Le droit musulman en pratique : genre, filiation et bioéthique

Recent modifications of personal status and of penal codes in some Muslim countries question fundamental patriarchal ideas and practices about marriage such as bridewealth, conjugal relations, male authority and sexual control of women. These modifications specifically concern weddings, divorce, adultery, and honor crimes. Furthermore, legislative reforms connected to «adoption», medically assistedprocreation, denial or recognition of paternity, use of genetic tests, illustrate the relation of biological and social in the determination of filiation in Islam. Besides, new questions of bioethics such as contraception, abortion, or organ donation, have led Muslim jurists to express legal opinions (fatâwâ) on these new questions while referring their interpretations to classic Islamic texts of jurisprudence. Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) far from being inviolable and unchanging as is often assumedis continually undergoing changes, as a pragmatic response to contemporary challenges. This is made evident by thediversity of legal opinions produced by Muslim jurists on issues that are ceaselessly re-emerging before the scene