Equality between men and women in the Islamic Law of Inheritance (original) (raw)
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Stumbling Block: Inheritance and Women's Rights in Tunisia
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Inheritance has been a stumbling block for advocates of women's rights in Tunisia. Labeled an "anomaly" as the only Arab Spring country engaged in a process of democratization, Tunisia has also gained the reputation for being at the "forefront of the Arab World" in regard to women's rights. The reputation stems from reforms of Islamic family law from the 1950s to the 2010s that increased women's autonomy in marriage, divorce, custody, and other areas. Yet, inheritance laws have remained essentially the same for centuries. Attempts to reform them have all failed. We consider below issues surrounding inheritance, Islamic law, and current debates.
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This study examines the reform of the law of inheritance in Turkey and Tunisia. Both countries reinterpret the law of inheritance based on the current social context where the changes of social structure particularly related to gender issues encourage changes in its implementation. Applying the library research method, this study aims at comparing the law of inheritance in Turkey and Tunisia and illustrating that the Sharia law associated with social issues is adapted to and reinterpreted according to the needs of the people. As the result, the study draws some conclusion that Turkey grants equal inheritance rights to men and women, whereas Tunisia integrates the inheritance legal system described in the Quran with the social context. This happens due to the fact that Turkey has been subject to total secularisation and has caused a conflict with the opposition since the beginning of its formation. In the meantime, Tunisia has attempted to avoid a conflict with the traditionalists. T...
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After Morocco's National Human Rights Council publically released the report on gender equality and parity in Morocco that contains recommendation regarding the inheritance law, Morocco has entered in a heated debate, over the idea of gender equality in inheritance law. A debate between Moroccan feminist movements (and those who struggle for women’s rights) who are calling for reforming this law arguing that the sacred text is not written in stone and that the current inheritance law is unjust towards women, and traditional Ulama and religious scholars who want to maintain the current inheritance law thinking that Quran and Islam rules are balanced, integrated, and valid every time and place. I explore in this paper the debate of the equality between the two sexes in Morocco's inheritance law with an intention of demonstrating its prospects, limitations, and importance in our society. The central question of my research as follows: How has inheritance law become a site of struggle in Morocco, and what the prospects and limitations of this debate?
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Islamic law of inheritance, applicable to Muslim, stands on the foundation of principle of equity not of equality to ensure and manifest justice between the both sexes of human being. Rights fountain from the mountain of duties. Within the family structure of Islam, men, being the sole bread earner, women are privileged and protected under the umbrella of obligation of men. Social security and economic independence are ensured to women by providing equitable share in inheritance in contrast to men. Due to failure of comprehensive understanding of the whole aspect of rights and duties of men and women in the valley of Islam, some critiques consider this as an injustice to the women. Life-cycle of a man is full of financial obligations whereas a woman is immune from any such obligations though she has much wealth or earns money. In her life-cycle a woman is kept protected as financial obligation relying on the father, brother, husband, son etc. and finally on the state and in no circumstances a woman remains unsecured and unprotected. The present study readdressed the scheme of sharia law to show that Islam has ensured justice by ignoring apparent mathematical calculation in getting equal share to that of man by ordaining equitable distribution. Both descriptive and analytical methods were used in this research by using primary as well as secondary data sources.
The Rights of Women to Inheritance under the Islamic law
ABSTRACT The idea of succession is as old as the history of mankind as this paved the way for the continuity of property and civilization. Noteworthy is the fact that most societies have been essentially patriarchal; but in no area of political, social and religious life has the despicable plight of women been more conspicuously noticeable than in the aspect of inheritance. This work is therefore an analysis of the inheritance rights of women in the Islamic legal system which have evolved from a system whose primary purpose was the support and liberation of women to one in which women enjoy the same rights to inherit and own property as their male counterparts. This work gives an overview of the system of Islamic law and of course the place of women. It then provides a detailed description of the ways in which the law govern the rights of wives, mothers, daughters, and other female relatives to inherit property without living behind the examination of the historical, legal and philosophical foundations of the practices of women’s rights to property in this jurisdiction.
Husein Muhammad’s Thoughts on Gender Equality in Islamic Inheritance Law
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This research aims to analyze the philosophical reasons for Husein Muhammad's thoughts about the importance of the equal distribution of inheritance between men and women in Islamic inheritance law, as well as the method of legal reform that he uses when understanding verses about inheritance. This research is field research. Data was collected through virtual interviews. Data analysis was descriptive qualitative, with maslahah theory, and historical and sociological approaches. The research findings show that one of the reasons why verses about inheritance need to be reinterpreted, according to Husein, is because these verses fall into the category of mutashabihat verses (interpretable) so they need to be reinterpreted by looking at the current context. Another reason is that the inheritance verses that regulate section 2:1 for men and women in the Prophet's era were only intended for the context of society at that time, where women had no inheritance rights, and even women...
Epistemé: Jurnal Pengembangan Ilmu Keislaman, 2020
This article examines a debate on gender equality, which is considered by some to be in conflict with the Qur’an, an-Nisa [4]:11. Using a philosophical approach and analyzing Sa‘ id Ramadan al-Buti’s concept of inheritance in his Al-Mar’ah Bayna Tughyan al-Nizam al-Gharbi wa Lata’if al-Tashri’ al-Rabbani, this paper tries to refute this allegation and offers a more gender-friendly interpretation. For al-Buti, the verse has actually liberated women because the provisions are caused by the responsibilities imposed by Islam on men as prospective husbands, not on women. On the contrary, if women are more empowered than men, that becomes a moral issue, not a shari’a one. Women have been given freedom by the shari’a in order to determine their choice to participate in bringing about stability in life. A condition that women are more empowered than men will not be the cause of changes in the shari’a’s provisions concerning inheritance.
Women Rights to Inheritance in Muslim Family Law: An Analytical Study
International Journal of Islamic Business & Management, 2020
Rights of women are one of the widely discussed yet debatable issues across the Western and Muslim world. It is seen in the Muslim societies that many women are deprived in terms of inheriting property after the demise of their parents. This is largely happening due to the negligence of practicing Islamic teachings regarding inheritance at individual and family level. However, Islam has placed a dignified position for women in family and society in all sectors. Particularly the principle of inheritance of property has been clearly stated in the holy Qur’an. In this background, this paper emphasises on exploring (a) Qur’anic and Prophetic stand on women’s right to inheritance, (b) the main obstacles that impede women in getting inheritance rights in family and its remedies from the Islamic perspectives. This paper adopts an analytical approach to study this vital issue. Under this approach, the study analyses the relevant data from the two fundamental sources of Islam, Qur’an and Su...
Journal of Islamic Ethics, 2019
This article discusses the debate on gender-equal inheritance in Tunisia. In it, Maeve Cooke's conception of authoritarian versus non-authoritarian practical reasoning is applied to see whether binaries, like religious versus secular, are existent in the public debate on equal inheritance in Tunisia. The mapping of the debate shows the existence of three sets of arguments: jurisprudential/textual, sociological, and legal. Proponents of equal inheritance base their arguments primarily on legal, then sociological, then textual grounds, whereas law opponents base their arguments on textual, then legal, then sociological grounds. The weakness of the sociological arguments of law opponents is evident when stating that a gendered division of labor within the family still exists without providing statistics or empirical evidence to back up that claim. Through shared categories and grounds, the discussions in Tunisia share a common language in the public sphere, allowing for the reduction of authoritarian tendencies and longstanding polarization through public deliberation.
Progressive Realisation of Muslim Family Law: The Case of Tunisia
Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 2019
From the time when women's rights were not placed high on the agenda of any state to the time when women's rights are given top priority, Tunisia's gender-friendly legislation requires a fresher look. One would be forgiven for thinking that Tunisia's reforms started after they gained independence from France in the 1950's. In fact, it was during the French Protectorate that reformers started rumours of reform, arguing amongst other issues for affording women more rights than those they were granted under sharia law, which governed family law in Tunisia. After gaining its independence, Tunisia promulgated the Code of Personal Status, which was considered a radical departure from the sharia. It is considered to be the first women-friendly legislation promulgated in the country. It could be argued that Tunisian family law underwent, four waves of reform. The first wave started during the French Protectorate. The second wave started in the 1950's with the codification of Tunisia's family law, which introduced women-friendly legislation. The third wave started in the 1990's with changes to the Code of Personal Status, and the latest wave commenced in 2010. In this article, I analyse the initial, pioneering phases of the reforms resulting from the actions of a newly formed national state interested in building a free society at the end of colonial rule, as well as reforms that have taken place in the modern state since the Arab uprising in Tunisia. As a result of the various waves of reforms, I argue that Tunisia should be seen as the vanguard of womenfriendly legislation in the Arab world.