When NGOs, practitioners and activists raise the issue of reforming Muslim family laws and practices to be more equal and just, they are often told ‘That is not possible’ or ‘The laws are already fair – they don’t need to be changed’. Musawah is founded on the idea that equality and justice in Muslim family laws and practices are both NECESSARY and POSSIBLE. The Musawah Framework for Action provides a general overview of this idea; the following sections provide specific support for these statements.

  Equality and justice in the family are necessary

• Family and personal status laws and practices play a central role in everyone’s daily lives, especially women and girls. 
   
• Family laws and practices are closely intertwined with all other aspects of society. Injustices within the family affect many other areas, including personal security, mobility, property, citizenship, nationality, labour rights, criminal laws, and political participation.
   
• Most of today’s Muslim family laws and practices are based on theories and concepts that were developed centuries ago and are no longer relevant for the realities of Muslim men’s and women’s lives today. As a result, there are numerous injustices in many Muslims family laws and practices.
   
• The Shari‘ah requires that Muslim laws and practices be just and equitable for men and women.

  Equality and justice in the family are possible

• The argument that it is not possible to change today’s family laws and practices because they are ‘Islamic law’ is not a valid argument. Contemporary family laws are not the sacred Shari‘ah, but are based on centuries-old, man-made fiqh interpretations that were enacted into law by colonial powers and modern governments. Since these interpretations and laws are man-made and concern relations between humans, they can change within the framework of Islamic principles and in accordance with the changing realities of time and place.
   
• There is a distinction between Shari’ah and fiqh. Shari’ah is the totality of God’s will as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (saw). Fiqh, or jurisprudence, is the process of humans attempting to derive concrete legal rules from the Shari’ah. While the Shari’ah is sacred, eternal and universal, fiqh is man-made and therefore mundane, temporal and local. What many commonly assert to be Shari’ah mandates are, in fact, often the result of fiqh, hence human, fallible and changeable. Human interpretations of the religious texts must be separated from the ideals and objectives of the Shari’ah.
   
• There are two main categories of legal rulings: ‘ibadat (devotional/spiritual acts) and mu‘amalat (transactional/contractual acts). Rulings in the ‘ibadat category regulate relations between God and the believer, and therefore offer limited scope for change. Rulings in the mu‘amalat category, however, regulate relations between humans, and therefore remain open to change. Since human affairs constantly evolve, there is always a need for new rulings that use new interpretations of the religious texts to bring outdated laws in line with the changing realities of time and place (zaman wa makan). This is the rationale for ijtihad (lit. ‘endeavour’, ‘self-exertion’), which is the jurist’s method for finding solutions to new issues in light of the guidance of revelation. Rulings concerning the family and gender relations belong to the realm of mu‘amalat, which means that Muslim jurists have always considered them as social and contractual matters that are open to rational consideration and change.
   
• There is not now, nor has there ever been, a single, unitary ‘Islamic law’. Diversity of opinion (ikhtilaf) is a basic concept that has always been a part of fiqh, even after the formal establishment of schools of law. The very existence of multiple schools of law, let alone the dozens of Muslim family laws that exist in different countries today, demonstrates that no one person, group or country can claim ownership over a unified, monolithic, divine Islamic law. There are many instances in which classical fiqh scholars could not agree on a single principle for a given issue. Instead, they would state and advocate diverse opinions and reconcile the differences by concluding their arguments with the idea, ‘And God knows best’. We must recognise and engage with this diversity of opinions to determine how best to serve the public interest (maslahah) and meet the demands of equality and justice.
   
• Almost every Muslim country has a different family or personal law, enacted by a legislative body, and these laws can and have been amended multiple times in different countries. This shows that each of these laws cannot be the one sacred and eternal Shari‘ah, but rather interpretations of the sacred Shari‘ah by humans.
   
• As the injustices of slavery became increasingly recognised and the conditions emerged for its abolishment, laws and practices related to slavery were reconsidered and the classical fiqh rulings became obsolete. Similarly, family laws and practices must evolve to reflect the Islamic values of equality and justice, uphold universal human rights standards and address the lived realities of families in the 21st century.