Divorce in the Libyan Family: A Study Based on the Sijills of the Shari'ah Courts of Ajdabiyya and Kufra

Abstract

This is a study of the way in which various courts in Libya deal with questions of divorce in an almost exclusive tribal, still nomadic, environment. The author explains how local divorce law is a blend of statutory, Islamic, and customary law. By investigating all the varieties of marriage dissolution recorded in the sijjilat of the shari'a courts of Ajdabiyya and Kufra and by analyzing the part played, respectively, by shari'a law, customary law and some compromise between the two, he provides hard evidence on the nature of compromise on one point after another. The principles are by no means confined to the localities that are examined here in such meticulous detail. Much light is thrown on the way in which the authority of shari'a law habitually thought to impinge on tribal or local customs in sixth areas, on the one hand, and low Muslim courts, on the other hand, to try to adopt the principles of the shari'a to the exigencies of the local situation.