Judge reform: facilitating divorce by Shariʾa courts in Israel

Abstract

The article deals with a reform initiated by shariʿa court judges (qadis) in Israel who have facilitated the ability of Muslim women to dissolve an unhappy marriage by the re‐interpretation of article 130 of the 1917 Ottoman Law of Family Rights. In analyzing the reform device and motivation, the study elaborates on the qadi's “administration of justice” in a special case of the Muslim minority in Israel as a non‐Muslim state. The study unfolds a growing trend of divorce among the Muslim community and the role of women organizations, State institutions, qadis and the Islamic Movement in facilitating a reform as an internal shariʿa‐based process of neo‐ijtihad from within the shariʿa courts involving processes of modernization, Israelization, Palestinization and Islamization.