Muslim sharia law that was prominent during the Ottoman Empire is family law. This law relates to marriage, children, and divorce. Family law falls under the category of private law in the Ottoman Empire. Family and inheritance law was at the very center of Ottoman law, and thus was least affected by the penetration of foreign law. [1] Family law also had a significant role in establishing the gender roles in Islamic society in the Ottoman Empire. During the Tanzimat Period in the Ottoman Empire with the Empire's new focus on bureaucracy, they began to collect information on the families living under their rule including births, marriages, and deaths. [2]
The Ottoman Law of Family Rights is a new codification in Ottoman law that emerged in 1917. [3] This law remained legitimate in Jordan until the year of 1951, and Syria in 1949. It is still valid for Muslim citizens of Israel and Lebanon. [4] This law reestablished family law, specifically in regards to marriage and divorce, children and inheritance, and men and women's roles. One of the main reasons for the creation of the Ottoman Law of Family Rights and a reform of family laws in the Ottoman Empire, was to give women better access to divorce. [5] However, it is argued by scholar Judith Tucker that the Ottoman Law of Family Rights did little to advance women's rights in the Ottoman Empire. [4]
Sharia is a body of religious law that forms part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. In Arabic, the term sharīʿah refers to God's immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations. The manner of its application in modern times has been a subject of dispute between Muslim fundamentalists and modernists.
A wife is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, a wife is referred to as a widow. The rights and obligations of a wife in relation to her partner and her status in the community and in law vary between cultures and have varied over time.
Uniform Civil Code,, sometimes referred as UCC, is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless of their religion, gender and sexual orientation. Currently, personal laws of various communities are governed by their religious scriptures. Implementation of a uniform civil code across the nation is one of the contentious promises pursued by India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. It is an important issue regarding secularism in Indian politics and continues to remain disputed by India's political left wing, Muslim groups and other conservative religious groups and sects in defence of sharia and religious customs. Personal laws are distinguished from public law and cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance. Meanwhile, article 25-28 of the Indian constitution guarantees religious freedom to Indian citizens and allows religious groups to maintain their own affairs, article 44 of the constitution expects the Indian state to apply directive principles and common law for all Indian citizens while formulating national policies.
A qāḍī is the magistrate or judge of a sharīʿa court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions, such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works.
In the Ottoman Empire, a millet was an independent court of law pertaining to "personal law" under which a confessional community was allowed to rule itself under its own laws.
Divorce in Islam can take a variety of forms, some initiated by the husband and some initiated by the wife. The main traditional legal categories are talaq (repudiation), khulʿ, judicial divorce and oaths. The theory and practice of divorce in the Islamic world have varied according to time and place. Historically, the rules of divorce were governed by sharia, as interpreted by traditional Islamic jurisprudence, though they differed depending on the legal school, and historical practices sometimes diverged from legal theory. In modern times, as personal status (family) laws were codified, they generally remained "within the orbit of Islamic law", but control over the norms of divorce shifted from traditional jurists to the state.
Islam in Greece is represented by two distinct communities; Muslims that have lived in Greece since the times of the Ottoman Empire and Muslim immigrants that began arriving in the last quarter of the 20th century, mainly in Athens and Thessaloniki. Muslims in Greece are mainly immigrants from The Middle East, other Balkan regions & North Africa.
The rise of the Western notion of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire eventually caused the breakdown of the Ottoman millet concept. An understanding of the concept of nationhood prevalent in the Ottoman Empire, which was different from the current concept of nationhood as it was centered on religion, was a key factor in the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
Under the Ottoman Empire's millet system, Christians and Jews were considered dhimmi under Ottoman law in exchange for loyalty to the state and payment of the jizya tax.
Many social changes took place under Islam between 610 and 661, including the period of Muhammad's mission and the rule of his four immediate successors who established the Rashidun Caliphate.
Traditional Sunni and Shia Islamic marital jurisprudence allows Muslim men to be married to multiple women.
Islam and modernity is a topic of discussion in contemporary sociology of religion. The history of Islam chronicles different interpretations and approaches. Modernity is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon rather than a unified and coherent one. It has historically had different schools of thought moving in many directions.
In the Ottoman Empire, women enjoyed a diverse range of rights depending on the time period, as well as their religion and class. The empire, first as a Turkoman beylik, and then a multi-ethnic, multi-religious empire, was ruled in accordance to the qanun, the semi-secular body of law enacted by Ottoman sultans. Furthermore, the relevant religious scriptures of its many confessional communities played a major role in the legal system, for the majority of Ottoman women, these were the Quran and Hadith as interpreted by Islamic jurists, often termed sharia. Most Ottoman women were permitted to participate in the legal system, purchase and sell property, inherit and bequeath wealth, and participate in other financial activities, rights which were unusual in the rest of Europe until the 19th century.
Egyptian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Egypt, as amended; the Egyptian Nationality Law, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Egypt. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Egyptian nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in Egypt, or jus sanguinis, born to parents with Egyptian nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization.
Since the early Islamic states of the eighth and ninth centuries, Sharia always existed alongside other normative systems.
The Ottoman Empire was governed by different sets of laws during its existence. The Qanun, sultanic law, co-existed with religious law. Legal administration in the Ottoman Empire was part of a larger scheme of balancing central and local authority. Ottoman power revolved crucially around the administration of the rights to land, which gave a space for the local authority develop the needs of the local millet. The jurisdictional complexity of the Ottoman Empire was aimed to permit the integration of culturally and religiously different groups.
The Law of Jordan is influenced by Ottoman law and European laws. The Constitution of Jordan of 1952 affirmed Islam as the state religion, but it did not state that Islam is the source of legislation. Jordanian penal code has been influenced by the French Penal Code of 1810.
Tunisian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Tunisia, as amended; the Tunisian Nationality Code, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Tunisia. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Nationality describes the relationship of an individual to the state under international law, whereas citizenship is the domestic relationship of an individual within the nation. Tunisian nationality is typically obtained under the principal of jus sanguinis, i.e. by birth in Tunisia or abroad to parents with Tunisian nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization.
Islamic family jurisprudence or Islamic family law or Muslim Family Law is the fiqh of laws and regulations related to maintaining of Muslim family, which are taken from Quran, hadith, fatwas of Muslim jurists and ijma of the Muslims. It contains pubertal, marital, sexual, child upbringing, adoption and fostering, inheritance, criminal and other related subjects. The subject mainly discusses on foster relationship, marriage, divorce, Ila, li'an, Raj'ah, Khul', Zihar, Iddah, custody and maintenance of children etc. From the political aspects, Muslim family law is a part of almost every national constitution of the world regarding religious (Muslim) laws, specially of the muslim-majority countries.
Djiboutian nationality law is regulated by the Constitution of Djibouti, as amended; the Djiboutian Nationality Code, and its revisions; and various international agreements to which the country is a signatory. These laws determine who is, or is eligible to be, a national of Djibouti. The legal means to acquire nationality, formal legal membership in a nation, differ from the domestic relationship of rights and obligations between a national and the nation, known as citizenship. Djiboutian nationality is typically obtained under the principle of jus soli, i.e. by birth in Djibouti, or jus sanguinis, born abroad to parents with Djiboutian nationality. It can be granted to persons with an affiliation to the country, or to a permanent resident who has lived in the country for a given period of time through naturalization.