Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Volume 14, Issue 1, February 2025, Pages 79–103, https://doi.org/10.1093/ojlr/rwaf005
Published:
29 March 2025
ABSTRACT
Norms and law governing the family constitute a cornerstone of research on Muslim communities in Europe. This systematic scoping review maps this area of research using a wide search process (n = 4,603 individual records scanned for relevance) and the standardized systematic method supplied by the PRISMA guidelines. The review comprises 254 records located in the databases Scopus, Web of Science, and Index Islamicus, ranging from social sciences and the humanities to law, psychology and geography, and spanning a period from 2003 to 2023.
As a scoping review, this article aims to provide a comprehensive picture of two decades of research and identifying thematic and methodological trends. Its results suggest that research on Muslim family law and family norms in Europe has tended to revisit two broadly defined topics: marriage and divorce. Methodologically, research is split into two general strands: one using legal materials and one using qualitative methods. Among the countries studied, the UK dominates. Research on women’s narratives when seeking dispute resolution or divorce has become an important cornerstone of this field of research.
Issue Section:
I. INTRODUCTION
When Dr Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury, took to the lectern at London’s Temple Church on 8 February 2008, he was probably aware, perhaps even hoping, that the speech he was about to hold would give rise to discussion. Nevertheless, his address, which explored ways of accommodating religious law in a secular society, including by allowing some space for the application of Islamic law, resulted in a degree of controversy and an animated public debate which would have been difficult to predict. Aspects of family norms continue to be common—and contentious—subjects in the European public debate, the fervour and tone of which have led some writers to speak of ‘moral panic’.1
In the academic world, scholars have sought to answer questions related to the position of Muslim minorities in Europe generally, and family norms specifically, for many years. This scoping review takes a systematic, comprehensive view of two decades’ worth of internationally published research, evaluating its focus, and thus what avenues remain for inquiry.
A. Objectives
This is a systematic scoping review, which differs from traditional literature reviews in that it follows a prescribed systematic method. Its aim is to map the research on European Muslim family law and family norms as comprehensively as possible, yielding a replicable overview of the field, and to trace trends in topics, methods, data, and who has been the subject of research.
B. Structure
The article is structured as follows. After a brief introduction to existing literature reviews and other related literature, the article introduces the building blocks which constitute the topic of interest: Muslim family law and family norms in Europe. This is followed by a description of the methods used to convert these building blocks into search terms, and the processes of searching, screening, and evaluating results. Subsequently, results of the review are presented and analysed. This is followed by a discussion, in which some gaps in research are identified. The results and discussion are then summed up, and some suggestions for the future of research in the field are presented.
II. BACKGROUND
When conducting this study, no literature review could be found that had made use of a systematic approach (in the technical sense explained below) specifically on research of Muslim family law or family norms in Europe. However, systematic reviews have been applied to related topics, such as how Islamic norms influence how Muslims handle property,2 how Islamophobia shapes the experiences of young Muslims,3 and how Muslims are portrayed in media,4 as well as concerning research on Muslims and social media.5
Some literature reviews have summarized the state of knowledge on topics more closely related to the present review, but do not apply a systematic approach.6 In 2006, Hirsch published a literature review which highlights the ways in which academic literature on Islamic law, including family law, attempted to provide a nuanced and diverse picture in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2003.7 A year later, Maussen’s 2007 report on the accommodation and regulation of Islam in Western Europe took a similarly comprehensive view, suggesting that research should focus on understanding not only laws and regulations but also social context, the ways in which laws actually operate, and on Muslims’ actions in all their diversity.8
In 2016, Welchman published a thorough and wide-ranging literature review specifically on Islamic family law, in which she evaluated contributions to the field, going back as far as the 1950s. Her review also included historical works, for instance studies of the classical schools of law and formative jurists, studies on the development of Islamic family law in the Islamic empires, as well as several contributions regarding the effects of codification of family law in countries of the Middle East.9 The review’s range stretches across the world, with some focus on work in the Middle East. From this vast scope, Welchman concluded that the field of research was growing and that academia had devoted attention ‘to the way in which “lay” people—litigants, petitioners, their voices emerging from the historical record as well as from contemporaneous observation—act on their understandings of the law.’10 Welchman’s review may provide an excellent complementary resource to this systematic review, particularly for readers seeking a critical evaluation of specific studies.
In addition to these previous literature reviews, we must consider the body of literature looking specifically at the legal norms that concern Muslims in Europe. Some important sources on Muslim family norms in Europe include the edited volume Muslims in the Enlarged Europe by Maréchal, Allievi, Dasseto, and Nielsen,11 as well as works by Berger,12 Otterbeck and Nielsen,13 Bowen,14 and Sunier.15 The Annotated Legal Documents on Islam in Europe series explain and contextualize legislation and court decisions which may affect Muslims in Europe, including on matters of family law.16 The Yearbook of Muslims in Europe features annual reports of research on Muslim communities, including on matters of family law, and its annual publication renders it ideal for following development and debates over time.17 Additionally, reference works in the field of Islamic law provide resources for research on family norms of Muslims in Europe. They include work by Pearl and Menski,18 Hallaq,19 Kamali,20 several contributions in Peters and Bearman,21 as well as other chapters in Emon and Ahmed.22
Lastly, many of the articles and book chapters identified in this systematic scoping review include overviews or summaries of previous research. These works are not included as separate entities here for two reasons: firstly, because they differ methodologically from the present systematic review; and secondly, because they constitute this study’s results, rather than its background.
III. METHODOLOGY
A. Systematic scoping review
The use of a systematic approach in literature reviews has long been prevalent in the medical sciences, but has lately gained popularity also in the humanities and social sciences, which share a need to identify previous research in ways that are reproducible, transparent, and minimize bias.23 While all literature reviews do follow some system or method to find, select, organize, and analyse materials, systematic reviews differ from narrative reviews and critical reviews in their rigorous adherence to a prescribed method. In the present case, the PRISMA guidelines are used.24
The PRISMA guidelines were developed to ensure quality of reviews and meta-analyses in health care, but have been extended to fit other areas of research and methods, such as a scoping review.25 The guidelines contain a checklist of the data that must be reported in the review, and flow charts that explain the process of identifying relevant studies for the review.26
A scoping review ‘seeks to explore and define conceptual and logistic boundaries around a particular topic’.27 It may cover a larger number of studies than other types of systematic reviews, and is less concerned with evaluating the quality of individual studies and more with providing an overview of a field of research. Its strength lies in its ability to convey a comprehensive picture of available research and identify gaps where no research has been conducted, without evaluating the quality of specific studies in detail.28
Furthermore, the format of the systematic scoping review allows for very different conclusions than a narrative review or a critical review. If a study has not been included, for instance, the logical conclusion in the case of a narrative review would be to criticize the author for omitting it. In a systematic scoping review, however, such an omission may give rise to other questions: does the title and abstract reflect the content, is it incorrectly labelled, or perhaps not published in channels or formats indexed by these databases? In other words, one added value of the systematic scoping review is what it can teach us about the dynamics of academic publishing and the dissemination of knowledge.
B. Search terms and definitions
The search process for this systematic scoping review centres on three main blocks:
- Family norms (the what, ie the topic of study)
- Muslims (the who, ie the subjects)
- Europe (the where, ie the geographic location)
A family is defined here as an ‘intimate domestic group made up of people related to one another by bonds of blood, sexual mating, or legal ties’.29 This definition excludes short-term unions and relationships that are of so little permanence that no family bond is created, but includes relationships that extend beyond the heterosexual nuclear family.
The term ‘norm’ is used in a broad sense, as ‘patterned rules or expectations for behavior’.30 In this view, norms can be moral, social, cultural as well as legal. Law, used in this review as rules emanating from the state and its authorities, may be considered a type of norm: family law is understood as the body of legal norms that applies specifically to the family. Importantly, norms may be unwritten and emanate from other actors than the state, such as Muslim communities themselves. Consequently, this review is concerned with both norms within Muslim communities pertaining to the family (Muslim family norms), as well as laws governing Muslim family relations (family law). Some studies covered here speak of Islamic family law: referring to rules derived from the sources of Islamic law (the Quran, the traditions of the Prophet, as well as juristic consensus and analogy).31 This review does not evaluate whether norms may be considered to be part of Islam or Sharia, which are contested terms upon which there are no unified interpretations but rather a history of diverging, even contradictory, views.32 Rather than provide new definitions, this review aims to shed light on how the academic literature refers to Islam and Sharia, as well as to what Muslims mean, want, and do when using such terms.33
As with the first building block, this review takes a wide view on the question of who is Muslim. There are multiple difficulties involved in this definition, including in research.34 For the purposes of this review, a study is included if its subjects identify themselves as Muslim or if they are defined as such by the researcher conducting the study.35
Studies on Muslims in ‘the West’ rarely delineate their geographical scope, and there is a distinct lack of a shared conception of what this scope of study entails.36 In this review, ‘Europe’ (the third building block: the where) is taken to mean the 27 member states of the EU but also Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Ukraine, the UK, and Switzerland. The aim is to define a geographical whole, inside of which Muslims do not constitute a substantial majority.37
Based on these definitions, the review may include topics which some do not consider related to Islam or to Muslim family life, or topics which may even be problematic (such as so-called ‘honour’ violence). The wide scope of the review is a deliberate strategy to identify the outlines of this field of research and the image of the Muslim family in Europe refracted through its lens.
C. Eligibility criteria
In line with the building blocks outlined above, the following criteria were used for inclusion:
- Records on the topic of family norms among Muslims in Europe;
- published in English;
- in the form of articles, book chapters, books, or conference papers38;
- between 2003 and 2023, and using data from within this timeframe.
D. Information sources
Searches were conducted on 13 December 2023 in the following scientific databases: Scopus (Elsevier), Web of Science (Clarivate), and Index Islamicus (Brill).39 Scopus40 and Web of Science41 were selected for their size: Scopus encompasses over 93 million records, Web of Science over 196 million, and both lay claim to the title world’s biggest scientific database, making them suitable for a scoping review’s aim of mapping a whole field of research. Index Islamicus is a specialized database, holding over 600,000 records ‘covering all the main Muslim areas of Asia and Africa, as well as Muslims living elsewhere, and their history, beliefs, societies, cultures, languages and literatures’.42 The nature of this specialized content renders it highly relevant to this scoping review. Using an effective search strategy, the three selected databases provide a comprehensive insight into international research on Muslim family norms in contemporary Europe.
E. Search strategy and process
The process of determining search terms was conducted in a consistent manner for all three building blocks (what, who, where). An initial list of search terms was compiled and continuously amended when new relevant terms were found among the search results. This process was repeated until no new terms were found.
Results from the final search were imported to Microsoft Excel, creating a list of 6,534 records (4,992 records from Scopus, 1,154 from Web of Science and 388 from Index Islamicus). Nine hundred thirty-four duplicates, or, in some cases, triplicates, were removed, as well as 596 non-English records.43 The list now contained 4,603 records. A PRISMA flow chart44 (Figure 1) illustrates the process.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow chart.
F. Limitations
There are several limitations to this literature review, some of which are due to the limitations of the databases themselves. Records which are not indexed by the databases, or which contain relevant data not found in the title or abstract, will not occur among the results.
Another limitation lies in the choice of English as a criterion for inclusion. It may seem that searching in another language could have influenced the results; however, the databases themselves have a built-in bias in the form of an inclination towards English (Scopus and Web of Science only index publications which have at least a title and an abstract in English). Using search terms in other languages, therefore, would have been unlikely to have anything but a minimal effect on the results.
More importantly, selecting English is perhaps the only way to paint a comprehensive picture of international research. English has long been the dominant language of international publication in the natural sciences.45 It is now firmly entrenched as the dominant language of international communication and publication also in the social sciences and the humanities.46 The characteristics of this dominance vary between subfields and between different countries.47 Studies of national laws affecting Muslims of a specific country may more likely be directed at a national audience of, for example, legal practitioners and therefore less likely to be published in international journals. These differences must be taken into account in the analysis of the results. Although not exhaustive in terms of other European languages, this review is still useful in its overview of international research.
G. Selection process
The search process was followed by screening of titles and abstracts of all records, following the definitions outlined above. In this phase, 287 records were deemed relevant. Assessment of the full text of the reports followed, after which 254 reports were finally included in the review. The selection as well as coding processes were conducted by a single researcher. No automation tools were used.
H. Data collection process
Data were collected from records first by a review of title and abstract. This was then added to, and in some cases corrected, by reading the full text of the relevant record.
I. Data items
In addition to information provided by the databases about each record, such as its year of publication, author, source (ie journal or book title), number of pages, etc, the following data items were drawn from each record:
- Topic
- Country of study
- Method
- Types of data
- Gender of subjects (if applicable)
- Country of academic institution/authorship
For the coding of method, the categories used were whether the study was qualitative, quantitative, or a mix of the two. In cases where the record was not based on a study of empirical data, such as where the record was simply a restatement of previous studies, the method would be coded as ‘based on secondary literature’.
For the coding of the types of data used, the categories included survey, interviews, legislation and/or case law, participant observation, online materials, observation, workshops, focus groups, religious primary sources, registry data, newspaper text, and case files, as well as mixes of these data types. The category ‘interviews’ was used broadly, for example, to include life stories. In cases where a record was based only on previous literature, this was coded as ‘secondary literature’.
Data pertaining to human subjects of a study, that is, gender and age, followed the descriptions and definitions of each individual record, meaning that only studies which specified that their human subjects were women would be coded as women. Furthermore, the interviews category was split into three categories depending on the interview subjects: ‘lay people’, ‘authorities’ (eg Islamic authorities, governmental authorities), and ‘mixed’.
In the case of topic, country of study, method, and country of academic institution, two separate data items could be collected to allow for records dealing with two separate topics (for example marriage and divorce) or concerning two countries of study.
IV. RESULTS
A. Results over time
An analysis of the frequency of records per year shows a growing field of research, with a distinct rise in the number of publications at the end of the first decade of the millennium (see Chart 1).
Chart 1.
Records by year of publication.
There are many reasons for this, not all owing to a growing interest in the field itself. An increase in the number of publications available in scientific databases as well as accelerating digitalization may be contributing factors.48 Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that 2008 marks the year of the speech by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, which gave rise to several scientific interjections identified in this review.
B. Topics
An analysis of the topics of the records included in this literature review (see Chart 2) shows that the most common topics of research are marriage49 (n = 98), Islamic authorities and institutions (n = 36), gender roles (n = 36), and divorce and separation (n = 34). There are some common cases of overlap, such as between the topics ‘Islamic authorities and institutions’ and ‘marriage’, for example, in studies of resolution of marriage disputes taking place under the auspices of an Islamic authority or institution, or with the topic ‘divorce’, in studies on both formation and dissolution of marriage.50
Chart 2.
Distribution of records across topics, for topics with 10 or more records (n = 349).
In many cases, the topic ‘Islamic authorities and institutions’ are studies of so-called Sharia councils, an institution specific to England and Wales which applies Islamic principles as a mode of alternative dispute resolution.51 To date, there is a significant body of work which analyses and explains how Sharia councils work to apply Islamic principles to resolve disputes, for instance from Keshavjee,52 Bano,53 Sandberg et al,54 Bowen,55 Walker,56 Al-Astewani,57 Prief,58 Qureshi,59 Manea,60 and Uddin.61 Several contributions are also found in the edited volume Gender and Justice in Family Law Disputes.62 Aftab has explored how state policies on multicultural accommodation has allowed the growth of Sharia councils in the UK but not in Australia.63 Additionally, Grillo has dealt with questions of how Muslim families and gender relations have become topics of public debate, giving a useful overview also of the debate on the Sharia councils.64
Some insights may be drawn from this research. Authors point to how the councils should be understood as products of their specific historical and contemporary context.65 The councils have grown out of a need, specifically by Muslim women, to seek a mode of divorce acceptable in their social context.66 Seeking help from a Sharia council may also align with a woman’s individual religious beliefs.67 Some scholars point to how the individuals who lead the councils are formative for how their services are performed, including, in some cases, the interpretation of Islamic legal norms.68 There seems to be agreement that councils prefer reconciliation between spouses over divorce.69 Some scholars have pointed out the important function the councils fill in providing women with an avenue for resolution of matrimonial disputes and dissolution of marriage.70 In this sense, they can be seen as successful moderators between state law and Muslim family norms.71 Others have seen the councils as ways of asserting patriarchal authority outside the framework of the state.72 Bano, while saying that the situation differs between councils, has found that the councils tend to rely upon traditional interpretations of the role of women in Islam, primarily as wives, mothers, and daughters’.73
Although the specific institution of the Sharia council is unique to Britain, similar functions may at least partly be filled by Islamic authorities or institutions in other European countries. Petersen’s study of the work of two female Islamic authorities in Denmark74 illustrates the fact that this type of dispute resolution is of relevance to Muslims across Europe, as does the work of Brekke and others regarding family counselling in Norway.75 Lecoyer has touched on the role of authorities in her study of marriage in Belgium.76 Muradin has looked at the role of local imams in the resolution of marital disputes in the Netherlands.77 For Greece, Tsitselikis has contributed with a study on the Sharia courts in Western Thrace, which, however, have a different mandate.78 Koumoutzis has studied fatwas, the non-binding legal opinion of a mufti in answer to a specific question or on a specific issue, emanating from Islamic authority figures in Greece.79 A study by Van Eijk has shown a Muslim woman in the Netherlands utilizing the assistance of a civil court to achieve a religious divorce.80
Of equal interest are the topics not so commonly studied. The topic labelled ‘other relationships’ contains a small number of interesting studies, for example, on young Moroccan men and the norms associated with adulthood and the role of marriage in the transformation into adults,81 and attitudes to premarital relationships among young Muslims in Europe.82 Only two (n = 2) records dealt with issues of custody and guardianship.83 Two (n = 2) records focused on questions of inheritance.84 Similarly, only two (n = 2) reports on adoption (including the Islamic concept of kafāla, which differs in important aspects from adoption, for example, in terms of the rights granted to the child) were found.85
C. Geographical scope
Looking at the geographical focus of the study of Muslim family law and family norms in Europe, the dominance of the UK is striking (see Chart 3). The UK was coded as the main location of study in 105, or 41 per cent, of the 254 records. For context, its share of the total Muslim population in Europe was estimated in 2017 to be around 16 per cent.86
Chart 3.
Records by country of study.
From these data, we cannot draw conclusions on the state of knowledge on a specific topic in countries where studies may have been published in another language than English. And small differences between other countries, such as between France (10), Belgium (12), Italy (14), and Denmark (14) do not give any indication as to the relative state of knowledge on Muslim family norms. We may, however, conclude that the UK forms a centre of gravity when it comes to internationally published studies, and let the result help us see the contours of this field of research.
One hundred forty-four studies were found focusing on one single country. The following form a representative example, showing some of the general trends in the research in those countries.
In the Nordic countries, research has focused on several issues. In Denmark, Petersen’s study on divorce practices is unique due to its focus on female Islamic authorities.87 Mehdi has contributed several studies on the interplay between law and religious practice, focusing on the practice of mahr.88 There are several studies pertaining to marriage.89 They include a study on the practice of nikāḥ al-mutʿa90 as practiced among some Danish women from shiʿa communities.91 One study focuses on so-called ‘nikāḥ captivity’, the status of remaining religiously married due to the unavailability of means for the dissolution of the marriage (the Arabic term nikāḥ being roughly equivalent to marriage).92 Studies on intergenerational care valuably extend research from the nuclear family, asking important questions on gender roles and expectations in some Muslim families.93 In Norway, Bøe has studied mahr and the phenomenon of ‘halal dating’, that is, the multiple ways in which Norwegian Muslim youth engage in love relationships that they consider to be within the norms of both Norwegian majority society and of their Muslim family background.94 The study of family counselling and the role of Islamic authorities by Brekke and others has already been mentioned.95 Considerable attention has been given to the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the Norwegian context, with studies of Somali, Sudanese and Kurdish communities.96 Several studies have also taken a close look at gender roles and views of gender equality.97 In neighbouring Sweden, topics of research include female genital mutilation,98 as well as norms and ideals of parenting among Swedish Somalis.99
Seen together, studies of the Somali community in these countries have focused on practices of female genital mutilation. This contrasts with the wider scope of studies of the same community in Finland, where several studies by al-Sharmani and others have focused on marriage, divorce, and gender roles in the Somali community, highlighting the transnational characteristics of these marriages.100 Another Finnish study stands out in its use of materials from an online forum to analyse Sunni-Shi’a relations.101
In Belgium, studies have focused on intergenerational solidarity and norms of care of the elderly among Belgians with Turkish origin, as well as ideals and norms of childcare.102 Norms of partner choice, as well as marriage, have also been explored.103 A different focus is found in a study of remarriage.104 The concept of ‘honour’ is also present, although attempts have been made to reevaluate how minority women view and experience this concept.105
In the Netherlands, a strand of studies on inter-community relations and differences between immigrants and majority population in their respective views of family values and gender norms emerges.106 There are also debates on the role of Islamic family law in the Dutch legal system.107 Rosman’s comparative study of Jewish women in Israel and Muslim women in the Netherlands argues that women ‘leverage’ state law, to advocate for change in the norms which create situations of nikāḥ captivity for Muslim women.108 Moors and others have studied attitudes among Muslim converts towards polygamous marriages.109
In Germany, Rohe and other scholars have looked at how practices among Muslims, for example, in the area of dispute resolution, fit into the German legal framework.110 In addition, a quantitative study of how German Muslims conceptualize Islamic family law provides a connection between family law and the lives of Muslims in the context of a European country.111 Divorce and domestic violence among recent immigrants have also been studied.112
In France, Fournier has investigated how Muslims navigate the French legal system and how authorities treat Muslim marriage and divorce.113
In Greece, the only country where a body applying Islamic legal rules has the jurisdiction of a court, the situation of legal pluralism has been studied.114 In Italy, several studies have focused on practices of marriage and divorce, especially in the framework of Islamic institutions.115 One study has pointed to the legal implications of interfaith marriages across the Mediterranean Sea.116 One study on attitudes to gender equality among Muslim migrants was also found.117 Studies of Muslim family law and family norms in Spain were identified, as well as two related studies of feminist attitudes among young Muslim women.118 Research in the Spanish context has focused on individuals of Moroccan origin, for instance through investigations into mother–daughter relations and work–family balance.119
The sheer number of records focused on the UK means that only the most common topics of research will be outlined here. As mentioned, the Sharia councils and their mode of dispute resolution and divorce have formed a cornerstone of research. Other studies relate to the topic of Sharia councils more or less closely; among them are studies on religious-only marriage,120 and of divorce practices.121 Researchers have also worked to shift traditionally or popularly accepted perceptions on marriage practices, norms, and values. Charsley has highlighted how migration patterns contribute to marriage practices aiming to reduce the risks implied by a transnational marriage, for example, by allowing brides to remain in their home country of the UK rather than move to the country of origin of the groom.122 On the topics of arranged marriages as well as forced marriages, attempts have been made to re-examine young people’s attitudes as well as the practices themselves.123 On the difficult topics of domestic violence and ‘honour’ violence, work has been done to take a feminist view in the choice of research subjects and theoretical framework.124
The dominance of the UK is clear also from an analysis of the institutional affiliation of the author(s) (Chart 4).125 Research authored in the UK mainly concerns the UK itself. Fifteen exceptions were found to this rule, but several of them are compilations of studies of several countries.126 There are, however, important comparative perspectives to be found, for instance in studies of a community in the country of origin compared with a country of immigration.127 One study compares the perceptions of domestic violence between Pakistanis in Pakistan and in the UK.128 Another study compares the attitudes towards marital conflict and gender roles held by men and women in Pakistan and the UK, respectively.129 There are also comparisons of the attitudes on gender-based and domestic violence between women in Pakistan and the UK130 as well as India and the UK.131 This type of study demonstrates that a comparative method can provide ways to situate norms in their social context, and thus better explain how norms change in different contexts and over time. Comparative work has also been conducted on the UK and Denmark,132 and on forced marriages and so-called ‘honour’ violence in the UK and Norway.133
Chart 4.
Records by country of authorship.
Fourteen records were registered as the result of scientific cooperation between scholars of two countries. In several cases, they are also studies of more than one country. Some examples include Charsley and Liversage’s study of polygamy and multiple marriage in the context of migration,134 Bowen and Rohe’s comparison of how judges in Germany and France deal with Muslim litigants,135 and Fournier and Berlinerblau’s study of how Jewish and Muslim women in four countries navigate secular and religious norms and institutions when seeking divorce.136 One important perspective which comes to the fore in this type of study is family norms within the same ethnic group in two different countries, such as a country of emigration and a country of immigration. One such example is a study of spousal role expectations in the context of transnational, intra-ethnic marriage between the UK and Pakistan.137
D. Methods and data used in research
This review shows that research on Muslim family norms overwhelmingly rely on qualitative methods. As illustrated by Chart 5, 220 out of 254 records were coded as qualitative, while only 21 were coded as quantitative. Of 220 records coded as based on qualitative methods, 97 were based on interviews and 59 on mixed method, although 40 of those coded as mixed method consisted of a combination which included interviews of some kind. The remaining 64 were studies based on literature in the form of secondary literature, legislation, or case law. The 21 records coded as using quantitative method consisted of studies based on surveys or, in a few cases, population registry data. While this is dwarfed by the number of records based on qualitative studies (n = 220), important studies have been based on quantitative surveys, showing how surveys may contribute to understanding the differences in attitudes between groups.138
Chart 5.
Records by method used.
As for the related question of which types of data are used for research, Chart 6 illustrates the heavy reliance on interviews (n = 116). This is followed by the category coded as ‘evaluation of legislation and/or case law’ (n = 32), signifying those types of research in which judgments are evaluated according to their conformity to legislation or legal principles, as well as where Islamic rules and norms are evaluated, compared to, or contrasted with European legislation. This approach has been used to answer questions such as whether Islamic rules are compatible with European law,139 whether a court’s view of Islamic law is correct,140 or how a specific Muslim practice is accommodated or not within national legal frameworks.141
Chart 6.
Records by data used.
While many of the studies based on interviews have been described previously, it is important to highlight some of the less used data sources. Case files (n = 4) have been used to study ‘honour’ violence,142 but a less explored avenue is the use of case files from Islamic authorities or institutions to study other aspects of family norms, such as marriage.143 Newspaper text has been used as a data source for the study of honour violence,144 but also in a study focusing on how Norwegian Muslim women argue for women’s rights.145
Very few (n = 3) records were found using online materials, in spite of the importance of online environments for shaping, understanding and interpreting family norms. They include a study on how Muslims seek advice online,146 a study of the dynamics of demarcation of identity vis-à-vis other groups online,147 and a study examining the ways in which religious authority is shaped by the digital media environment.148
E. Research subjects
Chart 7 shows the frequency of human subjects by gender. Of these 163 records, 72 were coded as interviews of lay Muslims. Among them, a similar pattern could be discerned: in two of them, only men were interviewed, in 30 only women, and in 38 records, data was drawn from interviews with a mix of men and women. Of 17 records coded as based on interviews with authorities, only one was concerned specifically with female Muslim authorities.
Chart 7.
Records by gender of subject.
Studies based on interviews with women deal with topics such as divorce,149 but also situations of ‘nikāḥ captivity’.150 Much of the focus of these interview studies also lies on the female subjects’ attitudes towards or experiences of domestic violence,151 or ‘honour’ violence.152
Some of those studies which put female agency at the forefront investigate how women navigate patriarchal gender norms and construct new gender roles, whether upon migration or as a new generation growing up in Europe,153 or in their capacity as breadwinners.154 Some studies also highlight how women challenge patriarchal gender norms, sometimes with the explicit use of religious resources,155 or in religious institutions.156 Research demonstrates how this may take the form of distinguishing between patriarchal practices or a patriarchal culture and ‘real’ Islam.157 Research on female religious leadership and authority remains limited, but not non-existent.158 Activism in the realm of family norms is another rarely studied aspect of female agency.159 Qureshi valuably reminds us that it is not only acts of resistance against religious norms which ought to be seen as female agency.160
Some of the (less numerous) studies which look specifically at the experiences of men are the aforementioned study on norms surrounding the marriage and transition to adulthood among young Moroccan men,161 and Strid and Axelsson’s study of men’s views and experiences of female genital mutilation.162 Little research appears to look at violence against men: the only example found is a study by Mazher Idriss on male victims of forced marriage and honour violence, conducted through interviews as well as case files from a British refuge charity.163
Despite the wide search scope, very few records were found on Muslim minorities of Eastern Europe, such as the Pomaks or Tatars, although much could reasonably be learnt from this long-existing minority situation. Although there are studies on converts to Islam, there is little on other aspects of family life than the issue of marriage.164 The search rendered no relevant articles on LGBTQIA+ Muslims.165
V. DISCUSSION
A systematic and comprehensive analysis of research on Muslim family norms in Europe, based on the three databases, shows that it has centred on the topics of marriage and divorce. Some scholars of Islamic law would argue that these two topics, together with inheritance and custody/guardianship, form the core of Islamic family law.166 It is striking, then, that the latter two remain largely unaddressed by research on family norms among Muslims in Europe.
Other issues of potential significance for European Muslims may also have been understudied. Berger wrote in 2018 that the approach previously taken by studies of Islam in the West had failed to cover ‘the domestic and autonomous practices of Sharia by Muslims in the West’.167 Keshavjee has suggested that some issues that commonly pose challenges for British Muslim families are ‘marriage, iddat (the waiting period after termination of marriage), mahr […], custody of children, mixed marriages, plural marriages, change of faith and inheritance’.168 Although a lack of studies on some of these issues renders these statements difficult to substantiate in their entirety, this review may lend partial support. Numerous studies suggest that mahr may create challenges, upon marriage as well as divorce, and some studies look at the difficulties as they are expressed in legal conflict as well as, in Berger’s words, at ‘domestic and autonomous’ practices.169 This review found only one study dedicated to the topic of custody, whose analysis of Muslim women’s applications for refugee status indicated that custody rulings in Muslim-majority countries may be the cause of conflict not only within a family but also between legal systems.170 Studies are needed to investigate if this is also true at the level of family norms among Muslims in Europe. Polygamous marriage has been discussed generally in some studies on nikāḥ captivity and divorce,171 and specifically in a study by Charsley and Liversage that indicated that polygamous unions continue to exist among Muslims in Europe, especially when transnational unions are included, and may take new forms which differ from commonly held expectations.172 Although one study by Moors et al provides an important instance where norms on the topic of polygamy are investigated, further study is needed.173 Whether norms regarding inheritance provide challenges for European Muslims, as Keshavjee has suggested, is less clear from the reviewed literature: the field is limited by the lack of studies, but also by methodological shortcomings, that is, limited to analyses comparing case law and Islamic law to evaluate the compatibility of Islamic law with human rights.174 No studies identified in this review appear to examine European Muslims’ attitudes or practice in relation to inheritance, or potential dilemmas in Muslims’ lived experience, nor how European Muslims endeavour to overcome them in practice.
Thus, this review points to a disparity between the focus of research and the issues where conflicting norms may pose challenges for European Muslims. It also reveals a dominant geographical focus, as the UK was the object of study in almost half the records. To some extent, this is a result of the review’s use of records in English and the limitations intrinsic to the selected databases (as described in ‘Limitations’). This limitation serves as a reminder of the dominant position of English as a language of academic communication, which also underwrites the construction of a body of research to which many academics, in practice, must relate. Therefore, although studies of potential relevance exist in other languages, they do not to the same extent form the core of this field of research as studies in English do. Thus, this factor may contribute to creating an academic centre of gravity of studies in Britain.
As this review makes clear, this geographical centre of gravity has also shaped a thematic focus: so many of the contributions encompassed by this review relate to the research on the UK—specifically to the research on marriage and divorce, sometimes as manifested in the Sharia councils—that it is justifiable to say that this theme has become a cornerstone of the field as a whole. During the more than 15 years since the former Archbishop’s speech, few researchers on Muslim family norms in Europe could afford to ignore the sub-field that is formed by studies of marriage and divorce among British Muslims.
Furthermore, efforts in academia to address questions posed by public debate175 run the risk of favouring some areas of focus over others. It is many years now since Menski coined the term ‘Angrezi Shariat’, or ‘English Sharia’, to describe how Muslims in Britain had successfully amalgamated Islamic and English legal norms.176 The Sharia councils are part of this picture, which is completely unique to Britain. Although the story of accommodation and governance which is told through the study of Sharia councils may teach us many things, there is also a need to move further. One way of doing so is to utilize the well-researched topics as a lever to explain other related topics. For example, some studies found in this review raise the question of whether the unique position of the British Sharia councils makes them relevant for Muslims in other European countries, a question that has yet to receive an answer.177 By drawing on the knowledge on British Muslim dispute resolution in marriage and divorce, much could be learned about similar authorities, services, or mechanisms elsewhere.
This review has also shown how the focus on the topics of marriage and divorce, with a centre of gravity in Britain, has produced an imbalance based on gender. There is a general lack of research on the roles and attitudes of men who are not religious authorities: this review has found little to no research on norms of fatherhood and paternal parenting, for example.
This gender imbalance is visible specifically in the study of Sharia councils: Moore’s 2010 observation that ‘much of the work of shari’a councils has been narrated through the lives of British Muslim women’ remains true.178 Research on Sharia councils means that women’s stories and experiences are heard, something that researchers have rightly called for.179 Men as husbands are largely absent from research on divorce generally, and Sharia councils specifically, which may be explained by the fact that they are less likely to need the assistance of an authority or institution to obtain a divorce. This, however, means that Muslim men are present in the study of Sharia councils, and in the study of dispute resolution and divorce more generally, almost exclusively in their role as religious authorities. Women, on the other hand, are primarily visible in their role as subjects who, while not necessarily powerless, seek help to resolve disputes or to divorce.
The review results suggest some general trends in terms of method and data sources, and point to others which could be explored further to improve our understanding of Muslim family norms in Europe. The use of methods is split between ethnographically oriented researchers, who prefer interviews, and those taking a legalistic approach, opting to investigate state law and court judgments. The latter approach contains studies which evaluate laws (whether Islamic or national) or judgments of a court, or compare them with each other. Some such studies begin with research questions on the compatibility of Islamic family law with ‘Western’ norms or with European state law, an approach which carries the risk of having to rely on narrow, decontextualized definitions of Islamic law or Sharia.180 This approach may contribute to an understanding of norms as they are adjudicated in courtrooms, and the issues where norms come into conflict. It is important to remember, however, that norms, when translated into a legal case, may look very different to the norms prevalent in a social group, which judgements and state law may tell us little about.181 This review shows that many of the studies utilizing a comparative approach have done so based on legal materials. Comparative research is therefore needed not only of legal or institutional contexts but also of other norms pertaining to the family, between different groups or different countries.182 Studies identified in this review confirm that this approach gives important insights into normative change and differences between groups.
The trends identified in this review, specifically a geographical focus on Britain and a thematic focus on marriage and divorce, contribute to a specific portrayal of Muslim men and women being reified in the field as a whole. This study thus supports Welchman’s observation that the field of research had shifted towards listening to the voices of ‘lay’ Muslims.183 Nevertheless, this review shows that this shift requires further nuance: future research ought to focus on men in other roles than those which carry religious or other authority, and on women in roles which do, and explore norms that do not reach the stages of conflict that require recourse to a Sharia council or a courtroom.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
Through a comprehensive study of 254 contributions to 20 years of research on Muslim family norms in Europe, this review has shown that research has focused on two broadly defined topics: marriage and divorce. A review of the methods and data used shows a split in two general trends: the use of qualitative methods such as interviews, and a method of evaluating and comparing legal sources such as laws and judgements.
The dominance of Britain as a site and source of research, while partly explained by the dominance of the English language, has likely contributed to constructing a field of research which investigates family law largely as it is manifested in marital dispute resolution and divorce, particularly in the Sharia councils of England and Wales. This has the advantage of centring the stories and experiences of women, but may also contribute to reifying a gendered role limited to women seeking divorce or assistance from an Islamic authority. In combination with the field’s reliance on interviews as a source of data, this contributes to a lack of certain male perspectives, as men are more likely to be interviewed as ‘experts’ than as husbands, sons, or fathers. Without research balancing such a narrative, this orientation of the field of research—when considered as a whole—may contribute to a reification of stereotypes of the European Muslim family, which leaves out family constellations and norms which do not conform to the heterosexual nuclear family.
While it appears that dispute resolution and divorce practices are well researched, at least in some European countries, the field has devoted little attention to challenges which arise or are solved outside of a courtroom or dispute resolution context. The choice of data sources has so far not included online materials or other sources which could point to such challenges. Furthermore, comparative methods are rarely deployed despite the insights they could provide, for example, on changing family norms among European Muslims over time, or the challenges of transnational families or minority groups. In sum, as a result of the hitherto limited focus of academic research, there is ample scope to examine norms that do not give rise to conflict, especially conflict as it is manifested in institutional contexts, as well as those which produce challenges for European Muslim families, and also to explain the various practices used by Muslims themselves to address them.
Footnotes
1
Samia Bano, ‘In Pursuit of Religious and Legal Diversity: A Response to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the “Sharia Debate” in Britain’ (2008) 10 Ecclesiastical Law Journal 283, 284. The same point is made by Berger in Maurits S Berger, Applying Shari’a in the West (Leiden University Press 2013) 16–17. There are several recent examples of this debate, for instance in the UK (Monidipa Fouzder, ‘Couple’s Islamic Ceremony “Did Not Create a Marriage” – Court of Appeal’ (Law Gazette, 14 February 2020) <https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/couples-islamic-ceremony-did-not-create-a-marriage-court-of-appeal/5103098.article> accessed 23 January 2025), in Denmark (Niels Valdemar Vinding and Jesper Petersen, ‘Regulering af islamiske ægteskabs- praksisser i nyere dansk lovgivning’ (2023) 2 Retfærd: Nordisk Juridisk Tidsskrift 9), and in Belgium (see Amina Easat-Daas, ‘The Gendered Dimension of Islamophobia in Belgium’ in Irene Zempi and Imran Awan (eds), The Routledge International Handbook of Islamophobia (Routledge 2019) 125).
2
Stephanie Müssig, ‘Muslims’ Day-to-Day Handling of Property and the Adherence to Islamic Norms’ (2015) 4 Journal of Muslims in Europe 137.
3
Jannat Fatima Farooqui and Archana Kaushik, ‘Growing up as a Muslim Youth in an Age of Islamophobia: A Systematic Review of Literature’ (2022) 16 Contemporary Islam 65.
4
Saifuddin Ahmed and Jörg Matthes, ‘Media Representation of Muslims and Islam from 2000 to 2015: A Meta-Analysis’ (2017) 79 International Communication Gazette 219.
5
Göran Larsson and Erika Willander, ‘Muslims and Social Media: A Scoping Review’ [2024] Information, Communication & Society 1.
6
Duderija has published a literature review on patterns of identity construction among Muslims born in the West which, however, is concerned with changes in identity, see Adis Duderija, ‘Literature Review: Identity Construction in the Context of Being a Minority Immigrant Religion: The Case of Western-Born Muslims’ (2007) 25 Immigrants & Minorities 141. More recently, Ne’eman-Haviv’s review of literature on honour killings claims to take a systematic approach but does not explain its methodological choices in full: Vered Ne’eman-Haviv, ‘Honor Killings in Muslim and Western Countries in Modern Times: A Critical Literature Review and Definitional Implications’ (2021) 13 Journal of Family Theory & Review 381, 393. And lastly, Mattes’ 2022 review of literature on Muslims in Europe makes only a short attempt at systematizing its method. Mattes identifies three strands of social scientific inquiry on Muslims in Europe, focusing on accommodation of Islam, Muslim mindsets and everyday practices, and discrimination and exclusion of Muslims: Astrid Mattes, ‘Researching Islam and Muslim Minorities in Europe: Missions, Dead Ends and Future Prospects’ (2022) 1 Wiener Zeitschrift für Interdisziplinäre Islamforschung 105.
7
Susan F Hirsch, ‘Islamic Law and Society Post-9/11’ (2006) 2 Annual Review of Law and Social Science 165.
8
Marcel Maussen, ‘The Governance of Islam in Western Europe: A State of the Art Report’ [2007] IMISCOE Working paper 60–62.
9
Lynn Welchman, ‘A Historiography of Islamic Family Law’ in Anver M Emon and Rumee Ahmed (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law (OUP 2016) 904–907.
10
ibid 918.
11
Brigitte Maréchal and others (eds), Muslims in the Enlarged Europe (Brill 2003).
12
Berger (n 1).
13
Jonas Otterbeck and Jørgen S Nielsen, Muslims in Western Europe (Edinburgh University Press 2015).
14
John R Bowen, ‘Muslims in the West: Europe’ in Robert W Hefner (ed), The New Cambridge History of Islam (CUP 2000).
15
Thijl Sunier, Making Islam Work: Islamic Authority among Muslims in Western Europe (Brill 2024).
16
Jørgen S Nielsen and others, Annotated Legal Documents on Islam in Europe (Brill 2014). A full list is available online: https://brill.com/display/serial/LDIE.
17
At the time of writing, the latest published volume is Stephanie Müssig and others, Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 15 (Brill 2024).
18
David Pearl and Werner Menski, Muslim Family Law (3rd edn, Sweet & Maxwell 1998).
19
Wael B Hallaq, An Introduction to Islamic Law (CUP 2009).
20
Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Shari’ah Law: An Introduction (Oneworld 2010).
21
Rudolph Peters and Peri Bearman (eds), The Ashgate Research Companion to Islamic Law (Ashgate 2014).
22
Anver M Emon and Rumee Ahmed (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law (OUP 2018).
23
Anthea Sutton and others, ‘Meeting the Review Family: Exploring Review Types and Associated Information Retrieval Requirements’ (2019) 36 Health Information & Libraries Journal 202.
24
Matthew J Page and others, ‘The PRISMA 2020 Statement: An Updated Guideline for Reporting Systematic Reviews’ [2021] BMJ n71.
25
Andrea C Tricco and others, ‘PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR): Checklist and Explanation’ (2018) 169 Annals of Internal Medicine 467.
26
Page and others (n 24) 4–5.
27
Sutton and others (n 23) 211.
28
Hilary Arksey and Lisa O’Malley, ‘Scoping Studies: Towards a Methodological Framework’ (2005) 8 International Journal of Social Research Methodology 19, 21–22.
29
John Scott, ‘Family, Sociology Of’, A Dictionary of Sociology (4th edition, OUP 2015).
30
John E Farley, Sociology (4th edn, Prentice Hall 1998) 67.
31
Baderin provides an overview of the sources of Islamic law, see Mashood Baderin, ‘Understanding Islamic Law in Theory and Practice’ (2009) 9 Legal Information Management 186.
32
This remains a central question in Islamic studies. An exceptionally wide-ranging discussion is found in Shahab Ahmed, What Is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic (Princeton University Press 2016) chs 2–4.
33
Maurits S Berger, ‘Understanding Sharia in the West’ (2018) 6 Journal of Law, Religion and State 236, 243–248.
34
Academic research continues to grapple with the question of who is to be defined or considered Muslim, including in contexts of religious change among migrant populations in Europe. Research has been criticized for privileging the study of organized communities over individual practice and belief, which may vary from established doctrine, see Nadia Jeldtoft and Jørgen S Nielsen, ‘Introduction: Methods in the Study of “Non-Organized” Muslim Minorities’ (2011) 34 Ethnic and Racial Studies 1113. A recent study by Thurfjell and Willander has demonstrated that it is incorrect to assume that people with a Muslim family background also define themselves as Muslims, and to assume that any of those categories has a connection to a specific level of religious faith or practice, see David Thurfjell and Erika Willander, ‘Muslims by Ascription: On Post-Lutheran Secularity and Muslim Immigrants’ (2021) 68 Numen 307. See also Birgitte Johansen and Riem Spielhaus, ‘Counting Deviance: Revisiting a Decade’s Production of Surveys among Muslims in Western Europe’ (2012) 1 Journal of Muslims in Europe 81.
35
In some cases, that means including studies which refer to an ethnic or national group (‘Moroccans’ or ‘Afghans’) or a country of origin (Morocco or Afghanistan, for instance). Countries of origin where Muslims form the majority of the population have been included among the search terms. This is not to say that all inhabitants of or emigrants from those countries are Muslims, but only serves to search for studies in which the author (in title or abstract) speaks of the study’s subjects not as Muslims specifically but as an ethnic or national group. In contrast, studies which work with subjects from countries where Muslims are not in the majority are more likely to speak of them specifically as Muslims, meaning that those records would be found with the general term ‘Muslim’, which was included among the search terms.
36
Maussen’s study on Islam in Western Europe contains no definition of its geographical scope but includes the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and Switzerland: Maussen (n 8).
37
Two states with a small majority of Muslims, Albania (56.7% Muslim) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (50.7% Muslim), have been included, not only as they form part of the whole geographical entity of Europe as it is defined here, but also because the situation of accommodation of rights based on religion arguably remains as important in those countries as elsewhere in Europe.
38
This review leaves out so-called ‘grey literature’, ie work which is not published through traditional academic channels, such as government reports, unpublished academic research, conference proceedings, as well as academic theses and dissertations. Searching grey literature is resource intensive but can be valuable and suitable in smaller-scale reviews, see Sutton and others (n 23) 210.
39
Some other databases, including Google Scholar and Atla Religion Database, were not used because they lack the functionality required for this systematic scoping review, or their functionality is so different that including them would have required a different search process.
40
‘Scopus’ (Scopus—Document Search) <www.scopus.com> accessed 24 January 2024.
41
‘Web of Science’ (Document Search—Web of Science Core Collection) <www.webofscience.com> accessed 24 January 2024.
42
Brill, ‘Index Islamicus Online’ <https://bibliographies.brill.com/IIO/> accessed 6 January 2024.
43
The most common languages other than English were: 137 entities in French, 77 in German, 73 in Turkish, 66 in Russian, 62 in Spanish, and 41 in Italian, a total of 456 studies, or 6.98 per cent of all records found.
44
Page and others (n 24).
45
Michael D Gordin, Scientific Babel: How Science Was Done before and after Global English (University of Chicago Press 2015) 293.
46
Maria Kuteeva and Lisa McGrath, ‘Taming Tyrannosaurus Rex: English Use in the Research and Publication Practices of Humanities Scholars in Sweden’ (2014) 33 Multilingua 367.
47
Daphne van Weijen, ‘Publication Languages in the Arts & Humanities’ (2013) 1 Research Trends 20, 22.
48
Lutz Bornmann, Robin Haunschild and Rüdiger Mutz, ‘Growth Rates of Modern Science: A Latent Piecewise Growth Curve Approach to Model Publication Numbers from Established and New Literature Databases’ (2021) 8 Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 224.
49
For the purposes of this review, the topic ‘marriage’ includes studies of norms on issues such as arranged marriage, child marriage, conflict in marriage, forced marriage, inter-community marriage, intra-community marriage, transnational marriage, polygamous marriage, religious-only marriage, registration or solemnization of marriage, spousal expectations on marriage, and spousal satisfaction. Studies of mahr and nikāḥ al-mutʿa are also included in this topic. Mahr is “the gift which the bridegroom has to give the bride when the contract of marriage is made and which becomes the property of the wife”: O Spies, ‘Mahr’, Encyclopaedia of Islam (New Edition Online, Brill 2012) <https://referenceworks.brill.com/doi/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4806> accessed 16 September 2024. While mahr is sometimes defined as a form of dowry or bride-price, it is different in that it is a financial obligation on the husband rather than a ‘price’ paid for the bride, see Mona Siddiqui, ‘Mahr: Legal Obligation or Rightful Demand?’ (1995) 6 Journal of Islamic Studies 14. Nikāh al-mut’a is a form of marriage or marriage-like relationship which is limited in time, and whose object may in some cases be sexual gratification, see John L Esposito, ‘Mutah’ in John L Esposito (ed), The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (OUP 2003).
50
It is clear that the boundaries between topics are indistinct, and in some cases, deeply political. For example, some authors define forced marriage as a form of violence, including it as a sub-category of ‘honour’ violence rather than marriage, see Christina Julios, Forced Marriage and ‘honour’ Killings in Britain: Private Lives, Community Crimes and Public Policy Perspectives (Ashgate 2015) 44.
51
These bodies exist in two general forms: as Sharia ‘councils’ and ‘arbitration tribunals’. They are institutions of a somewhat different character and mandate. Sharia councils have informal jurisdiction and their decisions are not legally binding, while the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal draws its jurisdiction from the 1996 Arbitration Act, which allows the free determination of law to be applied to a dispute, making resolutions by the Tribunal legally enforceable. The use of the term Sharia ‘court’, as in Robin Fretwell Wilson, ‘The Perils of Privatized Marriage’ in Joel A Nichols (ed), Marriage and Divorce in a Multicultural Context (Cambridge University Press 2011) 253, is criticized for conflating the authority of a court with the limited mandate of a Sharia council or arbitration tribunal. Arguably, this conflation has contributed to misunderstandings in public debate, see ‘The Independent Review into the Application of Sharia Law in England and Wales’ (2018) <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a750e8040f0b6397f35d531/6.4152_HO_CPFG_Report_into_Sharia_Law_in_the_UK_WEB.pdf> accessed 1 March 2024.
52
Mohamed Keshavjee, ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution in a Diasporic Muslim Community in Britain’ in Prakash Shah (ed), Law and Ethnic Plurality (Brill 2007).
53
Samia Bano, Muslim Women and Shari’ah Councils: Transcending the Boundaries of Community and Law (Palgrave Macmillan 2012); Samia Bano, ‘Multicultural Interlegality? Negotiating Family Law in the Context of Muslim Legal Pluralism in the UK’ in Michael Freeman and David Napier (eds), Law and Anthropology (OUP 2009). Samia Bano, ‘Agency, Autonomy, and Rights’ in Samia Bano (ed), Gender and Justice in Family Law Disputes: Women, Mediation, and Religious Arbitration (Brandeis University Press 2017).
54
R Sandberg and others, ‘Britain’s Religious Tribunals: “Joint Governance” in Practice’ (2013) 33 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 263.
55
John R Bowen, On British Islam: Religion, Law, and Everyday Practice in Shari’a Councils (Princeton University Press 2016).
56
Tanya Walker, Sharia Councils and Muslim Women in Britain: Rethinking the Role of Power and Authority (Brill 2017).
57
Amin Al-Astewani, ‘Loci of Leadership: The Quasi-Judicial Authority of Shariah Tribunals in the British Muslim Community’ (2019) 10 Religions 406.
58
Yvonne Prief, ‘Muslim Legal Practice in the United Kingdom: The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal’ in Norbert Oberauer, Yvonne Prief and Ulrike Qubaja (eds), Legal Pluralism in Muslim Contexts (Brill 2019).
59
Kaveri Qureshi, ‘Courting Agency: Gender and Divorce in an English Sharia Council’ (2022) 30 Contemporary South Asia 30.
60
Elham Manea, ‘Application of Islamic Law in the UK and Universal Human Rights’ [2020] Revista de Estudios Internacionales Mediterráneos 72; Elham Manea, ‘Women and Shari’a Law’ in Samia Bano (ed), The Sharia Inquiry, Religious Practice and Muslim Family Law in Britain (1st edn, Routledge 2023).
61
Islam Uddin, ‘Shariah Councils in the UK’ in Bano (n 60).
62
Samia Bano (ed), Gender and Justice in Family Law Disputes: Women, Mediation, and Religious Arbitration (Brandeis University Press 2017) <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctv102bhb9> accessed 6 February 2024.
63
Amira Aftab, ‘Religious Freedom and Gender Equality: The Sharia Debates and Gendered Institutions in Australia and Britain’ (2019) 25 Australian Journal of Human Rights 281.
64
Ralph Grillo, Muslim Families, Politics and the Law (Routledge 2016).
65
Bowen (n 55) 231; Al-Astewani (n 57) 411–412.
66
Bano, Muslim Women and Shari’ah Councils (n 53) 93; Manea, ‘Women and Shari’a Law’ (n 60) 35–37.
67
Bano, Muslim Women and Shari’ah Councils (n 53) 278.
68
Keshavjee (n 52) 170; Al-Astewani (n 57) 414–415; Bowen (n 55) chs 8–9.
69
Bano, Muslim Women and Shari’ah Councils (n 53) 210–212; Qureshi (n 59) 38; Manea, ‘Women and Shari’a Law’ (n 60) 36.
70
Bowen (n 55) 208.
71
Keshavjee (n 52) 158–159.
72
Louisa Perreau, ‘Gender Equality at the Test of Sharia Councils in the UK’ (2020) 2 Youth and Globalization 65; Manea, ‘Women and Shari’a Law’ (n 60) 50–51.
73
Bano, Muslim Women and Shari’ah Councils (n 53) 207, 213.
74
Jesper Petersen, ‘The Practice of Two Danish Female Islamic Authorities Facilitating Divorce’ (2021) 10 Journal of Muslims in Europe 357.
75
Torkel Brekke, Fazal Hadi and Edin Kozaric, ‘The Role of Imams in Family Counselling with Muslim Families in Norway’ (2022) 11 Journal of Muslims in Europe 175.
76
Kim Lecoyer, ‘Marriage Conclusion in Belgian Muslim Families: Navigating Transnational Social Spaces of Normativity’ (2016) 14 Migration Letters 11.
77
Arshad Muradin, ‘Religious Authority and Family Dispute Resolution among Moroccan Muslims in the Netherlands’ (2022) 11 Journal of Muslims in Europe 52.
78
Konstantinos Tsitselikis, ‘Seeking to Accommodate Shari’a Within a Human Rights Framework: The Future of The Greek Shari’a Courts’ (2013) 28 Journal of Law and Religion 341.
79
Nikos Koumoutzis, ‘Judicial Review of Mufti Decisions Applying Islamic Family Law in Greece’ (2023) 12 Laws 58.
80
Esther Van Eijk, ‘Khulʿ Divorce in the Netherlands: Dutch Muslim Women Seeking Religious Divorce’ (2019) 26 Islamic Law and Society 36.
81
Vulca Fidolini, ‘Heteromasculinities: Sexual Experiences and Transition to Adulthood among Young Moroccan Men in Europe’ (2020) 23 Men and Masculinities 242.
82
Irena Kogan and Markus Weißmann, ‘Religion and Sexuality: Between- and Within-Individual Differences in Attitudes to Pre-Marital Cohabitation among Adolescents in Four European Countries’ (2020) 46 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 3630; Sawitri Saharso and others, ‘No Sex before Marriage? Migrant Youth Navigating Restrictive Norms Regarding Premarital Relationships’ (2023) 46 Ethnic and Racial Studies 3145.
83
Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko, ‘Muslim Women’s Claims to Refugee Status Within the Context of Child Custody Upon Divorce Under Islamic Law’ (2010) 22 International Journal of Refugee Law 48. Haya Sandberg and Haim Sandberg, ‘Dilemmas of Civil Tribunals in Formulating Their Positions toward Religious Tribunals’ (2017) 5 Journal of Law, Religion and State 214.
84
The two records were: Brooke Thompson, ‘Do Islamic Succession Laws for Muslim Women Violate the Current Human Rights Framework? Developing an Ethical Working Model for Muslim Minority Nations’ (2016) 13 Muslim World Journal of Human Rights. Also: Nikos Koumoutzis and Christos Papastylianos, ‘Human Rights Issues Arising from the Implementation of Sharia Law on the Minority of Western Thrace—ECtHR Molla Sali v. Greece, Application No. 20452/14, 19 December 2018’ (2019) 10 Religions 300.
85
Nikos Koumoutzis, ‘The Islamic Prohibition of Adoption as Limitation of the Right to Respect for Family Life (Article 8 ECHR) – Revisiting Ecthr Harroudj v France, No 43631/09, 4 October 2012’ (2021) 13 Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional 939; André J Hoekema, ‘Does the Dutch Judiciary Pluralize Domestic Law?’ in Ralph Grillo and others (eds), Legal Practice and Cultural Diversity (Routledge 2016).
86
Pew Research Center, ‘Europe’s Growing Muslim Population’ (Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project, 29 November 2017) <https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/11/29/europes-growing-muslim-population/> accessed 3 March 2024.
87
Petersen (n 74).
88
Rubya Mehdi, ‘Danish Law and the Practice of Mahr among Muslim Pakistanis in Denmark’ (2003) 31 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 115; Rubya Mehdi, ‘Strengthening Women’s Rights in Contexts of Legal Pluralism: The Example of Mahr (Dower) Practices by Pakistani Muslims in Denmark’ in Niamh Reilly and Stacey Scriver (eds), Religion, gender, and the public sphere (Routledge 2018).
89
Anika Liversage, ‘Gender, Conflict and Subordination within the Household: Turkish Migrant Marriage and Divorce in Denmark’ (2012) 38 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 1119; Anika Liversage and Mai Heide Ottosen, ‘Changing Times—Family Formation Processes among Turkish Immigrant Women and Their Danish Majority Peers’ (2014) 45 Journal of Comparative Family Studies 459.
90
See n 48.
91
Tessie Bundgaard Jorgensen, ‘Mut’a as Practised by Danish Shi’i Women’ (2023) 12 Journal of Muslims in Europe 348.
92
Anika Liversage, ‘Experiencing “Nikah Captivity” in the West: Gendered Conflicts over Ending Muslim Marriages’ (2021) 11 Journal of Muslims in Europe 215.
93
Abir Mohamad Ismail, ‘Care in Practice: Negotiations Regarding Care for the Elderly in Multigenerational Arab Muslim Families in Denmark’ (2021) 15 Contemporary Islam 215; Abir Mohamad Ismail, ‘“Doing Care, Doing Gender”: Towards a Rethinking of Gender and Elderly Care in the Arab Muslim Families in Denmark’ (2024) 36 Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging 50.
94
Marianne Bøe, ‘Lived Experiences of Norway’s Regulation of Mahr (the Muslim Dower)’ (2018) 31 Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 58; Marianne Bøe, ‘Halal Dating and Norwegian Youth Culture’ (2018) 7 Journal of Muslims in Europe 265.
95
Brekke, Hadi and Kozaric (n 75).
96
R Elise B Johansen, ‘Blurred Transitions of Female Genital Cutting in a Norwegian Somali Community’ (2019) 14 PLOS ONE 1; Ingvild Bergom Lunde, Mette Sagbakken and R Elise B Johansen, ‘Negotiating Female Genital Cutting as a Difficult Characteristic in Kurdish National Identity’ (2019) 9 Nordic Journal of Migration Research 363; R Elise B Johansen, ‘Discourses of Change: The Shift from Infibulation to Sunna Circumcision among Somali and Sudanese Migrants in Norway’ (2022) 17 PLOS ONE 1.
97
Marjan Nadim, ‘Undermining the Male Breadwinner Ideal? Understandings of Women’s Paid Work among Second-Generation Immigrants in Norway’ (2016) 50 Sociology 109; Ragni Hege Kitterød and Marjan Nadim, ‘Embracing Gender Equality: Gender-Role Attitudes among Second-Generation Immigrants in Norway’ (2020) 42 Demographic Research 411; Line Nyhagen Predelli, ‘Interpreting Gender in Islam: A Case Study of Immigrant Muslim Women in Oslo, Norway’ (2004) 18 Gender & Society 473.
98
Beth Maina Ahlberg and others, ‘“It’s Only a Tradition”: Making Sense of Eradication Interventions and the Persistence of Female “Circumcision” within a Swedish Context’ (2004) 24 Critical Social Policy 50; Sofia Strid and Tobias K Axelsson, ‘Involving Men: The Multiple Meanings of Female Genital Mutilation in a Minority Migrant Context’ (2020) 28 NORA—Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 287.
99
Rannveig Haga, ‘Somali Parents in Sweden: Navigating Parenting and Child Wellbeing’ in Mulki Al-Sharmani, Marja Tiilikainen and Sanna Mustasaari, Wellbeing of transnational Muslim families: marriage, law and gender (Routledge 2020).
100
Mulki Al-Sharmani, ‘Divorce among Transnational Finnish Somalis: Gender, Religion, and Agency’ (2017) 7 Religion and Gender 70; Mulki Al-Sharmani, ‘Marriage and Transnational Family Life among Somali Migrants in Finland’; Mulki Al-Sharmani and Sanna Mustasaari, ‘Islamic Family Law(s) in Finland: Reflections on Freedom of Religion from the Wellbeing Perspective’ (2022) 58 Temenos—Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion 217; Mulki Mohamed Al-Sharmani, ‘Striving against the “Nafs”: Revisiting Somali Muslim Spousal Roles and Rights in Finland’ (2015) 8 Journal of Religion in Europe 101.
101
Teemu Pauha, ‘“As a Sunni, I Naturally Cannot Understand Anything Like Temporary Marriage”: Mutʿa Marriage, Online Boundary-Work, and the Social Psychology of Sunni–Shiʿa Relations’ (2023) 12 Journal of Muslims in Europe 77.
102
Veerle Draulans and Wouter De Tavernier, ‘Shifts in Intergenerational Solidarity: Eldercare in the Turkish Community of a Belgian City’ in Ine Van Hoyweghen, Valeria Pulignano and Gert Meyers (eds), Shifting Solidarities (Springer International Publishing 2020); Jonas Wood, ‘Childcare Ideals among Second Generation Muslim Moroccan Immigrants in Flanders’ [2022] Community, Work & Family 1.
103
Anne Hartung and others, ‘Partnership Preferences of the Belgian Second Generation: Who Lives with Whom?’ (2011) 16 Advances in Life Course Research 152; Alexia Sabbe and others, ‘Marriage and Migration: Moroccan Women’s Views on Partner Choice, Arranged and Forced Marriage in Belgium’ (2019) 20 Journal of International Migration and Integration 1097. See also Lecoyer (n 76).
104
Emilien Dupont and others, ‘Love at Second Sight: Remarriages in Turkish and Moroccan Communities in Belgium’ (2021) 47 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 2615.
105
Sophie Withaeckx and Gily Coene, ‘“Glad to Have Honour”: Continuity and Change in Minority Women’s Lived Experience of Honour’ (2014) 23 Journal of Gender Studies 376.
106
Judit Arends‐Tóth and Fons JR Van De Vijver, ‘Cultural Differences in Family, Marital, and Gender‐role Values among Immigrants and Majority Members in the Netherlands’ (2009) 44 International Journal of Psychology 161; Abraham P Buunk and Pieternel Dijkstra, ‘Sex and Marriage with Members of Other Ethnic Groups: A Study in the Netherlands’ (2017) 51 Cross-Cultural Research 3; Leen Sterckx, ‘Marrying “In” or “Out”? Scrutinizing the Link Between Integration and the Partner Choice of Young People of Turkish and Moroccan Origin in the Netherlands’ (2015) 36 Journal of Family Issues 1550.
107
Eefje De Kroon, ‘Islamic Law, Secular Law, and Societal Norms: The Recognition of Islamic Legal Practices in the Netherlands and the Protection of Muslim Women’s Human Rights’ (2016) 36 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 153; Iris Sportel, ‘Who’s Afraid of Islamic Family Law? Dealing with Shari’a-Based Family Law Systems in the Netherlands’ (2017) 7 Religion and Gender 53.
108
Elisheva Rosman, ‘Tools, Masters, and Houses: Exploring Leveraging as a Strategy Used by Religious Women Seeking Change’ (2023) 39 Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 171.
109
Annelies Moors, Martijn De Koning and Vanessa Vroon-Najem, ‘Secular Rule and Islamic Ethics: Engaging with Muslim-Only Marriages in the Netherlands’ (2018) 6 Sociology of Islam 274.
110
Mathias Rohe, ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution among Muslims in Germany and the Debate on “Parallel Justice”’ in Niels Valdemar Vinding, Egdunas Racius and Jörn Thielmann (eds), Exploring the Multitude of Muslims in Europe: Essays in Honour of Jørgen S. Nielsen (Brill 2018); Ahmad Bunyan Wahib, ‘Marriage Registration and Solemnization Among Migrant Muslims in Germany: Harmonizing Islamic and State Law and the Existence of Origin Country Law’ (2022) 15 Al-Ahwal: Jurnal Hukum Keluarga Islam 275. Wolf D Ahmed Aries and James T Richardson, ‘Trial and Error: Muslims and Shari’a in the German Context’ in Adam Possamai, James T Richardson and Bryan S Turner (eds), The Sociology of Shari’a: Case Studies from around the World, vol 1 (Springer International Publishing 2015).
111
Mouez Khalfaoui, ‘Current Muslim Understandings of Classical Family Law in a Modern Secular Context: Germany as a Case Study’ (2020) 40 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 117.
112
Ahmad Al Ajlan, ‘Divorce and Domestic Violence Among Syrian Refugees in Germany’ (2022) 37 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 9784.
113
Pascale Fournier, ‘Flirting with God in Western Secular Courts: Mahr in the West’ (2010) 24 International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 67; Pascale Fournier, Muslim Marriage in Western Courts: Lost in Transplantation (Ashgate 2012); Pascale Fournier and Jacques Berlinerblau, ‘Reframing Secularist Premises: Divorce among Traditionalist Muslim and Jewish Women within the Secular State’ (2018) 7 Secularism and Nonreligion 3.
114
Koumoutzis (n 79); Koumoutzis and Papastylianos (n 84).
115
Federica Sona, ‘“Mosque Marriages” and Nuptial Forms among Muslims in Italy’ (2018) 7 Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 519; Federica Sona, ‘Unilateral Repudiation or Divorce? Ṭalāq Betwixt and Between Diverse (Extra-)Judicial Environments’; Amal Alqawasmi, ‘Marriage and Divorce Practices in Islamic Centers in Italy’ (2021) 11 Oñati Socio-Legal Series 959.
116
Federica Sona, ‘Interfaith Marriages across the Mediterranean Sea: Spouses Sailing between State Law and Sharīʿah’ (2018) 27 Journal of Mediterranean Studies 173.
117
Giuseppe Gabrielli and Salvatore Strozza, ‘Gender Equality in Family-Related Attitudes and Behaviours Among Muslim Migrants in Italy’ in Giovanni Giulio Valtolina and Laura Zanfrini (eds), Migrant Families and Religious Belonging (IOS Press 2023).
118
Blanca Edurne Mendoza Carmona, ‘Transforming “Everyday Islam” through Feminism and Higher Education: Second-Generation Muslim Women in Spain’ (2018) 3 Contemporary Levant 44; Blanca Mendoza, Marta Bertran and Jordi Pàmies, ‘Feminism, Islam and Higher Education: Towards New Roles and Family Relationships for Young Spanish-Moroccan Muslim Women in Spain’ (2021) 27 Race Ethnicity and Education 1.
119
Lucía Echevarría, ‘Gender and Conflict within Migrant Families: A Case Study of Mothers and Daughters of Moroccan Origin in Madrid’ (2012) 31 Refugee Survey Quarterly 137; Theresa Thao Pham, ‘Engagement in Knowledge Production, Authentication, and Empowerment: A Community-Based Participatory Research Project with Moroccan Immigrants in Spain’ (2016) 59 International Social Work 368.
120
Rajnaara C Akhtar, ‘Unregistered Muslim Marriages in the UK: Examining Normative Influences Shaping Choice of Legal Protection’ in Marie-Claire Foblets, Michele Graziadei and Alison Dundes Renteln (eds), Personal Autonomy in Plural Societies: A Principle and its Paradoxes (Routledge 2017); Rehana Parveen, ‘Religious-Only Marriages in the UK’ (2018) 6 Sociology of Islam 316; Vishal Vora, ‘The Continuing Muslim Marriage Conundrum: The Law of England and Wales on Religious Marriage and Non-Marriage in the United Kingdom’ (2020) 40 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 148.
121
Bustami Mohamed Khir, ‘The Right of Women to No-Fault Divorce in Islam and Its Application by British Muslims’ (2006) 17 Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 295.
122
Katharine Charsley, ‘Risk and Ritual: The Protection of British Pakistani Women in Transnational Marriage’ (2006) 32 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 1169; Katharine Charsley and Marta Bolognani, ‘Marrying “in”/Marrying “out”? Blurred Boundaries in British Pakistani Marriage Choices’ (2021) 47 Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 361; Audrey Allas, ‘Religious Conversion and Kinship Cohesion: Intermarriage Amongst British Pakistani Muslims’ (2018) 2 Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology 27; Marzia Balzani, ‘Transnational Marriage among Ahmadi Muslims in the UK’ (2006) 6 Global Networks 345.
123
Aisha K Gill and Heather Harvey, ‘Examining the Impact of Gender on Young People’s Views of Forced Marriage in Britain’ (2017) 12 Feminist Criminology 72; Raksha Pande, ‘“I Arranged My Own Marriage”: Arranged Marriages and Post-Colonial Feminism’ (2015) 22 Gender, Place & Culture 172; Marie Macey, ‘Trans-Continental Marriage between British and Pakistani Citizens: Arranged or Forced?’ (2008) 15 Pakistan Journal of Women’s Studies: Alam-e-Niswan 1; Khatidja Chantler, Geetanjali Gangoli and Marianne Hester, ‘Forced Marriage in the UK: Religious, Cultural, Economic or State Violence?’ (2009) 29 Critical Social Policy 587.
124
Fatemeh Azizi, Pauline Lane and Melanie Boyce, ‘Afghan Women Refugees Enduring Domestic Violence Despite Finding Sanctuary in the UK’ (2023) 25 Journal of International Migration and Integration 759; Aisha K Gill, ‘Feminist Reflections on Researching So-Called “Honour” Killings’ (2013) 21 Feminist Legal Studies 241; Alexandra Hall, ‘“Honour” Crimes’ in Pamela Davies, Peter Francis and Tanya Wyatt (eds), Invisible Crimes and Social Harms (Palgrave Macmillan UK 2014); Ferya Tas-Cifci, ‘Conceptualisation of Honour Codes amongst Turkish-Kurdish Mothers and Daughters Living in London’ (2018) 20 Journal of International Women’s Studies 219.
125
Just like the data on geographical scope, this picture confirms the dominant position of the UK in international publishing, but does not speak of the state of knowledge in specific countries on specific topics.
126
Mohammad Mazher Idriss and Tahir Abbas (eds), Honour, Violence, Women and Islam (Routledge 2010). Robert Gleave, ‘Elements of Religious Discrimination in Europe: The Position of Muslim Minorities’ in Stratos V Konstadinidis (ed), A People’s Europe (Routledge 2019). Richard Phillips, ‘Interventions against Forced Marriage: Contesting Hegemonic Narratives and Minority Practices in Europe’ (2012) 19 Gender, Place & Culture 21.
127
Russell King and Julie Vullnetari, ‘The Intersections of Gender and Generation in Albanian Migration, Remittances and Transnational Care’ (2009) 91 Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 19.
128
Parveen Azam Ali, Alicia O’Cathain and Elizabeth Croot, ‘Influences of Extended Family on Intimate Partner Violence: Perceptions of Pakistanis in Pakistan and the United Kingdom’ (2021) 36 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 3965.
129
Parveen Azam Ali, Julie McGarry and Aneela Maqsood, ‘Spousal Role Expectations and Marital Conflict: Perspectives of Men and Women’ (2022) 37 Journal of Interpersonal Violence NP7082.
130
Punita Chowbey, ‘Employment, Masculinities, and Domestic Violence in “Fragile” Contexts: Pakistani Women in Pakistan and the UK’ (2016) 24 Gender & Development 493.
131
Khatidja Chantler, Geetanjali Gangoli and Ravi K Thiara, ‘Muslim Women and Gender Based Violence in India and the UK’ (2019) 39 Critical Social Policy 163.
132
Katharine Charsley and Anika Liversage, ‘Transforming Polygamy: Migration, Transnationalism and Multiple Marriages among Muslim Minorities’ (2013) 13 Global Networks 60.
133
Line Nyhagen, ‘Mosques as Gendered Spaces: The Complexity of Women’s Compliance with, And Resistance to, Dominant Gender Norms, And the Importance of Male Allies’ (2019) 10 Religions 321; Clara Rigoni, Honour-Based Violence and Forced Marriages: Community and Restorative Practices in Europe (Routledge 2022).
134
Charsley and Liversage (n 132).
135
John R Bowen and Mathias Rohe, ‘Juridical Framings of Muslims and Islam in France and Germany’ in John R Bowen and others (eds), European States and their Muslim Citizens (CUP 2013).
136
Fournier and Berlinerblau (n 113).
137
Ali, McGarry and Maqsood (n 129).
138
Arends‐Tóth and Van De Vijver (n 106); Pål Ketil Botvar and Anders Sjöborg, ‘Views on Human Rights Among Christian, Muslim and Non-Religious Youth in Norway and Sweden’ (2012) 25 Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 67.
139
Dominic McGoldrick, ‘The Compatibility of an Islamic/Shariʽa Law System or Shariʽa Rules with the European Convention on Human Rights’ in Robin Griffith-Jones (ed), Islam and English Law (CUP 2013); Thompson (n 84).
140
Moussa Abou Ramadan, ‘The Misperception of the European Court of Human Rights on the Immutability of Sharia’ (2006) 23 Nordic Journal of Human Rights 375.
141
Susan Leahy and Kathryn O’Sullivan, ‘Unrecognised Muslim Marriage in Ireland: Incidence and Implications’ (2019) 39 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 534; Vora (n 120).
142
Mohammad Mazher Idriss, ‘Abused by the Patriarchy: Male Victims, Masculinity, “Honor”-Based Abuse and Forced Marriages’ (2022) 37 Journal of Interpersonal Violence NP11905; Joanne Payton, ‘“Honor,” Collectivity, and Agnation: Emerging Risk Factors in “Honor”-Based Violence’ (2014) 29 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 2863.
143
Parveen (n 120).
144
Julios (n 50).
145
Hannah Helseth, ‘When the Personal Is Always Political: Norwegian Muslims’ Arguments for Women’s Rights’ (2018) 6 Social Inclusion 59.
146
Roxanne D Marcotte, ‘Fatwa Online’ in Mellor Noha and Rinnawi Khalil (eds), Political Islam and Global Media (Routledge 2016).
147
Pauha (n 101).
148
Vit Sisler, ‘Cyber Counsellors: Online Fatwas, Arbitration Tribunals and the Construction of Muslim Identity in the UK’ (2011) 14 Information, Communication & Society 1136.
149
Eva Evers Rosander, ‘Getting a Divorce in Spain: A Moroccan Case of Legal Pluralism and Transnationalism’ (2009) 26 Nordic Journal of Human Rights 321; Van Eijk (n 80); Fournier and Berlinerblau (n 113); Pascale Fournier, ‘Family Law, State Recognition and Intersecting Spheres/Spaces: Jewish and Muslim Women Divorcing in the United Kingdom’ in René Provost (ed), Culture in the Domains of Law (1st edn, CUP 2017).
150
Liversage (n 92); Vishal Vora, ‘Unregistered Muslim Marriages in the United Kingdom’ in Norbert Oberauer, Yvonne Prief and Ulrike Qubaja (eds), Legal Pluralism in Muslim Contexts (Brill 2019). (The term ‘nikāḥ captivity’ is explained above, see p. 28).
151
Edien Bartels, ‘“He Sees Me as His Possession and Thinks He Can Do What He Wants.” Dependent Stay and Partner Violence among Moroccan Marriage Migrant Women in the Netherlands’ (2021) 41 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 522; Chowbey (n 130); Naheed Ghauri, ‘Domestic Abuse’ in Samia Bano, The Sharia Inquiry, Religious Practice and Muslim Family Law in Britain (1st edn, Routledge 2023); Azizi, Lane and Boyce (n 124).
152
Withaeckx and Coene (n 105); Tas-Cifci (n 124).
153
Echevarría (n 119); Mendoza Carmona (n 118).
154
Eva Evers Rosander, ‘Gender Relations and Female Autonomy among Senegalese Migrants in Spain: Three Cases from Tenerife’ (2010) 3 African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal 91.
155
Nyhagen Predelli (n 97); Parveen Akhtar, ‘“We Were Muslims but We Didn’t Know Islam”: Migration, Pakistani Muslim Women and Changing Religious Practices in the UK’ (2014) 47 Women’s Studies International Forum 232. Louise Lund Liebmann and Lise Paulsen Galal, ‘Classing Religion, Resourcing Women: Muslim Women Negotiating Space for Action’ (2020) 32 Cultural Dynamics 261.
156
Nyhagen (n 133).
157
Margaretha A Van Es, ‘Norwegian Muslim Women, Diffused Islamic Feminism and the Politics of Belonging’ (2016) 29 Nordic Journal of Religion and Society 117.
158
Bowen (n 55) ch 8; Jesper Petersen, ‘The Practice of Two Danish Female Islamic Authorities Facilitating Divorce’ (2021) 10 Journal of Muslims in Europe 357.
159
Aleksandra Lewicki and Therese O’Toole, ‘Acts and Practices of Citizenship: Muslim Women’s Activism in the UK’ (2017) 40 Ethnic and Racial Studies 152.
160
Qureshi (n 59) 34–35.
161
Fidolini (n 81).
162
Strid and Axelsson (n 98).
163
Idriss (n 142).
164
Moors, De Koning and Vroon-Najem (n 109); Géraldine Mossière, ‘When Sharing Religion Is Not Enough: A Transregional Perspective on Marriage, Piety, and the Intersecting Scales of Identity Transmission among Female Converts to Islam in Mixed Unions’ (2022) 69 Social Compass 347.
165
Peumans’ ground-breaking work on queer Muslims in Belgium does not focus on eg the formation of family ties: Wim Peumans, ‘Queer Muslim Migrants in Belgium: A Research Note on Same-Sex Sexualities and Lived Religion’ (2014) 17 Sexualities 618.
166
Welchman (n 9); Hallaq (n 19); Kamali (n 20).
167
In his view, family law had received some attention, see Berger (n 33) 238.
168
Keshavjee (n 52) 7. Keshavjee does not define the terms mixed marriage and plural marriage. Later in the chapter, however, he writes about mixed marriages as marriages between people of different faiths. By plural marriage, Keshavjee seems to refer to marriages with multiple partners, eg polygamous marriages.
169
See contributions by Mehdi (n 88), Bøe ‘Lived Experiences’ (n 94), and Fournier ‘Flirting with God’ and Muslim Marriage in Western Courts (n 113).
170
Yahyaoui Krivenko (n 83).
171
Federica Sona, ‘Unilateral Repudiation or Divorce? Ṭalāq Betwixt and Between Diverse (Extra-)Judicial Environments’ (2022) 8 The Italian Law Journal 293.
172
Charsley and Liversage (n 132).
173
Moors, De Koning and Vroon-Najem (n 109).
174
Thompson (n 84); Koumoutzis and Papastylianos (n 84).
175
Compare Hirsch (n 7). One illustrative example is provided by Moors, De Koning and Vroon-Najem (n 109).
176
Werner Menski, ‘Muslim Law in Britain’ (2001) 62 Journal of Asian and African Studies 127, 151.
177
Van Eijk (n 80) 37; Rosman (n 108) 180.
178
Kathleen Moore, The Unfamiliar Abode (OUP 2010) 118.
179
Bano, Muslim Women and Shari’ah Councils (n 53) 252.
180
See, for instance, Nikos Koumoutzis, ‘The Islamic Prohibition of Adoption as Limitation of the Right to Respect for Family Life (Article 8 ECHR) – Revisiting Ecthr Harroudj v France, No 43631/09, 4 October 2012’ (2021) 13 Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional 939; Thompson (n 84) 53. One can see this, too, in the reasoning of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Refah Partisi (Welfare Party) and Others v Turkey (No 1)(2002) 35 EHRR 3, see McGoldrick (n 139).
181
Fournier, Muslim Marriage in Western Courts (n 113) 139–147; Prakash A Shah, ‘In Pursuit of the Pagans: Muslim Law in the English Context’ (2013) 45 The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 58, 61.
182
This was also suggested by Maussen in his 2007 report: Maussen (n 8) 61–62.
183
Welchman (n 9) 918.
Author notes
I would like to thank Göran Larsson, Jenny Berglund, Morten Sager, Mulki Al-Sharmani, and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on this article. Remaining mistakes and omissions, as well as the opinions expressed, are my own.
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
SOURCE https://academic.oup.com/ojlr/article/14/1/79/8100444
Categories: Europe, European Union, Muslims
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