Marriage and Contemporary Islamic Family Law

Az-Zuhayli's treatment of marriage and family law in Al-Fiqh al-Islami wa Adillatuh combines comprehensive comparative coverage of the four schools' classical positions with careful attention to the contemporary context in which Islamic family law operates. This combination makes the chapter particularly valuable for scholars, legal practitioners, and educated Muslims seeking to understand how Islamic family law works and how it applies in the modern world.

The comparative overview of marriage conditions across the four schools is one of the most practically useful sections. Az-Zuhayli presents the wali requirement: required by Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools; not required for adult women by the Hanafi school. He explains each school's position with its evidence and notes that the practical consequence of this difference is significant: in countries that apply Hanafi family law (including many Arab and South Asian countries), an adult woman may contract her own marriage; in countries that apply Maliki or Shafi'i law (much of North Africa and Southeast Asia), the wali's participation is required.

The mahr section presents the Hanafi minimum (ten dirhams), the absence of minimum in the other schools, and the practical question of how to determine mahr al-mithl in contemporary societies where the traditional reference group of comparable women from the father's family may be geographically dispersed or economically homogeneous. Az-Zuhayli's analysis is sensitive to both the traditional principles and the practical realities of modern family formation.

Az-Zuhayli addresses the question of polygyny with characteristic balance: it is permitted by the Quran up to four wives with the condition of justice between them; the Quran simultaneously warns that 'you will never be able to be just between wives even if you desire it' (al-Nisa 4:129); and contemporary legal systems in many Muslim-majority countries have introduced conditions (judicial approval, provision for the existing wife) that regulate polygyny without prohibiting it. He presents these regulations as potentially falling within the scope of legitimate siyasah shar'iyyah, while noting that they represent contemporary legislative interpretation.

The khul' (divorce at the wife's request) section is particularly important for contemporary family law. Az-Zuhayli presents the classical conditions for khul' (wife's request, husband's agreement, and typically the return of the mahr) and notes the development in some contemporary legal systems of judicial khul' — where a court can grant a woman's request for dissolution even without the husband's consent, in exchange for returning the mahr. He traces this development to the Maliki school's broader grounds for judicial faskh and its application in Egyptian law since the early twentieth century.

Contemporary family law reforms in Muslim-majority countries are addressed with scholarly evenness. Az-Zuhayli notes that reforms such as registration requirements for marriage, minimum age restrictions, limitations on talaq by requiring judicial proceedings, and expanded grounds for women's divorce are debated among contemporary scholars — some viewing them as legitimate siyasah shar'iyyah (governance within Islamic law's objectives) and others as departures from the established legal tradition. He presents the arguments on both sides and calls for ijtihad conducted by qualified scholars in consultation with the communities these laws serve.

Az-Zuhayli concludes the chapter by emphasizing that the objectives of Islamic family law — mutual respect, compassion, and the protection of the family as the foundation of Muslim society — are timeless, even if the specific legal mechanisms for achieving them may adapt across different social contexts. The scholar's task is to ensure that adaptations remain faithful to these objectives while responding to the genuine needs and challenges of each era.