http://www.arabnews.com/?page=13§ion=0&article=70099&d=15&m=9&y=2005&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Local%20Press
Thursday, 15, September, 2005 (11, Sha`ban, 1426)
Women and Shariah Courts
Dr. Abdullah Maraa ibn Mahfouz, Al-Eqtisadiah
Saudi women at present find it very difficult to get their rights in the
Shariah courts. The problem is not with the Shariah. It is rather with the
operational and bureaucratic regulations of the courts that stand in the way of
women's getting justice. In this context, demands are being made to modernize
the Saudi legal system.
Sheikh Abdul Aziz ibn Gharmallah Al-Ghamdi, a researcher in Shariah, puts
various aspects related to this modernization in a brief and candid manner. The
scholars and legal experts are studying the needs and the methods for codifying
the religious law. Some of the experts favor modernization, pointing out that
it would help bring uniformity to the verdicts of different judges. On the
other hand, there are religious scholars who oppose the view that, during the
age of the Prophet, peace be upon him, his companions and their successors,
people used to get justice in the most desired way.
A codified religious law will also make it impossible for the judiciary
to make fair judgments on individual issues as judges would be compelled to
issue verdicts based on recorded precedents. Some experts among the religious
scholars also fear that the attempts to modernize the legal system may cause
some judges who lack proper training to confuse man-made laws with those of the
Shariah.
The operational and bureaucratic regulations in the courts that delay or
prevent women from getting justice should be done away with. Arrangements which
include modern technology should be put in place so that women know the status
of their cases from their homes or any place they happen to be. The demand for
setting up civil law courts and appointing female judges or permitting women to
be present in the court without a mahram (legal guardian) are ideas
unacceptable to both religious scholars and society. Instead, creating a
special division for civil matters with special judges could be done without
delay.
Two examples of the injustice women suffer, especially those who are
divorced, are given here. A woman wants a divorce from a husband who has been
jailed on charges of infidelity but he refuses unless she surrenders her
custody rights to the couple's children. The bureaucratic routine that she has
to satisfy in order to get a favorable verdict makes everything extremely
difficult for her.
Another woman, who wants a divorce from her husband who is living in
another city, is directed to approach the court in the place where he lives.
How can a woman, under the present restrictions on women appearing freely in
court without her husband's cooperation, particularly in a place away from
where she lives, take the necessary steps to bring the man to justice?
Women who are treated unjustly feel that men exploit the loopholes in the
legal system and also physically and mentally harass women in order to take
more than their rights while depriving women of theirs. Divorced women have
rights given to them by Shariah and the law of the land but those rights are
practically non-existent because of the meandering official procedures related
to Saudi women in addition to the absence of elasticity of the regulations.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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