Muslim Family Law in Western Courts

This book focuses on Islamic family law as interpreted and applied by judges in Europe, Australia and North America. It uses court transcriptions and observations to discuss how the most contentious marriage-related issues - consent and age of spouses, dower, polygamy, and divorce - are adjudicated. The solutions proposed by different legal systems are reviewed , and some broader questions are addressed: how Islamic principles are harmonized with norms based on gender equality, how parties bargain strategically in and out of court, and how Muslim diasporas align their Islamic worldview with a Western normative narrative.

This book focuses on how Islamic family law is interpreted and applied by judges in Europe, in Australia and North America. Covering a wide number of countries, it uses court transcriptions and observations to discuss a number of issues, including how the most contentious marriage-related issues - consent and age of spouses, mahr, polygamy, divorce, and kafalah - are adjudicated. The solutions proposed by different legal systems are reviewed, and some broader questions are addressed: how Islamic principles are harmonized with norms based on gender equality, how parties bargain strategically, and how Muslim diasporas align their Islamic worldview with a Western normative narrative.