In what ways has Islamic law discriminated against women and privileged men? What rights and power have been accorded to Muslim women, and how have they used the legal system to enhance their social and economic position? In an analysis of Islamic law through the prism of gender, Judith Tucker tackles these complex questions relating to the position of women in Islamic society, and to the ways in which the legal system impacted on the family, property rights, space and sexuality, from classical and medieval times to the present. Working with concepts drawn from feminist legal theory and by using particular cases to illustrate her arguments, the author systematically addresses questions of discrimination and expectation - what did men expect of their womenfolk - and of how the language of the law contributed to that discrimination, infecting the system and all those who participated in it.
- The first book to discuss how Islamic law negotiates questions of gender
- Systematically discusses Islamic legal doctrine, enabling readers to grasp the basics of the Islamic legal system
- Explains controversies relating to women and their place in modern Islamic society and what modern Islamic law owes to the past
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Reviews & endorsements
'Judith Tucker's book is a welcome addition to Cambridge University Press' series on Islamic law under the editorship of Wael B. Hallaq.' The Times Higher Education Supplement
'The work undoubtedly constitutes an excellent contribution to the field of women and gender studies of Islamic Law, [Tucker's] tour de force destined to become an important reference.' Journal of Shi'a Islamic Studies
'Clearly conceptualized, admirably researched and lucidly written, Judth Tucker's survey of Islamic legal thought and practice relating to women, gender and the family builds on two decades of monographic studies on pre-modern Muslim courts and more recent legislative reforms … In doing so, it provides an essential resource for considering how major doctrines have intersected and combined to shape Muslim women's lives through history and into the present.' Journal of the American Oriental Society
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Product details
- Date Published: October 2008
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521537476
- length: 268 pages
- dimensions: 228 x 152 x 16 mm
- weight: 0.44kg
- contains: 2 maps
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Woman as wife and man as husband: making the marital bargain
3. Woman and man as divorced: asserting rights
4. Woman and man as legal subjects: managing and testifying
5. Woman and man in gendered space: submitting.
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Instructors have used or reviewed this title for the following courses
- Gender, Islam, and Nation in the Middle East and North Africa
- Islam and Colonialism
- Women and Gender in Islam
- Women's Literature in Global Context
Author
Judith E. Tucker, Georgetown University, Washington DC
Judith E. Tucker is Professor of History in the Department of History and Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Her previous publications include Women in Nineteenth Century Egypt (1985) and In the House of the Law: Gender and Islamic Law in Ottoman Syria and Palestine (1998).