Family and Law in Islam

Abstract

Without fanfare, a significant conference on "Family and Law in Islam",took place at the Ramada Inn, Istanbul, May 17-21 1989. More than twentyfiveinvitees from Britain, Egypt, Hungary. India, Pakistan, the United States,and Grand Muftis of Syria and North Yemen attended the conference. Alsoattending were the essential support personnel of the Council of World Religions(CWR). and its Executive Director, Frank Kaufmann. The CWR, a subsidiaryof the International Religious Foundation (IRF) did everything possible tomake the conference a very rewarding experience for all participants.Unlike other conferences, only major assumptions and conclusions werepresented by the authors to set the stage for discussion. To facilitate thediscussions, the organizers had distributed papers a month ahead of time.A certain "pairing" was also attempted, but this was by no means exclusive,and a major part of the proceedings consisted of free-range discussions.punctuated by the Grand Mufti of Syria and his stories on topics rangingfrom camels to watermelons. reflecting on interconnections, between andrelative importance of particular situations.Since the CWR plans to publish, in full or in part, contributions to thisconference, and since these tend to be well documented and meaty. we willonly provide here an idea of the flavor and scope of the topics and discussions.Mohsin Labban of Alexandria, Egypt was the first to discuss the spiritualand moral aspects of the Shari'ah concluding that a woman's fulfilment isin her inclination to possess. By learning to coexist with her husband's otherwife or wives. she may overcome egotism. selfishness, and jealosy. AbdallahNuruddin Durkee of the Darul lslam Foundation, defined secularity andsecularism and showed that none of these institutions provide answers toproblems facing a family. Then lmtiaz. Ahmad of Karachi University presentedhis paper on the role of family in Islamic society, upholding traditionaJ lslamicvalues and denouncing Western intrusions. Other participants from Pakistanwere as varied as their assumptions. Abdul Rashid of Karachi Universitydescribed the status of women in Islam, stating that there is nothing in Islamto bar a woman from being the head of the government, as is the case incontemporary Pakistan. Hassan Qasim Murad, also of Karachi University,discussed the question of equality and equal rights, contending that inequalityof sexes, inferiority of woman to man, was written in the sacred texts, the ...