Women, Family, and Gender in Islamic Law (Themes in Islamic Law) PDF
Preview Women, Family, and Gender in Islamic Law (Themes in Islamic Law)
This page intentionally left blank WOMEN, FAMILY, AND GENDER IN ISLAMIC LAW In what ways has Islamic law discriminated against women and privilegedmen?WhatrightsandpowerhavebeenaccordedtoMuslim women,andhowhavetheyusedthelegalsystemtoenhancetheirsocial andeconomicposition?InananalysisofIslamiclawthroughtheprism ofgender,JudithE.Tuckertacklesthesecomplexquestionsrelatingto thepositionofwomeninIslamicsociety,andtothewaysinwhichthe legalsystemshapedthefamily,propertyrights,space,andsexuality,from classicalandmedievaltimestothepresent.Hersisanuancedapproach, whichnegotiatesbroadlybetweenthehistoryofdoctrineandofpractice and the interplay between the two. Working with concepts drawn fromfeministlegaltheoryandbyusingparticularcasestoillustrateher arguments, the author systematically addresses questions of discrim- inationandexpectation–whatdidmenexpectoftheirwomenfolk?– andofhowthelanguageofthelawcontributedtothatdiscrimination, infectingthesystemandallthosewhoparticipatedinit.Theauthoris a fluent communicator, effectively guiding the reader through the historical roots and intellectual contours of the Islamic legal system, and explicating the impact of these traditions on Islamic law as it is practicedinthemodernworld. JUDITH E. TUCKER is Professor of History in the Department of History and Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Her previous publications include Women in Nineteenth-Century Egypt (Cambridge, 1985) and In the House of the Law: Gender and Islamic Law in Ottoman Syria and Palestine(1998). themes in islamic law 3 Serieseditor:WaelB.Hallaq Themes in Islamic Law offers a series of state-of-the-art titles on the history of Islamiclaw,itsapplicationanditsplaceinthemodernworld.Theintentionisto provideananalyticoverviewofthefieldwithanemphasisonhowlawrelatestothe society in which it operates. Contributing authors, who all have distinguished reputationsintheirparticularareasofscholarship,havebeenaskedtointerpretthe complexitiesofthesubjectforthoseenteringthefieldforthefirsttime. Titlesintheseries: 1. TheOriginsandEvolutionofIslamicLaw WAEL B. HALLAQ 2. CrimeandPunishmentinIslamicLaw:TheoryandPracticefromtheSixteenthto theTwenty-FirstCentury RUDOLPH PETERS WOMEN, FAMILY, AND GENDER IN ISLAMIC LAW JUDITH E. TUCKER GeorgetownUniversity CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521830447 © Judith Tucker 2008 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2008 ISBN-13 978-0-511-43709-0 eBook (EBL) ISBN-13 978-0-521-83044-7 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. For Sue, Beth, and Prilla my sisters Contents Acknowledgements pageix Maps xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Law,women,andgender 11 Islamiclaw 24 Islamiclawandgender 2 Womanaswifeandmanashusband:makingthemarital bargain 38 41 Islamicmarriage:thelegaltradition 59 Islamicmarriage:pre-twentieth-centurypractices 65 Reformandmarriage 77 Recentdevelopments 82 Conclusion 3 Womanandmanasdivorced:assertingrights 84 86 Islamicdivorce:thelegaltradition 104 Islamicdivorce:pre-twentieth-centurypractices 111 Reformanddivorce 124 Recentdevelopments 130 Conclusion 4 Womanandmanaslegalsubjects:managingandtestifying 133 135 LegalcapacityandtheIslamicjuridicaltradition 149 Thepre-twentieth-centurylegalsubject 159 Reformandthelegalsubject 168 Recentdevelopments 172 Conclusion 5 Womanandmaningenderedspace:submitting 175 177 Space,sexuality,andtheIslamicjuridicaltradition 191 Theregulationofspaceandsexualitypriortothetwentiethcentury vii viii Contents 200 Reform,space,andsexuality 206 Recentdevelopments 215 Conclusion 6 Conclusion 218 Glossary 226 Bibliography 232 Suggestionsforfurtherreading 244 Index 247
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