Chapters on Marriage and Divorce

While western-derived legal codes have superseded Islamic law in many parts of the Muslim world, Islamic, Koran-based law still retains its force in the area of marriage and family relations, the area that is key to the status of women. This work makes available for the first time in English three compilations of responses to questions about family law given by two prominent Muslim jurists of the ninth century (third century of Islam). One of these jurists, Ishaq b. Rahwayh, is virtually unknown to contemporary scholarship; the other, Ahmad b. Hanbal, is the eponymous founder of the Hanbali rite of Sunni Islam (the one currently dominant in Saudi Arabia). Hanbali thought was developed on the basis of medieval commentaries on these compilations and other early texts. However, these oldest sources are generally unavailable, and they are too difficult for any except a handful of scholars to read. The introduction to Chapters on Marriage and Divorce starts with a brief section that describes the nature of the compilations and places the jurists and the compilers in their historical context. It continues with a longer section entitled "Topics of Marriage and Divorce" that elucidates how the various issues of family law are treated in the texts. Translations of the three compilations follow in order of length and detail. An appendix contains a collation of the significant variants among the manuscripts and printed versions of the Arabic texts. The volume concludes with an index of Koran verses cited in the texts, a topical index, and an index of names. The book aims to make these compilations of responses available to a broad spectrum of scholars and students. Beyond its immediate audience inIslamic legal and intellectual history, the book will be of interest to scholars of medieval European history, legal history, and women's studies, as well as those interested in comparative religion or jurisprudence or in problems of family law.