Approaches on Empowering Muslim Women through Property Rights

The issues explored in this book starts with justifications on the immediate need to reconstruct Muslim women's property rights in the Muslim world. Analysis of the status of Muslim women about the property under the Shari'ah from several Muslim jurists' perspective is also made including the women's deficient entitlement to shares in inheritance. The socio-historical background to women's property rights and a review of modern legal reforms in selected Muslim countries are made to trace important developments about international instruments and policies. This study also interrogates both the dynamic nature of families in Muslim societies and the role of women as active negotiators within those families on real and personal property. Several issues are also highlighted which includes women activists’' approach in recognizing the guarantees of land rights in Islamic human rights documents. However, issues that they have to deal with is the lack of gender mainstreaming of rights and difficulties in realizing rights on the ground in the face of discriminatory socio-cultural norms (presented as rooted in Islam). In encountering the misconception of Islamic property for women, it is a hypothesis as laid down in the Maqasid al-Shari'ah, can be deployed to enhance women's economic security. Gender land rights may appear discriminatory, as concerning inheritance, but there is the potential within the Islamic framework for women to receive other property rights by way of recompense. Based on these, this book aims to fill the gap in the literature on Muslim women's property rights under Islamic law and systems through a systematic study. It also intends to do a rigorous and credible study of the principles and practices relating to Muslim women's property rights towards clarifying its nature and scope. This project brought together varying expertise in a constructive debate over the opportunities available through Islamic property rights so that it could offer a fresh and balanced appreciation of Islamic principles as lobbying tools for positive interpretation and application of Islamic rights. In doing so, obstacles and limits constraining the full implementation of Islamic rights for women are identified so that identification of effective tools and best practices for women's rights through authentic and robust Islamic strategies are documented and disseminated