Buying a Divorce in Zanzibar

In Zanzibar, all family law matters are handled in Islamic courts. Most of these concern marital disputes. Field research on disputes and court cases shows that it is difficult to understand judicial decision-making without considering the cultural context of the cases; court documents often do not tell the whole story. One area of particular interest is under what circumstances a judge, called a kadhi in Kiswahili, will uphold social norms or cultural practices that he actually considers religiously unlawful. A recent example from a rural court shows how a kadhi uses the principle of fairness and the attribution of fault to allow such a practice