Muslim Family Law in Western Courts [Paperback]

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.

Preface  1. Muslim Family Law and Legal Practice in the West: An Introduction Elisa Giunchi  2. Sharia in the West: Colonial Consciousness in a Context of Normative CompetitionPrakash Shah  3. Please Divorce Me! Subversive Agency, Resistance and Gendered Religious Scripts Pascale Fournier  4. Judicial Encounters with Islamic and Middle Eastern Family Law in Switzerland from a Private International Law Perspective  Marriage and Divorce Andrea B?chlerand Amira Latif  5. The Recognition of Transnational Muslim Marriages and Divorces by Norwegian Courts and Other Competent Authorities: Dynamics Between Legislation and Legal Practice Katja Jansen Fredriksen 6. Islamic Family Law in the Courts: Spains Position with Regard to the Moroccan Family Code Anna Qui?onesEsc?mez  7. An Analysis of British Judicial Treatment of Islamic Divorces, 1997 - 2009 Denise Helly and Al-Rahim Moosa  8. Can there be a Compromise? Australia's State of Confusion Regarding Sharia Family LawAnn Black  9. Islamic Family Law in American Courts: A Rich, Diverse and Evolving Jurisprudence Abed Awal³ž