Courts & Legal Systems

New book explores gender and equality in Muslim family law

Submitted by Musawah on Fri, 04/19/2013 - 13:45
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A collection of essays exploring gender and equality in Islam is launched by a panel of distinguished thinkers at SOAS, University of London on Saturday 27 April.

Gender and Equality in Muslim Family Law is chaired by SOAS Professor of Law Lynn Welchman.  It brings three of the contributors, Mohsen Kadivar, Muhammad Khalid Masud and Mulki al-Sharmani, together with UN Special Rapporteur Heiner Bielefeldt and lead editor Ziba Mir-Hosseini.

Moving the conversation forward on Muslim women's rights

Submitted by Megh on Mon, 01/07/2013 - 11:36
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By Sheherazade Jaffari

Muslim women’s rights. These three words— whether uttered by religious fundamentalists, progressives, politicians, activists, believers or nonreligious people in the West or the East — have been debated, co-opted, claimed, defined and redefined, and are at the heart of some of today’s most contentious debates worldwide. Indeed, these three words are central in my own advocacy work and scholarly pursuits. A fascination for some and a threat for others, Muslim women’s rights are receiving attention worldwide – as they should.

'Will I Get My Dues... Before I Die?'

Submitted by Musawah on Thu, 12/27/2012 - 12:40
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Harm to Women from Bangladesh's Discriminatory Laws on Marriage, Separation, and Divorce

by Aruna Kashyap of the Women's Rights Division, Human Rights Watch (September 2012)

This report is based on interviews with 255 people in 2011, including 120 women who have experienced the shortcomings of Bangladesh’s personal laws, as well as lawyers, experts, government officials, and former judges. It finds that these laws discriminate against women during marriage, separation, and divorce, and exacerbate women’s economic inequality.

The Islamist Ascension and Women

Submitted by Musawah on Wed, 12/26/2012 - 15:00
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By Hatoon Ajwad Al-Fassi

It is clear that there is a crisis between Islamist parties and women. Of course there are many women who are members and supporters of these parties. But there are also other millions of women who feel that the future is not safe under the rule of these forces that monopolise religion and speak in its name.

Feminist voices in Islam: Promise and potential

Submitted by Musawah on Wed, 12/26/2012 - 10:35
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by Ziba Mir-Hosseini

Religion is back in public space, and the thesis that modernization means the privatization of religion has been seriously questioned. Some religious and feminist dogmas need re-examination. What do ‘secular’ or ‘religious’ or ‘feminist’ mean in today’s contexts?

Islam and feminism are often perceived and portrayed as incompatible. There is a plethora of literature and a host of arguments, both in the media and in academia, to show this is the case.

Review: 'Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam'

Submitted by Musawah on Wed, 12/26/2012 - 09:37
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Review of Kecia Ali's 'Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam' (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2010. Pp. viii + 262, $39.95.)

By Ziba Mir-Hosseini

Excerpt:

Gender in the Middle East: Islam, State, Agency

Submitted by Musawah on Wed, 12/26/2012 - 09:12
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This paper, by Mounira M. Charrad, offers a critical analysis of the scholarship on issues that constitute the core of the intellectual discourse on gender in the Middle East. These include the critique of Orientalism past and present, the exploration of the diversity within Islam; the study of states and gender with respect to symbolic representations, institutions, and kin-based solidarities; the analysis of women's agency; and the debates surrounding feminism and the veil.

Calling for a new interpretation of the Koran

Submitted by Musawah on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 14:38
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Copied as 'fair use'.

"We are calling for a new interpretation of the Koran."

A new research centre in Qatar seeks to focus more attention on the ethical dimension of Islam. The founders of the centre and its director, Tariq Ramadan, are calling for a new interpretation of the Koran in order to advance a contemporary Islamic understanding of matters such as environmental ethics and gender issues. Christoph Dreyer spoke to the centre's deputy director, Jasser Auda

Nepal's Muslims win constitutional rights

Submitted by Musawah on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 13:28
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Copied as 'fair use'.

25 May 2012

Nepali Muslims, representing 5% of the country's 27 million people, won an important political victory on Sunday (May 20th).

Picture: Boy arrives for prayers at Kashimiri Takye Jame Mosque in Kathmandu/Reuters

Muslim women attempt to reinterpret the "DNA of Patriarchy" in Koran

Submitted by Musawah on Tue, 07/24/2012 - 11:04
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ISTANBUL (TrustLaw)—When it comes to Islamic law, one short verse in the Koran poses one very big obstacle to advocates for Muslim women’s rights--but they may have found a way around it.

The key is fighting medieval interpretations of the Koran with modern scholarship, according to Dr Ziba Mir-Hosseini, a professor and legal anthropologist on Islamic law at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

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