Divorcing traditions : Islamic marriage law and the making of Indian secularism

"This book seeks to reshape our understanding of secularism, Muslim law, and divorce in contemporary India. Drawing on the most seminal recent analyses of secularism--including those of Hussain Ali Agrama and Saba Mahmood, as well as the longstanding work of Talal Asad--Lemons argues that secularism in the post-colonial Indian context entails not the separation of religion from the state, but rather the state's definition and regulation of religion, and hence the inevitable intertwining of religion and politics. Neither a particular disposition, nor a particular content, the secular marks instead this regulatory interest of the state (as well as of non-state actors). This insight enables Lemons to show how a variety of arenas that respond to marital strife and adjudicate divorce among Muslims--ranging from women's arbitration centers (mahila panchayats), to jurists' fatwas, to "Shari'a" courts, to muftis' ritual healing practices--are engaged in the secular work of continually defining religion and law"-- Provided by publisher

Divorcing Traditions is an ethnography of Islamic legal expertise and practices in India, a secular state in which Muslims are a significant minority and where Islamic judgments are not legally binding. Katherine Lemons argues that an analysis of divorce in accordance with Islamic strictures is critical to the understanding of Indian secularism.

Lemons analyzes four marital dispute adjudication forums run by Muslim jurists or lay Muslims to show that religious law does not muddle the categories of religion and law but generates them. Drawing on ethnographic and archival research conducted in these four institutions—NGO-run women's arbitration centers (mahila panchayats); sharia courts (dar ul-qazas); a Muslim jurist's authoritative legal opinions (fatwas); and the practice of what a Muslim legal expert (mufti) calls "spiritual healing"—Divorcing Traditions shows how secularism is an ongoing project that seeks to establish and maintain an appropriate relationship between religion and politics. A secular state is always secularizing. And yet, as Lemons demonstrates, the state is not the only arbiter of the relationship between religion and law: religious legal forums help to constitute the categories of private and public, religious and secular upon which secularism relies. In the end, because Muslim legal expertise and practice are central to the Indian legal system and because Muslim divorce's contested legal status marks a crisis of the secular distinction between religion and law, Muslim divorce, argues Lemons, is a key site for understanding Indian secularism.

Divorcing Traditions is an ethnography of Islamic legal expertise and practices in India, a secular state in which Muslims are a significant minority and where Islamic judgments are not legally binding. Katherine Lemons argues that an analysis of divorce in accordance with Islamic strictures is critical to the understanding of Indian secularism. Lemons analyzes four marital dispute adjudication forums run by Muslim jurists or lay Muslims to show that religious law does not muddle the categories of religion and law but generates them. Drawing on ethnographic and archival research conducted in these four institutions—NGO-run women's arbitration centers ( mahila panchayats ); sharia courts ( dar ul-qazas ); a Muslim jurist's authoritative legal opinions ( fatwas ); and the practice of what a Muslim legal expert ( mufti ) calls "spiritual healing"— Divorcing Traditions shows how secularism is an ongoing project that seeks to establish and maintain an appropriate relationship between religion and politics. A secular state is always secularizing. And yet, as Lemons demonstrates, the state is not the only arbiter of the relationship between religion and law: religious legal forums help to constitute the categories of private and public, religious and secular upon which secularism relies. In the end, because Muslim legal expertise and practice are central to the Indian legal system and because Muslim divorce's contested legal status marks a crisis of the secular distinction between religion and law, Muslim divorce, argues Lemons, is a key site for understanding Indian secularism. "This book seeks to reshape our understanding of secularism, Muslim law, and divorce in contemporary India. Drawing on the most seminal recent analyses of secularism ... including those of Hussain Ali Agrama and Saba Mahmood, as well as the longstanding work of Talal Asad ... Lemons argues that secularism in the post-colonial Indian context entails not the separation of religion from the state, but rather the state's definition and regulation of religion, and hence the inevitable intertwining of religion and politics. Neither a particular disposition, nor a particular content, the secular marks instead this regulatory interest of the state (as well as of non-state actors). This insight enables Lemons to show how a variety of arenas that respond to marital strife and adjudicate divorce among Muslims ... ranging from women's arbitration centers (mahila panchayats), to jurists' fatwas, to "Shari'a" courts, to muftis' ritual healing practices ... are engaged in the secular work of continually defining religion and law" .. Divorcing Traditions Contents Acknowledgments Part I .The State 1. Regulating Kinship Under Legal Pluralism 2. Muslim Divorce, Secularism’s Crucible Part II. The Qazi 3. Shari‘a Courts’ Family Values 4. The Converging Jurisprudence of Divorce Part III. The Mufti 5. “Talaq, Talaq, Talaq..." 6. The Healing Jurist Conclusion: Divorcing Traditions Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z