opposition groups who objected to the authoritar-
ian way the reforms had been enacted. Jihan’s Law
was struck down on procedural grounds in 1985.
More recent reform campaigns have been more
successful. In 2000, the Egyptian parliament passed
the Law on the Reorganization of Certain Terms
and Procedures of Litigation in Personal Status
Matters. Its provision gave women the right to ini-
tiate a “no fault” divorce (khul≠) in exchange for
giving up her financial claims upon her husband,
including the deferred part of her mahr (bride
money). The legislation was the culmination of a
15-year campaign by a broad coalition of women
activists, lawyers, and scholars who used novel
organizational strategies to achieve their ends.
Unlike in prior attempts at reform, which tended to
conceptualize the issue of family law as one of equal
rights for women, the protagonists of the most
recent campaign focused on increasing women’s
rights by reinterpreting Islamic tradition. Not only
did this allow activists to counter charges that
changes to the law were un-Islamic but it also
allowed coalition building across the political spec-
trum. Future attempts to reform law in Egypt are
likely to draw on this successful mode of organizing
rather than appealing to a discourse of equal rights.
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Laura Biergulf, saudi arabia, and yemen 465Gulf, Saudi Arabia, and YemenDuring the last two hundred years, little change
has taken place in family legislation in the Arabian
Peninsula and the Gulf. These countries still rely on
uncodified personal status law with only Kuwait
and Yemen as exceptions. While Kuwait was the
first country in the Gulf to issue legislation on mar-
ital relations – law no. 5 of 1961 on marriages be-
tween Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis – it introduced a
comprehensive family code only in 1984. In Yemen,
the first code was promulgated in 1974 in what was
at that time the People’s Democratic Republic of
Yemen.
In marked contrast to other countries in the
region, in conservative Gulf states the voice of pres-
sure groups has not been strong enough to force
ruling elites to allow reform in family legislation.
Introducing women’s rights in law has proved diffi-
cult. Still, democracy alone is not expected to lead
to reforms in Islamic law: women’s rights’ advo-
cates fear that elections simply bring to power
Islamists who do not favor codification.
Prior to the present era, three distinct courses of
legal practice were followed: an uncodified version
of the Islamic Sharì≠a, often combined with local
custom (≠urf) (Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Yemen,
Oman, Aden Protectorates, Gulf Protectorates);
Ottoman rule during the latter part of the nine-
teenth century (Kuwait as part of Basra Province);
and British administrative and legal influence
(Aden Colony, Kuwait administered from British
India). In Aden, with direct British rule, the Anglo-
Muhammadan legal practice as developed in India
was introduced with British judges applying Sharì≠a
for Muslims in matters of personal status.
All the classical schools of Islamic jurisprudence
are present in this area. The £anbalìschool pre-
vails in Saudi Arabia and Qatar and five of the
seven emirates that form the United Arab Emirates
(Sharjah, Ajman, Fujayrah, Ras al-Khaymah and
Umm al-Qaywayn). Abu Dhabi and Dubai follow
the Màlikìschool. In Bahrain the population is
divided between Màlikìs and Ja≠farìs with separate
courts. Kuwait enacted a family code (Law no. 51
of 1984 concerning Personal Status) 23 years after
independence based on Màlikì interpretation.
Oman, whose sovereignty Britain acknowledged
in 1951, applies Ibà∂ìdoctrine even though the
population includes Shàfi≠ìs (Dhofar), £anafìs (al-
Batinah), £anbalìs (Ja≠lan), Màlikìs, and Ja≠farìs.
The majority of Yemenis follow the Shàfi≠ìschool;
the substantial Zaydìpopulation in the north fol-
lows the Hadàwìschool. Small Shì≠ìcommunities
of Ja≠farìs, Ismà≠ìlìs, and Bohras exist in the north