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This volume explores the present-day realities of Islamic family law, with particular emphasis on the rights of women. Three contrasting country cases have been selected: Egypt, the most populous Arab state with a constitutional clause on the place of "principles of the shari`a" as the principal source of legislation; the West Bank and Gaza, family law here being a contested site between different visions of national identity in the process of trying to build a Palestinian state; and the United States, where some in the minority Muslim communities seek to regulate their family relations in accordance with "principles of the shari`a" within the context of a non-Muslim state applying civil law requirements to all family matters. A concluding study ranges further afield in order to explore the challenges and potential of "principles of shari`a" in advocacy on the question of violence against women.

Table of contents:

Introduction--Lynn Welchman * Muslim Personal Status Law in Egypt: The Current Situation and Possibilities of Reform through Internal Initiatives--Essam Fawzy * Islamic Law and the Transition to Palestinian Statehood: Constraints and Opportunities for Legal Reform--Rema Hammami, Penny Johnson, Fadwa Labadi, and Lynn Welchman * No Altars: A Survey of Islamic Family Law in the United States--Asifa Quraishi and Najeeba Syeed-Miller * Domestic Violence and Shari`a: A Comparative Study of Muslim Societies in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--Lisa Hajjar