Islamic Divorce in the Twenty-First Century: A Global Perspective (Politics of Marriage and Gender: Global Issues in Local Contexts)

x PéTER BERTA transnational marriage markets, migration, and brokerage; intersections of marriage and religion, class, or race; the politics of agency and power within marriage; recon figuration of the family: same sex marriage or union; the politics of love, intimacy, and desire; marriage and multicultural families; the politics (religious, legal, etc.) of divorce; the causes, forms, and consequences of polygamy in con temporary socie ties; sport marriage; refusing marriage; and so forth. ## Islamic Divorce in the Twenty-First Century is a groundbreaking collection of case studies illuminating the complexity of the legal, power, religious, and gender dynamics of the final period of marriage and marital relational work in globalized Muslim contexts. Using analytical perspectives from socio legal studies, anthro pology, and history, the chapters offer a fascinating account, not only of the wide variety of ways in which both laypeople and legal professionals interpret (and rein terpret) and utilize Islamic family law while managing marital disputes and divorce, but also of the continuous, multilevel dialogue and interplay between global social, economic, and po liti cal tendencies of the twenty first century and changing local ideologies, practices, and strategies of divorce. By analyzing legal texts and experi ences from ethnographic research, the authors brilliantly demonstrate how state laws and local level traditions of divorce shape each other; how diverse is the group of techniques and strategies used by Muslims who are seeking divorce, and how flexibly Islamic divorce is being adjusted to new circumstances and challenges in the contexts of social and po liti cal upheaval and transnational migration. Islamic Divorce in the Twenty-First Century is essential reading for all those who are inter ested in the significance and manifold practices of Islamic law in the modern world. Contents Series Foreword Preface and Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Note on Transliteration Introduction: Muslim Marital Disputes and Islamic Divorce Law in Twenty-First- Century Practice Part One. State Politics and Divorce Law: Reform and Recommendations 1. Divorce by khulʿ in Pakistani Courts: Expanding Women’s Rights through Reconfiguring Religious Authority 2. Male-Initiated Divorce before the Egyptian Judiciary 3. Problems of and Possibilities for Islamic Divorce in South Africa Part Two. Gendered Strategies and Judicial Responses in Marital Disputing 4. Women in the Search of Sexual Pleasure: Divorce on Grounds of Sexual Dissatisfaction in Indonesian Religious Courts 5. “I Divorced Him but He Said He Has Not Divorced Me”: Gendered Perspectives on Muslim Divorce in Accra, Ghana 6. Undoing Marriage in Lebanon: Divorce within and beyond Family Courts Part Three. Islamic Divorce in the Context of Global Patterns of Mobility, Upheaval, and Changing Household Economies 7. Islamic Renewal, Muslim Divorce, and Gender Relations in Mali 8. A “Much-Married Woman” Revisited: Kinship Perspectives on the High Frequency of Divorce among Uyghurs in Southern Xinjiang, China 9. The Ends of Divorce: Marital Dispute as a Locus of Social Change in India Conclusion: Islamic Divorce in Context and in Action: Notes from the Field Notes on Contributors Index "Islamic Divorce in the 21st Century shows the wide range of Muslim experiences in marital disputes and in seeking Islamic divorces. For Muslims, having the ability to divorce in accordance with Islamic law is of paramount importance. However, Muslim experiences of divorce practice differ tremendously. The chapters in this volume discuss Islamic divorce from West Africa to Southeast Asia, and each story explores aspects of the everyday realities of disputing and divorcing Muslim couples face in the twenty-first century. The book's cross-cultural and comparative look at Islamic divorce indicates that Muslim divorces are impacted by global religious discourses on Islamic authority, authenticity, and gender; by global patterns of and approaches to secularity; and by global economic inequalities and attendant patterns of urbanization and migration. Studying divorce as a mode of Islamic law in practice shows us that the Islamic legal tradition is flexible, malleable, and context-dependent"-- Provided by the publisher Islamic Divorce in the 21st Century takes a close look at the ways that Muslims from West Africa to Southeast Asia engage with and navigate Islamic law and other relevant norms during times of marital breakdown in light of twenty-first century challenges and development.