Marriage in Fiqh, Law and History - A Musawah Knowledge Building Research Initiative

In 2018, Musawah embarked on a research initiative titled ‘Reclaiming ʿAdl and Iḥsān in Muslim Marriages: Between Ethics and Law’. The aim of this initiative is to investigate ethical and legal frameworks that conceptualize how Muslim marriages can be grounded in equality, justice and mutual spiritual growth and well-being. It builds on Musawah’s previous ‘Knowledge Building Initiative on Qiwamah and Wilayah’, where we undertook the task of investigating and deconstructing the underlying roots of male authority and superiority in Muslim marriages through multidimensional research on the two juristic concepts of qiwamah and wilyah and their modern day legal and societal manifestations.

The research inspired a public webinar series in 2020-2021 promoting feminist conversations on family relations based on ethics of justice, equality and care.

We produced 4 short thematic videos featuring key insights from the series of public webinars and the broader knowledge research initiative titled ‘Reclaiming ‘Adl and Ihsan in Muslim Marriages: Between Ethics and Law’.

The third one is on fiqh, law and history.

Narrated by Zainah Anwar.
Produced by Sarah Marsso.