woman need not even be present when he pro-
nounced divorce, and no formal judicial process
was required. Medieval Islamic divorce law put
Women at a significant disadvantage, but it was
partly mitigated by 1) the recommendation that
the three proclamations of divorce be performed
on three separate occasions, 2) the requirement
that the husband pay the woman all or part of her
dowry, and 3) the requirement that the husband
provide her with lodging and support for a wait-
ing period of up to three menstrual cycles (about
three months). The husband could revoke the
divorce during this period as long as he had not
pronounced the divorce declaration a third time.
If the woman was pregnant, he was obliged to
support her for the duration of her pregnancy, and
both mother and child had to be maintained for
up to two years while the child was being nursed.
The divorce was irrevocable once the three-month
waiting period had ended and the pronouncement
had been made a third time. A woman could not
initiate a divorce, but in special circumstances she
had the right to petition a judge to annul the mar-
riage. The maliki legal school of Sunni Islam is
considered to have been the most liberal in this
respect, for it allowed a woman to request an end
to the marriage because of the husband’s cruelty,
inability to support her, desertion, or contracting
an illness that could be harmful to her. apostasy
could also be grounds for divorce. Shii law con-
cerning divorce was similar to that of the Sunnis.
In actual practice, a divorcee was often at the
mercy of her former husband’s willingness to ful-
fill his legal obligations and a judge’s willingness
to intervene if he did not.
During the 20th century, Muslim reformers
sought to change traditional divorce law to give
women a more equitable footing in initiating
divorce and to protect them from its arbitrary use
by their husbands and ad hoc judicial rulings.
New legislation concerning divorce was adopted
by many newly created countries to make this
possible. Among Muslim-majority countries in the
forefront of reform were tUnisia, egypt, tUrkey,
algeria, Jordan, and libya. In some instances, tra-
ditional Islamic law has collided with secular law,
as occurred in the controversial 1985 case of Shah
Bano Begum, an impoverished divorcee in india.
The Indian Supreme Court ruled on the basis of
that country’s civil law code that Shah Bano was
entitled to receive alimony after her husband of
43 years divorced her to take a second wife. The
decision sparked widespread demonstrations by
India’s Muslim minority, who saw it as an affront
to their religion by Hindus. The result was the
passage of the 1986 Muslim Women Act, which
upheld the traditional Islamic law that limited the
obligation of the husband to pay for the divorcee’s
maintenance for only the duration of the three-
month waiting period. In Western countries, most
Muslims adhere to local civil codes governing
marriage and divorce.
See also children; hindUism and islam; reneWal
and reForm movements.Further reading: Peter Awn, “Indian Islam: The Shah
Bano Affair.” In Fundamentalism and Gender, edited
by John Stratton Hawley, 63–78 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1994); John L. Esposito and Natana
Delong-Bas, Women in Muslim Family Law. 2d ed. (Syra-
cuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2001); Ziba Mir-
Hosseini, Marriage on Trial: A Study of Islamic Family
Law: Iran and Morocco Compared (London: I.B. Taurus,
1993).dog
The dog is a descendant of the wolf and was one
of the first domesticated animals. Archaeological
evidence indicates its domestication first occurred
in the Middle East around 10,000 b.c.e. Despite
the ancient and close association between humans
and dogs, Middle Eastern cultures have formed
mixed attitudes toward them. A common insult
used by people in the region, no matter whether
they are Muslim, Jew, or Christian, is to call
someone a dog or the offspring of one. Yet these
same cultures have also accepted dogs as livingK 200 dog