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Ibn al-Ḥārith al-Khushanī, Quḍāt Qurṭuba. Pages 7-8.

Ibn al-Ḥārith al-Khushanī, Edited by Julián Ribera, Translated by Julián Ribera, Posted by Daniel Jacobs, 04 November 2020

In this excerpt from the introduction toQuḍāt Qurṭuba, Khushanī (d. 361/971) reminds his readers of the gravity of the decisions that Cordoban judges, past and present, confronted in their judicial proceedings. In so doing, he buttresses his account of the history of judgeships by providing some context as to the way judges both affected and were affected by the societies in which they operated. Specifically, Khushanī notes that the seriousness with which the role of judge was perceived had a detrimental effect on society, since many avoided judgeships out of fear that they would be punished for their rulings in the afterlife and that the position would leave a mark on their piety in their current lives. In her chapter in Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, Maribel Fierro uses this source to argue that the way in which potential judges reacted to offers of judgeships or the idea of serving as judges heavily impacted their reputation and image in society, with those who refused being seen as more pious and those who accepted tending to be perceived as seeking to burnish their reputations in the eyes of those in power.

This source is part of the Online Companion to the book Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts, ed. Intisar A. Rabb and Abigail Krasner Balbale(ILSP/HUP 2017)—a collection of primary sources and other material used in and related to the book.

The Family Code of the Russian Federation

Contributions by Cem Tecimer.

The Law Concerning Islamic Punishment Containing General Provisions

Contributions by Seyed Bahman Khodadadi.

Commentary

Popular Documents

Niẓām al-Aḥwāl al-Shakhṣiyya [Personal Status Law]

Program in Islamic Law (PIL) Staff

By Muhammad Zubair Abbasi

The Personal Status Law of 2022 (PSL) forms part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reform agenda.[1] The PSL codifies legal rules governing family relations, including marriage, divorce, child custody, maintenance, gifts, wills, and inheritance. While drawing extensively on principles derived from classical fiqh, the PSL introduces substantive reforms by codifying, clarifying, and standardizing rules that were previously applied through judicial discretion.

The law sets the minimum age of marriage at eighteen, while permitting courts to authorize the marriage of individuals under eighteen where they are deemed sufficiently mature to provide consent.[2] It further enhances women’s autonomy in marriage by limiting the traditional authority of the guardian: a judge may intervene to permit a woman to marry a man of her choice where the guardian’s objection is deemed unreasonable.[3] The PSL strengthens women’s rights within marriage by invalidating the practice of instant divorce (triple ṭalāq)[4] and broadening women’s access to no-fault dissolution through a judicially supervised reconciliation process.[5] It also reinforces married women’s financial rights by requiring husbands to provide maintenance irrespective of the wife’s financial standing.[6] In addition, the financial burden associated with wife-initiated no-fault divorce (khulʿ) is curtailed by limiting the compensation payable to the husband to prompt dower.[7]

Notes:

[1] “Vision 2030,” Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, accessed March 16, 2026, https://www.vision2030.gov.sa/media/cofh1nmf/vision-2030-overview.pdf.

[2] Personal Status Law of 2022 [PSL] art. 9 (Saudi Arabia).

[3] PSL art. 20.

[4] PSL art. 83.

[5] PSL arts. 109–11.

[6] PSL art. 44.

[7] PSL art. 101. Dower under Islamic law is divided into two types. Prompt dower is a sum of money or property that a husband is obliged to pay his wife immediately upon marriage. Deferred dower, by contrast, falls due only upon dissolution of the marriage, whether by divorce or the husband’s death.