Muslim divorce in the Middle East: contesting gender in the contemporary courts

How are Muslim marriages legally ended around the turn of the 21st century?

Who has the power to initiate and resist shari'a derived divorce?

When are husbands and wives made to bear the costs of their marital breakdown?

What does divorce law indicate about the development of gender regimes in the Middle East and North Africa?

This book opens with a description of the historical development of Islamic divorce in the MENA.

Subsequent chapters follow a Syrian male judge, a Moroccan female legal advice worker and a Libyan female judge as they deal with divorce cases in which husbands, wives, their relatives and lawyers debate gender roles in contemporary Muslim marriages.