imperatives, pragmatic considerations regarding the viability of the state, international influences, and global trends. Through a retelling of the past four decades of state policy regulating gender boundaries, Women in Place challenges notions of the Iranian state as overly unitary, ideological, and isolated from social forces and pushes us to contemplate the changing place of women in a social order shaped by capitalism, state-sanctioned Islamism, and debates about women's rights. Shahrokni throws into sharp relief the ways in which the state strives to constantly regulate and contain women's bodies and movements within the boundaries of the "proper" but simultaneously invests in and claims credit for their expanded access to public spaces.
ISBN: 9780520973008Publication Date: 2019-12-24
The Islamic Marraige Contract: Case Studies in Islamic Family Law by
It is often said that marriage in Islamic law is a civil contract, not a sacrament. If this is so, this means that the marriage contract is largely governed by the same rules as other contracts, such as sale or hire. But at the same time marriage is a profound concern of the Islamic scriptures of Qur'an and Sunna, and thus at the very core of the law and morality of Islam and of the individual, familial, and social life of Muslims. This volume collects papers from many disciplines examining the Muslim marriage contract. Articles cover doctrines as to marriage contracts (e.g., may a wife stipulate monogamy?); historical instances (e.g., legal advice from thirteenth-century Spain); comparisons with Jewish and canon law; contemporary legal and social practice; and projects of activists for women worldwide. Demonstrating a new and powerful focus for comparative and historical inquiries into Islamic law and social practices, this book marks a fresh point of departure for the study of Muslim women.
ISBN: 9780674028210Publication Date: 2009-01-31
Gender and Self in Islam by
Using philosophical analysis, this book explores the construction of gender in Muslim societies and its implication to the constitution of the self. The root of the existing discourse of the hierarchical principle is examined as is the extent to which the process of human reproduction, especially the role of women in conception, contributes to an anti-egalitarian theory of gender. The author analyzes the theological, cultural and political apparatus of the masculine conception of femininity and seeks to unfold the process of the alienation of the self from a woman¿s sense of individuality, agency, and autonomy. Incorporating traditional Islamic sources, Western feminist texts and Christian texts, Gender and Self in Islam seeks to restructure the contradictory claims of gender hierarchy and egalitarianism and elaborate an alternative set of interpretations that is friendly and inclusive of women.
Call Number: olin HQ1170 .A69 2006ISBN: 9780415701037Publication Date: 2006-11-01
Marriage in the Tribe of Muhammad: A Statistical Study of Early Arabic Genealogical Literature by
This study examines the marital data preserved within the Arabic genealogical works of the early ninth century CE in order to better understand the tribal relationships of the pre-Islamic Quraysh (the Arabic tribe to which Muhammad belonged). The research establishes the accuracy of the Nasab Quraysh (Genealogy of the Quraysh) and informs a more nuanced analysis of the politics of the Central Hijaz into which Islam was born.
ISBN: 9783110624168Publication Date: 2020-01-20
Pioneering Feminist Anthropology in Egypt by
Cynthia Nelson was an outstanding professor of anthropology at AUC and the founding director of the Institute of Gender and Women's Studies. This collection of her essays, which highlight her distinguished scholarly career, is grouped under three main themes: phenomenology and the meaning ofreligious phenomena in Egypt; women, power, and politics in the Middle East; and the politics and ethics of location. Cynthia Nelson was the editor of the first Cairo Papers monograph in 1977: thirty years later, this issue marks her legacy to the humanistic and social scientific understanding ofEgypt, a legacy balanced by the enormous institutional contributions she made to establishing feminist anthropology in Egypt.
ISBN: 9789774160783Publication Date: 2007-09-07
The Politics of Gender and the Culture of Sexuality: Western, Islamic, and African perspectives by
The Politics of Gender and the Culture of Sexuality outlines theories of gender within the intellectual paradigm of the triple heritage: Islam, Africanity, and the West. This book describes the impact of individual contexts and politics on meanings attributed to the human body. The Politics of Gender and the Culture of Sexuality explores how men and women relate to each other in monogamous and polygamous marriage, race rivalries, slavery, miscegenation, cultures of procreation, family planning, and the Islamic view of women's dignity vis- -vis the Western view of women's liberty. In doing so, the author and editor present a multifaceted and dynamic theoretical discourse of gender.
Call Number: Africana HQ1075 .M39 2014ISBN: 9780761864028Publication Date: 2014-07-08
Recommended Reading
Forty Million Rising by
Across the Muslim world, representing a fifth of the global population, unprecedented numbers of women are going to work. In the span of just over a decade, millions have joined the workforce, giving them more earning and purchasing power and greater personal autonomy. In Fifty Million Rising, award-winning economist Saadia Zahidi illuminates this discreet but momentous revolution by sifting through the data and relating the personal stories of the remarkable women who are at the forefront of this revolution-a McDonald's worker in Pakistan who has climbed the ranks to manager; the founder of an online hijab fashion startup in Indonesia; a widow in Egypt who owns a catering business with her daughter, against her son's wishes; and an executive in a Saudi corporation who is transforming the culture of her workplace; among many others. These women are challenging familial and social conventions, as well as compelling businesses to cater to women as both workers and consumers. More importantly, they are gaining the economic power that will upend entrenched cultural norms, re-shape how women are viewed in the Muslim world and elsewhere, and change the mindset of the next generation. Economics trumps culture-and then shapes culture. Inspiring and deeply reported, Fifty Million Rising is a uniquely insightful portrait of a seismic shift with global significance, as Muslim women worldwide claim a seat at the table.
ISBN: 9781568585901Publication Date: 2018-01-30
The Unforgettable Queens of Islam by
In this landmark study, Shahla Haeri offers the extraordinary biographies of several Muslim women rulers and leaders who reached the apex of political systems of their times. Their stories illuminate the complex and challenging imperatives of dynastic succession, electoral competition and the stunning success they achieved in medieval Yemen and India, and modern Pakistan and Indonesia. The written history of Islam and the Muslim world is overwhelmingly masculine, having largely ignored women and their contributions until well into the 20th century. Religious and legal justifications have been systematically invoked to justify Muslim women's banishment from politics and public domains. Yet this patriarchal domination has not gone on without serious challenges by women - sporadic and exceptional though their participation in the battle of succession has been. The Unforgettable Queens of Islam highlights lives and legacies of a number of charismatic women engaged in fierce battles of succession, and their stories offer striking insights into the workings of political power in the Muslim world.
ISBN: 9781107123038Publication Date: 2020-03-26- Marriage in the Tribe of Muhammad : A Statistical Study of Early Arabic Genealogical Literature by ISBN: 9783110624168Publication Date: 2020-01-20This study examines the marital data preserved within the Arabic genealogical works of the early ninth century CE in order to better understand the tribal relationships of the pre-Islamic Quraysh (the Arabic tribe to which Muhammad belonged). The research establishes the accuracy of the Nasab Quraysh (Genealogy of the Quraysh) and informs a more nuanced analysis of the politics of the Central Hijaz into which Islam was born.
- Gender and Self in Islam by Call Number: olin HQ1170 .A69 2006ISBN: 9780415701037Publication Date: 2006-11-01Using philosophical analysis, this book explores the construction of gender in Muslim societies and its implication to the constitution of the self. The root of the existing discourse of the hierarchical principle is examined as is the extent to which the process of human reproduction, especially the role of women in conception, contributes to an anti-egalitarian theory of gender. The author analyzes the theological, cultural and political apparatus of the masculine conception of femininity and seeks to unfold the process of the alienation of the self from a woman¿s sense of individuality, agency, and autonomy. Incorporating traditional Islamic sources, Western feminist texts and Christian texts, Gender and Self in Islam seeks to restructure the contradictory claims of gender hierarchy and egalitarianism and elaborate an alternative set of interpretations that is friendly and inclusive of women.
Narratives of Muslim Womanhood and Women's Agency by ISBN: 9781138560666Publication Date: 2017-11-30Portrayals of Islamic teachings in mass media, often present Muslim women as victims of patriarchal norms. Often covered in a full veil, and without individuality, they tend to be depicted using a monochrome image, across Muslim countries and regions. It does not portray the social reality and expectations of Muslim women, which are in fact diverse and contextual. This book consists of articles that attempt to answer the question, are Muslim women merely passive objects in constructing their role, despite the spread of social media and the Internet, the increased demands of earning disposable income for their families, and their migration to non-Muslim countries around the world? It closely examines women¿s agency in negotiating their role in Muslim-majority societies and in new places of settlement (Australia). These articles analyse Muslim women¿s narratives in a wide range of economic, political, social and cultural milieu and their relationship to identity construction and portrayal in the new millennium. This volume was originally published as a special issue of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations.
The Muslimah Sex Manual by Call Number: olin BP190.5.S4 U46 2017ISBN: 1521482411Publication Date: 2017-07-02Two years ago, I was congratulating a young Muslimah on her engagement. She was thrilled about starting married life and you could see the happiness emanating from her as everyone gave her their best wishes.A few months later, I could tell something was wrong.After some cajoling, she shyly admitted the truth. Her sex life was horrible. In fact, it was fast becoming non-existent. She had been a model Muslimah her entire life. Before marriage, she had never so much as held a non-mahram's hand, let alone become physically intimate with one. She had eagerly looked forward to marriage as a chance to finally indulging in all the physical intimacy she had postponed for the sake of Allah.But it wasn't working.Coming from the medical field, she knew all the relevant biology. She could draw and label all the parts of male and female anatomy. She had taken fiqh classes and knew the legal rulings of menstruation and intercourse.But she didn't know sex.Oh, she knew the mechanics. Insert penis into vagina. Climax. Withdraw. But she didn't know how to make her husband yearn for her in bed. She didn't know what he liked. She didn't even know what she liked! They had begun eagerly but after a few weeks, realized that neither of them was truly enjoying having sex with each other.And so began my impromptu sex skills workshop. I threw at her all the information I'd gathered over years of marriage. Things I'd learned from experience, tidbits I'd gleaned from friends, tips I'd picked up from magazine articles. One thing here, two things there. All those bits had accumulated into a very healthy and robust sex life between me and my husband. I gave her everything, fervently hoping that it would help her in her marital life.A month later, I saw her again. This time she had a gigantic smile on her face. "Please, write this down and share it with other Muslim girls. No one teaches this. We're thrown into marriage and only know the fiqh and the biology."I wrote down everything I told her on a Word document and emailed it to her. She shared it with her friends who were newly married. They shared it with their friends. Before long, word trickled back to me that people were asking me to write a book on the subject.So here it is.
Sexual Jihad the role of Islam in female terrorism by ISBN: 9781498557511Publication Date: 2019-06-15Female terrorists are a rare phenomenon. Less than ten terrorist organizations throughout the world have women. These terrorist groups are either Marxist (atheist) or Jihadist in their ideologies. This book ascertains, "What is the role of Islam in female terrorism?" It explores the roles of women in eight jihadist case studies including: Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Chechen Separatists, Boko Haram, HAMAS, Hezbollah, ISIS, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, and Al Qaeda. Secondary sources and primary sources are used including research conducted on Palestinian women in Israeli prisons who have been convicted of terrorism. It is argued that are three roles for women in Jihadist terrorism: the disposable, the domestic, and the secretary. The theory posited in this book is that the role of women in terrorist groups is similar to their cultural/religious roles in society.
Women and Public Space in Turkey by ISBN: 9781784537524Publication Date: 2018-09-30Turkey's process of 'modernization' developed rapidly during the second half of the twentieth century. New social and legal reforms were institutionalized and political and economic changes located the country as a more liberated, 'Western-style' society. Women and Public Space in Turkey provides a historical understanding of women's experiences of this modernization between 1950 and 1980, a vital period in which their participation in urban public life expanded through higher education and employment. Selda Tuncer examines the precise conditions that enabled women to leave the home and reveals how they perceived and experienced urban public space and social relations. Drawing on interviews with two generations of women from Ankara, and using personal family photographs, the book provides invaluable insights into women in a predominantly Muslim society who are living in a highly secular social context. Tuncer specifically focuses on women's everyday experiences and discusses how the relationship between women and public space was actually controlled and regulated by different notions of 'domestication', especially in the micro-politics of daily life. The book sheds new light on the gendered processes of nation-building, socio-cultural transformations, and the crucial connections between gender, modernity and the urban experience in a non-Western context.
Islamic ruling on male and female circumcision (A collection of three brief scholarly treatises on male and female circumcision as viewed in the body of Islamic law. Noting the lack of doubt that male circumcision is a legitimate practice, the papers largely address common misunderstandings about the Islamic ruling in the case of daughters. In publishing these treatises, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean aims to issue an authoritative and conclusive statement about the practice of female circumcision in Islamic countries.)
Introduction to Muslim Sexual Ethics. This web site is part of the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project at Brandeis University
Marriage In The Arab World - Population Reference Bureau
Transgender Muslims Find a Home for Prayer in Indonesia The New York Times/By JON EMONT DEC. 22, 2015
Sisters in Islam Sisters in Islam provides a wide range of information resources on marriage, divorce, domestic violence in Muslim societies.
Gender, Sexuality, and Islam under the Shadow of Empire / Saadia Toor
Women’s Rights in Islam Regarding Marriage and Divorce Journal of Law and Practice, April 11, 2011.Source: WHO 2013.
The Middle Eastern Marriage Crisis . NOW on PBS
In Egypt, the Law itself is an Enemy of Women's Rights / Juan Cole, Feb 24, 2015.
Women of the Islamic State [Quilliam Foundation] Translation: Women in the Islamic State – a manifesto.
Women and Saudi Arabia's Male Guardianship System | HRW "We all have to live in the borders of the boxes our dads or husbands draw for us."
A Most Masculine State : gender, politics, and religion in Saudi Arabia by Call Number: olin HQ1730 .A64 2013ISBN: 9780521761048Publication Date: 2013-03-15Women in Saudi Arabia are often described as either victims of patriarchal religion and society or successful survivors of discrimination imposed on them by others. Madawi Al-Rasheed's new book goes beyond these conventional tropes to probe the historical, political and religious forces that have, across the years, delayed and thwarted their emancipation. The book demonstrates how, under the patronage of the state and its religious nationalism, women have become hostage to contradictory political projects that on the one hand demand female piety, and on the other hand encourage modernity. Drawing on state documents, media sources and interviews with women from across Saudi society, the book examines the intersection between gender, religion and politics to explain these contradictions and to show that, despite these restraints, vibrant debates on the question of women are opening up as the struggle for recognition and equality finally gets under way.
Sex Work in Colonial Egypt : : Women, Modernity and the Global Economy by ISBN: 9781788311038Publication Date: 2018-11-30In the early 20th century Cairo was a vibrant and booming global metropolis. The integration of Egypt into the global market had led to rapid urban growth and increased migration. As occupational prospects for women outside the family were limited, sex work became a prominent feature of the new modern city. However, the economic and social changes in Egypt ignited national anxieties about racial degeneration, social disorder and imperial decadence. Francesca Biancani argues here that this was a period of national crisis that became inscribed on the bodies on female sex workers. Based on a wide range of rare primary sources, including documents from court cases, reformist papers, police minutes and letters, Biancani examines the discourses around sex workers and shows how prostitution was understood in colonial Egypt. The book argues that from initially regulating and managing prostitution, local and colonial elites began to depict sex workers as a threat to the physical and moral welfare of the rising Egyptian nation. However, far from being a marginal activity, prostitution is shown to play a central role in the history of Egyptian nation-making. By exploring the interdependence of power and marginality, respectability and transgression, Biancani writes sex work and its practitioners back into the history of modern Egypt. The book is an original contribution to the global history of prostitution and a vital resource for scholars of Middle East Studies.
Domestic Violence
An Islamic Perspective on Domestic Violence / Azizah Y. al-Hibri. Fordham International Law Journal, Volume, 27, Issue (1) 2003. Article 8
Acceptance of domestic violence by women in some Islamic countries, according to UNICEF (2013). [UNICEF Information site (Web Archive Data)].
Domestic Violence and Shari’a:Comparative Study of Muslim Societies in the Middle East, Africa and Asia / Report by Lisa Hajjar.
Introduction of Violence Against Women Sisters in Islam website with range of resources on violence against women in Islamic societies.
Mapping stoning in Muslim contexts Execution by stoning is still carried out in various parts of the Muslim world (either by state or non-state actors) as a punishment for zina (adultery and fornication), even though there is no direct reference to this form of punishment in the Quran. February 2012.
Muslim victims of domestic violence 'risk alienation if services cut' Report from The Guardian, 5th Sep, 2014.
Women and the Law in Islamic Societies: Legal Responses to Domestic Violence in Saudi Arabia and Morocco / Cybèle Cochran. © 2009 The Fletcher School.
- Wife Beating in Islam - by Silas
- Wife-beating, sharia, and Western law - Asia Times
- Wife Beating in Islam - WikiIslam
Honour Killings
Women's Rights to Divorce and Inheritance (talaq طلاق, Khulʿ : خلع ) & ميراث
Khul‘ [divorce) practices in the modern world. IN: a special edition of Islamic Law and Society,Volume 26 (2019): Issue 1-2 (Jan 2019)
What Muslims Around the World Think About Women's Rights, in Charts : Insights from the massive Pew survey of adherents of the world's second-largest religion. Olga Khazan .
Women's Rights in Islam Regarding Marriage and Divorce William Mitchell Journal of Law & Practice.
Fatawa - Does a divorced woman and her child inherit (Dar al-Ifta, Cairo, Egypt)
Polygamy - Polygyny in Islam
Polygyny is legal. Legal status unknown or ambiguous. Polygyny generally illegal, but its practice not fully criminalized. Polygamy outlawed or abolished and its practice criminalized.
"Men having many wives?
Men and women can have as many spouses as they can fit into a lifetime; but this is not generally approved. Women are requested to have only one husband at a time (there is evidence that wealthy Arab women were polyandrous before the coming of Islam - certainly wealthy men were polygynous), and men are limited to four at one time, whereas previously there had been no limit, and a wealthy and generous man was expected to cater for as many women as he could afford (in the absence of a welfare state). ... No Muslim was ever to deliberately cause hurt or harm to another Muslim, so a man might not take extra womenfolk into his home if it would cause upset and distress (it was recommended when there were lots of widows after warfare, if the women were willing to be generous to bereft 'sisters'). Also, if a man could not provide equal treatment of his wives - equal food, clothing, money, living quarters, time spent with - he was refused permission for polygamy. Equal sexual activity was not ruled on, however. Some wives had no sexual relationship with their husbands at all after a while, or if they came into the household as widows of relatives." / ©BBC "BBC - Religions - Islam: Sharia."
Polygamy in Islamic Law / Jamal A. Badawi © 1988-2012 irfi.org
Why does the Qur'an allow Muslim men to have four wives? @islamcan.com
Polygamy in Islam: The women victims of multiple marriage BBC News, 31 May 2012.
The Men With Many Wives - [YouTube. Sep 27, 2014 - Upload] The Men With Many Wives. Series (BBC HD)
AyoPoligami: Dating app encouraging polygamy A Tinder-style dating app for polygamists has sparked controversy in Indonesia
Mixed Marriage
- What does the Qur'an say about the interfaith marriage? / Asma Lamrabet.
- Converting to Islam: British women on prayer, peace ...
- 'Halal' interfaith unions rise among UK women - Al Jazeera Dec 31, 2012 - Some religious leaders are coming to terms with rising numbers of Muslim-
Christian couples in the UK. - How Christians and Muslims can marry – the official guide The Independent.co.uk
Arranged Marriage * Forced Marriage
In Sharia Law any marriage that is forced or false in any way is null and void. It is not a proper marriage. This is a problem that seems to plague Muslim women from India/Pakistan/Bangladesh and nowhere else in the Islamic world - and it also applies to Hindus and some Sikhs from those areas too.
Forced marriage is totally forbidden in Islam. False marriage is too - for example, some of our teenage girls are sent back to Pakistan for a holiday when they are about 15, and sign things they do not understand, and then find out later that they have been 'married' even if it has not been consummated. UK lawyers are getting far better at studying Sharia these days, in order to protect these girls from this particular culture.
Forced marriage is not at all the same thing as arranged marriage. Muslims from many countries have a system of arranged marriages, in which the spouses may not have seen each other before marriage, but it always has to be with their free consent. The Prophet himself advised prospective spouses to at least 'look' at each other, until they could see what it was that made them wish to marry that person as opposed to any other. Women forced into marriage, or seeking divorce for general reasons, have the same sort of grounds in Sharia as in the west - cruelty, mental cruelty, adultery, abandonment, etc. They may even request a divorce for no specific reason whatever, so long as they agree to pay back the mahr (marriage payment) made to them by their husband if the husband does not wish to let them go but are obliged to." BBC © 2014.
Force Marriage Staffordshire County Council, United Kingdom
Arranged Marriage: Trapped Between Two Cultures. National Public Radio. Retrieved on 2012-04-02.
Hanan Hamamy (July 2012), Consanguineous marriages, Journal Community Genet. 3(3), pages 185–192.
The "Flight from Marriage" in South-East and East Asia Gavin Jones, Singapore (2011).
Razack, Sherene H. (October 2004). "Imperilled muslim women, dangerous muslim men and civilised Europeans: legal and social responses to forced marriages". Feminist Legal Studies (Springer) 12 (2): 129–174.
Fighting arranged marriage abuse Sue Lloyd-Roberts, BBC News (July 12, 1999)
Consanguineous marriage: Keeping it in the family - The Economist