The Notion of Divorce among the Muslim Women during Medieval Period and Contemporary Times: A Feminist Perspective

Abstract

This paper compares and contrasts the notion of divorce among the Muslims during the medieval period and contemporary times. In this paper some sociological insights and clarifications have been offered. For the medieval period the nature of divorce has been examined in the context of the Arab societies. For the contemporary period the data have been collected from rural and urban areas of the Kashmir valley. In this paper an attempt has been made to examine the nature of divorce particularly from women’s point of view and a feminist perspective. The understanding of the societies in medieval and contemporary period and the interpretation offered, suggested that even during the earlier times the Muslim women have not expected their subjugation in the male dominated or patriarchal society. Our understanding of Muslim women highlights the facts that they were able to develop cretin mechanisms which continuously challenged the male dominance. However, in the case of Kashmir valley the Muslim women have challenged the patriarchal system in their own way. Their education and limited new job opportunities have in fact led towards their empowerment. In the case of Medieval Arab societies, especially in the case of the Mamluk societies the women had a sufficient economic base to get divorce, but in the case of Muslim women in Kashmir they have to fallback upon their parental families for the support. It is concluded that the study of medieval Mamluk societies of Arab countries have helped us in the understanding of the problems of divorce among the women of Kashmir. Some interpretations to understand the problems of divorce for the women from the feminist perspectives have also been offered here. The presentation of case-studies also explains the in-depth understanding of the divorced women over there.