Family Laws

The following charts which compare the family laws of a number of countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East have been compiled based on information obtained from the Islamic Family Law project of Emory University.

In Gambia and Nigeria, classical Maliki fiqh is applied to matters of personal status. In Ghana, personal status law is governed by classical or customary law, and until now, no single body of law regulates personal status matters. The colonial legislation applicable to Muslims, the Marriage of Mohammedans Ordinance 1907, is limited to administrative or procedural matters such as providing for registration of marriage and divorce. All three nations have signed and ratified CEDAW.

In Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) personal status law remains unlegislated. The shari'a courts apply classical Islamic personal status laws to Muslims. In Oman, Ibadi fiqh is applied while Hanbali fiqh is applied in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, none of these nations has signed CEDAW.

Glossary of Islamic Terms

Fiqh means understanding, comprehension, knowledge, and jurisprudence in Islam. It refers to the legal rulings of the Muslim scholars, based on their knowledge of the shari'a and as such is the third source of rulings.

Madhab means school of thought. There are four Sunni schools of thought: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'ie and Hanbali. Differences existed from the very beginning not only between the two sects of Islam, Sunni and Shi'a, but also among the different schools of thought of each tradition, and indeed within the same school of thought.

Shari'a refers to the revealed and the canonical laws of Islam which are derived from two major legal resources of Islamic jurisprudence: (1) the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam which is believed by Muslims to be the direct word of God; and (2) the Sunnah. General principles of shari'a are supposed to govern such matters as marriage, divorce, maintenance, paternity and custody of children for more than a billion Muslims around the world. This does not mean that identical principles apply everywhere or in the same manner. Clear variations exist not only because of significant theological, legal, and other differences among and within Muslim societies and communities, but also because shari'a principles are often in practice modified by customary practices, or as a matter of state policy.

Sunnah means habit, practice, or action, norm and usage sanctioned by tradition. It refers to the sayings, practices and habits of Prophet Muhammad, whom Muslims believe is the final messenger of God. The hadith are reports of the sunnah. The sunnah is one of the two major legal sources of jurisprudence in Islam.

Source: The Islamic Family Law project of Emory University.