There is no common family law system that applies from Morocco to Pakistan and from Turkey to Somalia (an area which I am describing as ‘The Middle East’ in a very loose use of that term). The family law system of each state is different – although some have influenced others. Islamic shari’a plays a part in the family law applied to Muslims in nearly all states – sometimes in essentially unvarnished form applied by judges who are religious scholars (as in Saudi Arabia) and sometimes as the inspiration for an essentially codified system administered within a branch of the civil court system by state educated judges with law degrees (as in Iraq).
In my blog posts about the family law of different states within the greater Middle East, I will try to identify the degree to which shari’a plays a part and the way in which that takes place. Even where Islamic law is applied directly, there is no single ‘Islamic law’ applied in every case and in every state or court. Within both Shi’a and Sunni Islam there are different schools of law, with many similarities but both different interpretations of the law and sometimes different ways of reasoning from basic principles to a final outcome.
Family law in Islam is best thought of as part of ‘Personal Status’ law, which also includes inheritance law – which is the part of Islamic law most clearly rooted in express verses of the Qur’an and which will be the subject of a separate blog post.
Many of those who live in the Middle East are not Muslims – and each state also provides for the resolution of disputes involving e.g. Christians. In some legal systems, the same provisions are applied to all – often provisions derived from shari’a principles. In some legal systems, a myriad of different personal status legal systems exist in parallel dealing with different sects – Lebanon being a prime example.
Andrew Allen QC 