Abstract
This article focuses on the personal narratives of Palestinian Muslim women whose mothers-in-law contributed to the demise of their marriage. Based on 200 interviews with women who brought their cases to the Shari’a courts of Jerusalem and Taibe, this research indicates that interference by the mother-in-law in the life of married couples is one of the main reasons that Palestinian Muslim couples separate and sometimes divorce, even though divorce is considered a taboo. As a result of the co-residency and the meddling of the mother-in law, Palestinian women learn about their Islamic rights to separate housing, and then take steps to live separately from their husbands and abusive in-laws, and in some cases even seek divorce.
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Notes
All the names used in this paper are aliases.
This research formed the basis of my doctoral thesis, which focused on the reasons why Palestinian Muslim women’s sought alimony and child custody. See Laila Abed Rabho, “The Discourse of Women in the Muslim Sharia Courts in Jerusalem and Taibe: claims for alimony and child custody,” dissertation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2010.
The term ‘plaintiff-friendly’ is borrowed from Ido Shahar,‘ Practicing Islamic law in a legal pluralistic environment: The changing face of a Muslim court in present-day Jerusalem,’ (PhD dissertation, Beersheva: Ben Gurion University in the Negev, 2006) p. 157.
Pursuant to the amendment of the Israeli law in 2001, the Shari’a Court of Appeals gave a precedent ruling in May 2003 specifying the kinds of nafaqa and criteria for entitlement, ibid., pp. 157–159.
Appeal no. 2002/44 in the Taibe Shari’a Court, files no. 123 and 2000/1627: Shari’i home rental.’ Even if the wife lives in an apartment belonging to her parents and does not pay rent, she is entitled to this allowance because of the chance they might change their mind, based on Verse 6 of the Chapter of Divorce (al-Talaq) in the Quran: ‘Lodge them (the divorced women) where you dwell, according to your means, and do not treat them in such a harmful way that they be obliged to leave.’
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Rabho, L.A. ‘My mother-in-law ruined my life’: the jealous mother-in-law and the empowerment of Palestinian women. Cont Islam 9, 455–470 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-015-0343-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-015-0343-1