Muslim Marriage in Western Courts: Lost in Transplantation

This book describes and analyses the notion of Mahr, The Muslim custom whereby the groom has to give a gift To The bride on the contract of marriage. it explores how Western courts, specifically in Canada, The United States, France, and Germany, have approached and interpreted Mahr. Although the outcomes of the cases provide an illustrative framework For The book, The focus is broader than simply the adjudicative endeavours. The work explores the concept of liberalism, which purportedly champions individuals and individual choice concurrently with freedom and equality. Tensions between and among these concepts, however, inevitably arise. The acknowledgment and exploration of these intertwined tensions forms an important underpinning For The book. Through the analysis of case law from these four countries, this study suggests that transplanting Mahr from Islamic law into a Western courtroom cannot be undone: it immediately becomes rooted in the countries' legal, historical, political, and social backgrounds and flourishes (or fails) in diverse and unexpected ways. Rather than being the concept described by classical Islamic jurists, Mahr is interpreted according to wildly varied legal constructs and concepts such as multiculturalism, fairness, public policy, and gender equality. This is all the more pertinent since courts present themselves as invested in the technical enterprise of applying the law in a non-ideological manner. Returning To The overarching concept of liberalism, The book proposes that although liberalism is one possible way of framing emancipatory claims by minorities in Western societies, this has become the dominant approach underlying how Western liberal legal systems deal with claims made by Muslims in general and Muslim women in particular.