The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 6. No. I. 1989 

Conferences/Seminars 

Family and Law in Islam 
Istanbul, Turkey 

Showwo/116-18. 1409/ May 17-21 , 1989 

189 

Without fanfare, a significant conference on "Family and Law in Islam", 
took place at the Ramada Inn, Istanbul, May 17-21 1989. More than twenty-
five invitees from Britain, Egypt, Hungary. [ndia, Pakistan, the United State~. 
and Grand Muftis of Syria and North Yemen attended the conference. Also 
attending were the essential support personnel of the Council of World Religions 
(CWR). and its Executive Director, Frank Kaufmann. The CWR, a subsidiary 
of the International Religious Foundation (IRF) did everything possible to 
make the conference a very rewarding experience for all participants. 

Unlike other conferences, only major assumptions and conclusions were 
presented by the authors to set the stage for discussion. To facilitate the 
discussions, the organizers had distributed papers a month ahead of time . 
A certain "pairing" was also attempted, but this was by no means exclusive, 
and a major part of the proceedings consisted of free-range discussions. 
punctuated by the Grand Mufti of Syria and his stories on topics ranging 
from camels to watermelons. reflecting on interconnections, between and 
relative importance of particular situations. 

Since the CWR plans to publish, in full or in part, contributions to this 
conference, and since these tend to be well documented and meaty. we will 
only provide here an idea of the flavor and scope of the topics and discussions. 
Mohsin Labban of Alexandria, Egypt was the first to discuss the spiritual 
and moral aspects of the Shari'ah concluding that a woman's fulfilment is 
in her inclination to possess. By learning to coexist with her husband's other 
wife or wives. she may overcome egotism. selfishness, and jealosy. Abdallah 
Nuruddin Durkee of the Darul lslam Foundation, defined secularity and 
secularism and showed that none of these institutions provide answers to 
problems facing a family. Then lmtiaz. Ahmad of Karachi University presented 
his paper on the role of family in Islamic society, upholding traditionaJ lslamic 
values and denouncing Western intrusions. Other participants from Pakistan 
were as varied as their assumptions. Abdul Rashid of Karachi University 
described the status of women in Islam, stating that there is nothing in Islam 
to bar a woman from being the head of the government, as is the case in 
contemporary Pakistan. Hassan Qasim Murad, also of Karachi University, 
discussed the question of equality and equal rights, contending that inequality 
of sexes, inferiority of woman to man, was written in the sacred texts, the 



190 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences Vol. 6. No. 1, 1989 

Qur'an and Hadith, and it was accepted and accentuated by a variety of faithful 
and enthusiastic medieval Muslim intellectuals. Hence, women are inferior 
to men and the present debate of equal rights is unnecessary and illogical. 
Such an assertion was bound to evoke controversy and criticism, and so it 
did. Mumtaz Ahmad challenged Qasim Murad on three grounds: sources, 
methodology and substantive arguments. Ahmad described Murad's sources 
or spurious, his methodology as "convoluted" and his arguments as polemical. 

Three presentations from India dealt with various aspects of Muslim 
family law in secular India. UphoJding Shari'ah as the basis of Muslim family 
law, Mushirul Haq of Kashmir University pointed out that major difficulties 
arise when various schools of Muslim jurisprudence do not agree on one 
interpretation of the Shari'ah. Dr. Ali Ashraf of Jamia Millia discussed the 
status of women and Islamic law, and Mohammad Shafi of Aligarh Muslim 
University presented a paper on Women, Islam, and Family in India. Both 
of these papers discussed the Shah Bano case as an infringment on Muslim 
rights and provided their interpretations of the present situation in India . 

Abdel Rahman Ba1aza MilhaJffy and Mohammad Manazir Ahsan 
discussed the role and responsibilities of a Muslim family in Western society. 
Abdel Rahman focused on the situation in Hungary and Manazir Ahsan 
described the problems faced by Muslims in Britain. Noura Durkee of Madrasat 
Khalid al-Islam was unique in being the only woman participant in the 
conference. Her presentation, "Marriage for a Muslimah: Surrender to him 
for Him." was interesting in many respects. 

The concluding session was for suggestions and impressions. The 
overriding impression of the participants MIS that of genuine achievement. 
However, there was a recognized need for further, deeper contacts between 
peoples and a common concern for greater harmony and mutual respect among 
the believers of the same and different religions. This highly successful meeting 
in Istanbul can be viewed as an important milestone in the current debate 
o n the Muslim family. 

Mushtaqur Rahman 
Iowa St.ate University