Islamic Law And Modern Feminist Research

The Islamic culture has a distinctive moral and social order whose influence spread over the entire Arabian Peninsula,Africa,Europe and Asia for more than 1000 years.The Islamic law which is an integral part of the Islamic culture,has long been dominant in the Islamic countries for thousands of years.These laws maintain social stability,and also ensure that the preferential right always belongs to men rather than women.In modern and contemporary ages,the bulk of reforms for Islamic law,active or passive,played an important role for the advancement of women under the requirement of the western colonialists and the influence of western culture.So far,although the feminism hasn't been achieved in the world of Islam,it shows a positive overall tends with some ups and downs.In these days,the feminists have become an important force to be reckoned in society.Although there are a lot of unfair treatment and academic debate on women's rights in Islamic law,it does not affect the ultimate goal of establishing the advancement of women.The first chapter is mainly about the difference and relationship between Islamic law and Sharia law,and makes a brief introduction of Islamic women's status.The second chapter describes the women's rights in traditional Sharia law provisions,with the system of marriage,divorce and inheritance as example.The third chapter analyzes the feminist revolution in Ottoman,Egypt,India and Pakistan based on the reforms of Islamic laws,which is one of the most important achievements for the Islamic law modernization.The forth chapter discusses the trend of the modern feminist in Islamic law and its return,and tries to explore one of the reason for that.The fifth chapter explores women's rights as universal human rights,and the importance and possibility of the connection between the modern women's rights movement and Islamic law.Based on the traditional and modern perspective,this paper discusses the issues of women's rights in Islamic countries in historical and practical ways.The theoretical novelty is using law as a tool to view and discuss the majority problems of sociology and religion category.The paper also has an important theoretical and practical significance for the legal reform and women's rights in other developing countries.It is a difficult and challenging proposition for developing countries to achieve the national rejuvenation and modernization not only in economy,but also in national spirit and culture,without the western culture invasion.