The Family Structure in Islam - PDF - Islam House

371 Pages·2014·15.29 MB·English

T he Family Structure in Islam
Hammudah Abd al At!
PREFACE
Since this study largely relies on the classical, original
sources, it makes constant reference to Arabic works not
available in English. To translate the titles of these sources
would be of little use to most readers. Similarly, adherence
to any standard system of citation would be equally unhelp­
ful, because of the complicated, often ambiguous forms of
titles, publishers, places of publication, and other biblio­
graphical data. I have therefore adopted a method of footnoting
and transliteration that should be both adequate for the use of
scholars familiar with Arabic and intelligible to the non­
specialist. A separate section at the end of the text contains
expanded comments and specific citations of the sources
which are fully listed in the concluding Bibliography. When
two or more works by the same author or editor are included,
each is given a number (1, 2, 3, etc.). References in the
notes will include only the author’s name, the number of the
work, the volume (if multiple), and page numbers. It is hoped
that this abbreviated form will facilitate identification of rel­
evant documentation.
The transliteration has presented another type of difficulty.
Islamic concepts, Arabic names, and book titles are given
different English spellings by different authors. This is con­
fusing enough, but the difficulty is aggravated when there
are direct quotations from these sources. Nothing can be done
about what is already in print; when reproduced here, such
passages will appear as they are printed in the original. In
all other cases, however, I have adopted a standardized system
of transliteration. For the Arabic letters and sounds which
have no exact equivalents in the English alphabet, the ap­
proximations outlined below will be used as closely as possible.
I. The macron will indicate long vowels:
a = long a, as in sand and hall;
i — long i, as ee in feel;
u = long u, as oo in tooth.
1
u THE FAMILY STRUCTURE IN ISLAM
2. The dot is used under certain “emphatic” letters pro­
nounced with the tongue raised toward the palate:
d = roughly as d in mud;
s = as s in sun;
t — as t in lot;
l = a strong emphatic sound with no English
equivalent;
h = a guttural h slightly stronger than h.
hamza = a glottal stop, as in the cockney li’l bo’ls;
‘ain = a guttural sound, with no English equivalent;
dh = as th in this;
gh = a strong guttural g;
Kh = as ch in Scottish loch;
q — a guttural k, pronounced far back in the throat;
sh = as in ship;
th = as th in think.
For a fuller description of the transliteration system, see,
for example, Bernard Lewis, The Arabs in History, p. 8. Also
consult “Rules for Transliteration from Arabic to English”,
adopted by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study is only the first part of a projected analytical
survey of the development of Islamic institutions. It lays the
historical and conceptual foundations for more systematic
studies in contemporary Muslim life. Whether one wishes
to examine the differences between the Muslim scene now
and in the classical formative period, or the discrepancy
between the ideal conception of Islamic law and its applica­
tion, or the comparisons and contrasts among various regions
of the Muslim world, one can find a point of departure in
this volume.
Acknowledgments here are more than a decorative ritual.
The completion of this work was made possible in the first
place by the generous aid of Princeton University and the
Rockefeller Foundation. Professor Morroe Berger of the
Sociology Department and Chairman of the Council on Inter­
national and Regional Studies at Princeton has been helpful
in many capacities. Professor Eugene Nassar of the English
Department at Utica College of Syracuse University has been
kind enough'to read the manuscript and to make constructive
suggestions. Other editorial revisions were contributed by
Professor A. Leland Jamison of the Department of Religion,
Syracuse University. To these scholars and institutions I am
indebted, a debt which one acknowledges with both delight
and pride.
Hammudah ‘Abd al ‘Atl, Utica College
The American Trust Publications acknowledges the help
of Imam Muhammad bin Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, which placed a pre-publication order for this book.
Proofreading was done by Dr. Kaukab Siddique, Dr.
Erdogan Gurmen, Dr. Eugene Paul Nassar and the author
himself. In fact one of the last acts of Dr. Hammudah ‘Abd al
‘Ati, before he died on September 19, 1976, was the com­
pletion of proofreading of this book over which he took great
pains. May God fill his grave with light.
CONTENTS
Preface
Foreword by Prof. Morroe Berger
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
A. Presuppositions and Methodology
B. Arabian Society Before Islam
C. The Rise of Islam
D. Islamic Law
E. General Characteristics of Islamic Law
Chapter 2: The Foundations and Boundaries of the
Family in Islam 19
A. Definition and Bases of the Family
B. Forms of the Family in Islam
C. The Family Positions
C. The Principle of Identity
E. The Traditional Form of the Muslim Family
F. The Polygynous Form
G. Is the Family a Religious Unit?
H. Perpetuation of the Family
I. Cohabitation with Slaves
Chapter 3: Marriage In Islam 50
A. Control of Sexual Behavior
B. Islam’s Position on Marriage
C. The Purposes of Marriage
D. Marriage: Sacrament or Contract?
E. The Conditions of Marriage
F. Dowry, Marriage-endowment, Marriage- gift
G. Marriage Guardianship
H. Marriage of Minors
ir
Foreword
The scholarly world is fortunate to have this cogent study
by Dr. Hammudah ‘Abd al ‘Ati, and I am happy to have this
opportunity to introduce it and to point out some of its special
virtues. In doing so, however, I will be doing the reader
only a small service before he proceeds to delve into the
study, for its many virtues are evident merely in the reading.
Dr. ‘Abd al ‘Ati deals with a wide array of topics touching on
religion, set roles and the family, law, and social change.
These are basic, sensitive issues in the structure of social
life; they arouse the strongest feelings among people. The au­
thor approaches these disputed questions with very high quali­
fications: a deep, personal familiarity with Islam and a schol­
ar’s knowledge of it as well as of modern social science. He is
thus able to combine sympathy and objectivity to produce un­
derstanding.
After an education in the school system of al Azhar, the
world’s center of Islamic learning in Cairo, Dr. ‘Abd al ’Ati
pursued his studies in Canada and the United States. He thus
added to the rigorous training of a venerable religious system,
a thorough grounding in Western Orientalist and social science
approaches.
This book is a departure from recent emphases on economic
development and Arab nationalism. Dr. ‘Abd al ‘Ati goes
deeper into the history and social institutions of the Islamic
world by considering how religious inspiration, law and social
conditions during the first four centuries of Islam together
shaped ideas about what the family system of Muslims should
become. He deals with formative institutions in the time of
their own formation. He shows that social conditions outside
the religious system did not fix the ideas of Muslims about the
family, though these conditions did set certain boundaries
within which those ideas developed. If the author had stayed
lx
CONTENTS ▼
I. Compulsion versus Freedom in Marriage
J. Mate Selection: Equality (Kafa’ah) in Marriage
Chapter 4: Marriage (Continued) 98
A. Plurality in Marriage
B. Polyandry
C. Other Forms of Marriage
D. Islam’s Position
E. The Mut'ah Union
F. Polygyny
G. Eligibility for Marriage: Endogamy, Exogamy, and Incest
Boudaries
H. Religion and Exogamy
Chapter 5: The Web of Domestic Relations 146
I MARITAL ROLES
A. The Wife’s Rights; the Husband’s Obligations
1. Maintenance and Its Components
a. Residence
b. Other Components of Maintenance
c. Maintenance in Sickness
d. Maintenance in Recalcitrance (Nushuz)
e. Maintenance in Poverty
2. Dower and Other Economic Rights
3. Nonmaterial Rights
B. The Wife’s Obligations; the Husband’s Rights
1. Obedience
a. Manifestations of Obedience
b. The Basis of Obedience
II INTERGENERATIONAL ROLES
A. The Child’s Rights; the Parents’ Obligations
1. General Guidelines
2. The Right to Life and Equal Life Chances
tI THE FAMILY STRUCTURE IN ISLAM
3. The Right to Legitimacy
4. The Child’s Right to Socialization and General
Care
B. The Child’s Duties; the Parents’ Rights
1. General Guidelines
2. lhsan
3. Deference
4. Support and Maintenance
III INTRAGENERATIONAL AND OTHER
MISCELLANEOUS KINSHIP ROLES
A. Brother-Sister Relationships
B. Miscellaneous Kinship Roles
C. Family Planning: Birth Control
D. Recapitulation
Chapter 6: Dissolution of the Family 217
A. An Overview
B. Islam and Marriage Dissolution: Divorce
C. Dimensions of Divorce in Islam
1. A Misleading Analogy
2. Divorce as a Moral Act
3. The Grounds of Divorce
4. The Timing of Divorce and the Preceding Steps
D. The “How” and the Types of Divorce
1. The Sunnah Divorce and Its Variants
a. The Simple Revocable Sunnah Divorce
b. The Double Revocable Sunnah Divorce
c. The Triple Irrevocable Sunnah Divorce
2. The Contra-Sunnah Deviant Divorce
3. Irrevocable Divorce
a. Levels of Irrevocability
b. The Basic Variants of Irrevocable Divorce/
Dissolution
1) 7la (Vow of Continence)
2) Zihar (Injurious Dissimulation)
CONTENTS Til
3) Li'an (Double Testimony/
Recrimination)
4) Khul' (Divestiture/Self-Redemption)
5) Divorce Before Marriage Consummation
6) From Revocable to Irrevocable Divorce
7) The Triple Divorce
8) Figurative Pronouncements
9) Miscellanea
E. The Agents of Divorce
1. The Man’s Right to Divorce
2. The Woman’s Right to Divorce and Marriage
Dissolution
3. Divorce or Marriage Dissolution by Mutual
Consent
4. Divorce or Marriage Dissolution by Judicial
Process
F. The Consequences of Divorce
1. Remorse-Elation
2. ‘Iddah or Waiting Period
3. Maintenance in the Waiting Period
4. Custody of the Children
5. Dowry Settlement
6. Remarriage
7. Concluding Remarks
Chapter 7: Succession and Inheritance 250
A. Social Implications of Inheritance
B. The General Characteristics of Inheritance in Islam
C. Basic Dimensions of the Law of Inheritance
1. The Grounds of Inheritance
2. Bars to Inheritance
a. The First Category
b. The Second Category
c. The Third Category
3. Classes of Heirs
Till THE FAMILY STRUCTURE IN ISLAM
a. The Sunni Scheme of Distribution
b. The Shi‘i Scheme of Distribution
4. Further Comments on Certain Issues
a. A Note on the Female Share
b. The Posthumous Relations of the Deceased
to His Property
c. Recapitulation and Partial Conclusions
Conclusion and General Discussion 274
Notes 284
Bibliography 332