In 1957In -1958 Moroccan family law was codified in the Mudawwana, a text known for its close adherence to the classical Maliki tradition. Since the early 1980s the debate about reform has become more intense and widespread. The relatively limited reform of the Mudawwana in 1993 was closely linked to the beginnings of a process of cautious democratization. Since then the discussions have become more vehement, especially since the coming to power of a new government in 1998 consisting of former opposition parties. A year later this government presented a plan for extensive family law reforms. The plan has provoked considerable public debate over key concepts such as democracy, development, human rights, civil society, and ijtih¨d. Upon closer inspection, larger issues are at stake: Who may speak out in public and participate in politics? This new turn in the discussions is related to the emergence of a public sphere.
This special issue deals with Islamic authority-making among Muslims of migrant background in predominantly Western Europe. Religious authority is persuasive power in religious matters, regarding issues of knowledge and institutional competence, and of truth, authenticity, legitimacy, trust, and ethics. The seven articles in this special issue address some of the manifold ways in which Islamic authority comes about. They show that authority should not be reduced to the leadership or personal status of religious scholars and other religious professionals; it can also be attributed to bodies of knowledge, to institutions, to legal, ethical and material matters, and to events. Islamic authority is a crucial element in shaping Islamic landscapes in all their diversity.
Unlike Bontems (Claude Bontems, "L'invention du droit musulman algérien à l'époque coloniale (XIXe siècle). Une approche anthropologique", in Yadh Benachour, Jean-Robert Henry & Rostane Mehdi (eds.), Le débat juridique au Maghreb. De l'étatisme à l'Etat de droit. Etudes en l'honneur de Ahmed Mahiou (Paris: Editions Publisud-IREMAM, 2009) we use the term "invention" not only in the epistemological innocent sense of "discovery", but we intend to stress the constructive character of the category "Islamic law". 2 On the British studies, see e.
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