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From victimhood to empowerment: Muslim women's narratives in the Shari'a courts of Jerusalem and Taibe

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Abstract

This study features the voices of women who sued their husbands in the Shari'a courts, revealing the empowerment that resulted from learning their legal rights. The stories of some two hundred Palestinian Muslim women who appealed to the Shari'a courts in Jerusalem and Taibe during the years 2000–2003 formed the basis of this study. The women came to the courts to claim material support (nafaqa) from their husbands and to demand child support (hadane). Four major reasons why these women sued their husbands in court emerged from their stories, revealing familial, social, economic and even political circumstances that impinged on their lives.

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Notes

  1. I would like to thank the Honorable Qadis Ahmad Natur, Muhammad Zubda and Adnan Adawi for allowing me to work in their courts, and their staff for being so helpful, especially the female secretaries who invited me to join them for meals.

  2. Interview with Umm Obeid at the Shari'a Court in West Jerusalem, 24 December 2001. Pseudonyms have been used to identify all of the women interviewed.

  3. Interview with Samiyya at the West Jerusalem Shari'a Court, 24 March 2002.

  4. Interview with Farah at the West Jerusalem Shari'a Court, 11 September 2002.

  5. Interview with 'Aida at the West Jerusalem Shari'a Court, 8 May 2002.

  6. Interview with Wasfiyya at the Taibe Shari'a Court, 20 March 2002.

  7. Interview with Qadi 'Adnan 'Adawi of the Taibe Shari'a court, conducted at the Haifa Shari'a Court, 16 March 2003.

  8. Interview with Um Haroun, at the Taibe Shari'a Court, 2 February 2002.

  9. Interview with Um Muhammad, at the West Jerusalem Shari'a Court, 13 June 2002.

  10. Interview with Um Jaber, at the Taibe Shari'a Court, 16 January 2001.

  11. Interview with Salma, at the West Jerusalem Shari'a Court, 6 February 2002.

  12. Interview with Um Abd al-Rahim, at the Taibe Shari'a Court, 20 March 2001.

  13. Interview with Um Tayser, at the Taibe Shari'a Court, 18 April 2002.

  14. Interview with Um Samiha, at the Taibe Shari'a Court, 22 May 2002.

  15. Interview with Um Sanaa, at the Taibe welfare office on 12 June 2002.

  16. Interview with Um Tayseer, at the Taibe Shari'a Court on 18 April 2002.

  17. Interview with Najiba, at the Family Center, Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, 11 February 2002.

  18. Interview with Khadijah, at the West Jerusalem Shari'a Court, 11 June 2001.

  19. Interview with Kifah, at the West Jerusalem Shari'a Court, 19 June 2002.

  20. Interview with Um Jaber, at the Taibe Shari'a Court, 16 October 2001.

  21. Interview with Um Mu'atezem, at the West Jerusalem Shari'a Court, 9 September 2002.

  22. http://www.molsa.gov.il/MisradHarevacha/HomePageMenu/Units/Districts/

  23. Interview with Shadiyya, employee at the Family Center in Jerusalem, 3 May 2002.

  24. Interview with Um Fawzi at the Taibe Shari'a Court, 6 November 2001.

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Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Ela Greenberg as, without her help, this article would not have been published. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments, and my research assistants, Ido Mizrahi and Yoni Rudin for their persistence and perserverence. Finally, I am grateful to Ruth Roded for her suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Laila Abed Rabho

  2. P.O.B. 94067, Beit Safafa, Jerusalem, Israel

    Laila Abed Rabho

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Correspondence to Laila Abed Rabho.

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Abed Rabho, L. From victimhood to empowerment: Muslim women's narratives in the Shari'a courts of Jerusalem and Taibe. Cont Islam 7, 267–281 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-012-0200-4

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