countries began reconciling the demands of inter-
national law, classical mainstream Islamic legal
opinions, and local customs. The process goes on
today despite attempts of extremist Islamic politi-
cal movements to come to power. Egypt’s legisla-
ture, for example, enacted with the approval of the
Shaykh al-Islàm a divorce law that reaffirms the
wife’s right to divorce by returning her marriage
dowry, without having to give elaborate reasons.
The divorce, khul≠, is an old practice, although the
word does not appear in the Qur±àn. It can be found
in the customary law of the Thonga in southern
Africa. The Egyptian law aims to eradicate the cus-
tomary practices of men that undermine the sim-
plicity of the classical khul≠divorce. Husbands had
habitually negotiated not only the return of the
mahr, but also release from child support and
retention of all marriage gifts contributed by the
wife and her family.
Of all the Arab countries, Tunisia took the bold-
est leap in reinterpreting personal status law. The
law is fully rooted in the Qur±àn and a™àdìth, which
were cited in the first version of the Personal Status
Code of 1956. The dichotomy in courts and laws
according to the faith of the litigants was abolished.
All laws, including personal status laws, became
applicable to all Tunisians irrespective of their faith
affiliation. One law for all was based on the notion
that all three monotheistic faiths could find some-
thing in common to agree upon. As a result,
polygamy was abolished; divorce grounds were
made equal for men and women; and the mahrwas
reduced to a symbolic value. Classical Islamic
inheritance rules remained the same, but the law
has allowed all citizens, Muslims or non-Muslims,
to use gifts to equalize shares between female and
male heirs.
In one sense, the Tunisian law has brought Islamic
law back full circle. The Tunisian Islamic law reflects
the original spirit of the Qur±àn; that is, Islam should
be the means by which the other monotheistic faiths
are harmonized and debates about women’s rights
are resolved in favor of equalization.
The process of legal consolidation since inde-
pendence has cemented the state’s centralization
and homogenization of the interpretations of the
Sharì≠a. This has to some extent reduced forum
shopping on the part of women. Under the tradi-
tionally fragmented legal system, a woman could
seek out a judge specializing in women’s affairs or
a madhhabknown to favor women if, for example,
she were seeking liberation from a marriage guar-
dian. Centralization has narrowed the space for
competition. Women now have to find new strate-
gies to compete with the male voice. Centralization
arab states 389demands that women strive to access the literary
sources of Islamic law (the Qur±àn, ™adìth, jurists’
compilations of interpretations) that governments
consult. Beyond this, centralization also requires
women to vie in the public political space, that is,
the institutional world of legislating, administer-
ing, and adjudicating, where Islamic law and policy
are now formed and madhàhibcombined. How
women decide to deal with the transition from frag-
mentation to homogenization will determine their
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