Abstract
The patriarchal family is based on a hierarchical social structure which positions the man as the head of the family ‘ruling’ over women and children. This article draws on data obtained from structured interviews with 25 married Muslim couples living in Glasgow (Scotland, UK). It examines their views on the position of the family head. Exploring the hierarchical relationship between the husband and wife, the article considers how participants come to an agreement about who may assume this role and how it is to be fulfilled. It also explores how participants use religion to support and reproduce the patriarchal family structure based on the man as the head of the family.
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Notes
Yusuf Ali’s translation. Marmaduke Pickthall translates it as follows: ‘Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women).
Prophet Muhammad’s first wife.
May Allah be pleased with her.
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Siraj, A. “Because I’m the man! I’m the head”: British married Muslims and the patriarchal family structure. Cont Islam 4, 195–214 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-010-0120-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-010-0120-0