The Nature of the Islamic Marriage: Sacramental, Covenantal, or Contractual?
Abstract
In this chapter, I shall remove some of the confusion and misunderstanding about the Islamic marriage contract by taking the reader with me on a brief tour of the fundamentals of Islamic law as they pertain to our subject. I shall start with an introductory discussion of the Islamic worldview in general, and the Islamic view of gender relations in particular. It will be followed by a discussion of the nature of contract in Islam. I shall then turn to the Islamic marriage contract and its special status in Islamic law and religion, and, finally, examine the nature of marriage among Muslims in the United States.
This paper has been withdrawn.