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Customizing Islamic Law

Mahmood Kooria (ed.)

Customizing Islamic Law

Matrilineal Muslims of the Indian Ocean

Millions of Muslims across the Indian Ocean littoral have historically followed a matrilineal system, where women had better economic and social stability and an upper hand in their personal choices. The system raised serious questions as the Islamic legal tradition evolved in the Middle East, especially when some inheritance customs gave men little to no share in the property. Bringing diverse matrilineal Muslim communities together for the first time, this volume studies their engagements against the patriarchal interpretations of Sharia in comparative and connected perspectives. The comparisons and connections go beyond the Indian Ocean and Islamic world, to the Mediterranean, Sub-Saharan and North African contexts as well as to the Christian, Jewish and Hindu traditions. The contributors explore how and why the followers of the matrilineal praxis defended the system within the legal epistemologies of their religion.
Editor

Mahmood Kooria

Mahmood Kooria is Lecturer in the History of the Indian Ocean World at the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh (Scotland). Earlier he held teaching and research positions at Leiden University (the Netherlands), University of Bergen (Norway), Ashoka University (India), National Islamic University Jakarta (Indonesia), International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and African Studies Centre (ASC), Leiden (the Netherlands), Dutch Institute in Rabat (Morocco). He read his PhD in Global History at the Leiden University Institute for History in 2016, authored Islamic Law in Circulation: Sh.fi.. Texts across the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean (Cambridge University Press, 2022), and co-edited Malabar in the Indian Ocean World: Cosmopolitanism in a Maritime Historical Region (Oxford University Press, 2018) and Islamic Law in the Indian Ocean: Texts, Ideas and Practices (Routledge, 2022).
Title
Customizing Islamic Law
Subtitle
Matrilineal Muslims of the Indian Ocean
Editor
Price
€ 159,00 excl. VAT
ISBN
9789048559596
Format
Hardback
Number of pages
386
Language
English
Publication date
Dimensions
15.6 x 23.4 cm
Series
Religion and Society in Asia
Categories
Contemporary History
Contemporary Society
Gender and Sexuality Studies
Islam
Legal Studies
Modern History
Religion and Theology
Discipline
Asian Studies
Table of Contents
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List of Illustrations, Maps and Images
Notes on the Editor and Contributors
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: Can Sharia be Customised? Entanglements between Matrilineal and Islamic Traditions - Mahmood Kooria (University of Edinburgh, UK)
PART ONE. SOCIAL CROSSROADS
2. Engaging with Islamic Inheritance: Matrilocal Marriage and Women’s Dowry Houses in Sri Lanka and the Coromandel Coast of Tamil Nadu - Dennis McGilvray (University of Colorado, Boulder, USA)
3, Matriliny, Islam and Women’s Cultures on the Swahili Coast - Signe Arnfred (Roskilde University, Denmark)
4. For a Social History of Matriliny in between Christianity and Islam in Northern Mozambique: Notes on Cabo Delgado - Francesca Declich (Università degli Studi di Urbino, Italy)
5. Matrilineal Jews or Slave Descendants? Halakhic Laws and Trade Alliances in Medieval Malabar - Ophira Gamleil (University of Glasgow, UK)
PART TWO. PATTERNS IN DISCOURSES
6. The Adat Perpatih is Shariah Compliant: Practices, Challenges and Prospects in a Matrilineal Society in Negeri Sembilan, West Malaysia - Azizah Kassim (National University of Malaya, Malaysia)
7. Legal Debates on the Matrilineal System in Minangkabau, Indonesia - Yasrul Huda (State Islamic University Imam Bonjol Padang, Indonesia)
8. Matrilineal Reform in the Lakshadweep Archipelago: Debating the Custom through Islam - Mariyam Mumthas (University of Hyderabad, India)
9. Resilience of Matriliny among Muslims of Malabar - Fathima T. Fayaz (Mahatma Gandhi University, India and Indian School, Bahrain)
10. Matrifocality, Islamic Law, and Modernity in Aceh, Indonesia - Eka Srimulyani (Islamic University of Ar-Raniry, Indonesia)
PART THREE. RESILIENT PRACTICES
11. Performative Spaces, Time-schemes and Gender Relations in Mappila Matriliny - Fathima E.V. (Kannur University, India)
12. Spirit Possession, Islam, and Matriliny in Northern Mozambique - Daria Trentini (Drake University, USA)
13. Codification of Customary Practice of Harta Sepancarian for Protecting Women’s Property Rights: Malaysian Experience - Ainul Jaria Maidin (International Islamic University, Malaysia)
14. Poison in the Will: Transformation of Muslim Matriliny in Colonial Kerala - Manaf Kottakkunnummal (University of the Johannesburg, South Africa)
Index

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