This book provides the latest and updated account of the principles and practices of family laws in Pakistan. It is primarily based on the latest case law and statutes. The authors not only present systemically organised case law but also critically evaluate the leading judicial precedents.Various chapters of the book cover general principles of family law, demonstrate their application based on the facts of each case, trace patterns of developments in case law, rationalise conflicting judicial authorities, and propose law reform, wherever required. This is the first book that takesinto account personal laws of non-Muslims in Pakistan and covers the important issue of the conflict of personal laws.
Religion plays a pivotal role in the way women are treated around the world, socially and legally. This book discusses three Islamic human rights approaches: secular, non-compatible, reconciliatory (compatible), and proposes a contextual interpretive approach. It is argued that the current gender discriminatory statutory Islamic laws in Islamic jurisdictions, based on the decontextualised interpretation of the Koran, can be reformed through "Ijtihad": independent individual reasoning. It is claimed that the original intention of the Koran was to protect the rights of women and raise their status in society, not to relegate them to subordination. This Koranic intention and spirit may be recaptured through the proposed contextual interpretation which in fact means using an Islamic (or insider) strategy to achieve gender equality in Muslim states and greater compatibility with international human rights law. It discusses the negative impact of the so-called statutory Islamic laws of Pakistan on the enjoyment of women's human rights and robustly challenges their Koranic foundation. While supporting the international human rights regime, this book highlights the challenges to its universality: feminism and cultural relativism. To achieve universal application, genuine voices from different cultures and groups must be accommodated. It is argued that the women's human rights regime does not cover all issues of concern to women and has a weak implementation mechanism. The book argues for effective implementation procedures to turn women's human rights into reality.
In "Islamic Family Law in a Changing World," Abdullahi A. An-Na'im explores the practice of the Shari'a, commonly known as Islamic Family Law. An-Na'im shows that the practical application of Shari'a principles is often modified by theological differences of interpretation, a country's particular customary practices, and state policy and law.
This is a detailed, critical study of the reforms which have been made in recent years to the law in the State of Pakistan with the ostensible objective of bringing it into accord with the requirements of Islam. Special emphasis is given to the period from 1977 when General Zia ul Haque adopted a period of Islamization. This is a field of investigation of considerable importance both for the advancement of legal and political theory and for practical purposes, especially as regards human rights. The author, trained both in Pakistan law and the concepts and practice of Islamic law, has been able to advance significantly our understanding of the doctrinal developments documented in this book. First published in 1994.
This book argues that the shared adjudication model in which the state splits its adjudicative authority with religious groups and other societal sources in the regulation of marriage can potentially balance cultural rights and gender equality. In this model the civic and religious sources of legal authority construct, transmit and communicate heterogeneous notions of the conjugal family, gender relations and religious membership within the interstices of state and society. In so doing, they fracture the homogenized religious identities grounded in hierarchical gender relations within the conjugal family. The shared adjudication model facilitates diversity as it allows the construction of hybrid religious identities, creates fissures in ossified group boundaries and provides institutional spaces for ongoing intersocietal dialogue. This pluralized legal sphere, governed by ideologically diverse legal actors, can thus increase gender equality and individual and collective legal mobilization by women effects institutional change.
With regard to family law, this volume examines claims based on cultural tradition, ethnic background, custom, religious affiliation and sexual orientation, as well as various other “claims” that are not officially recognized in state law, in 15 jurisdictions around the world. The country reports seek to determine whether these claims represent a challenge to family law as conceived by the state, and if so, how these challenges are being managed. The focus lies on the interaction between (i) claims and traditions raising minority-related and diversity-related issues and (ii) the state as the addressee of these demands for accommodation. The reports identify specific instances and situations that have proven (and in many cases still are) particularly difficult to resolve. They force decision-makers to engage in a delicate balancing act between different, often clashing interests.
