The family is where legal rules presented as part of the Islamic shari`a are most widely applied in the Muslim world. This volume explores the present-day reali... » 

The family is where legal rules presented as part of the Islamic shari`a are most widely applied in the Muslim world. 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; the United States of America, 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.This book makes possible a detailed examination of possibilities of, and constraints on, legal reform in the area of Islamic family law in specific, contemporary contexts. «