Interfaith Marriages and Muslim Communities in Scotland: A Hybrid Legal Solution?

The main finding of the project is that interfaith marriage (IFM) regulations are framed by Muslim communities in Scotland in a variety of ways, but most prominently among them is a reading that features a classical, 'de-contextualized' formulation. The conditions and broad horizon in which the conditions on IFMs are set in classical Islamic law theory seem not to obtain today in Scotland (unequal relations between spouses in the conduction of conjugal life, possibility of the non-Muslim husband to prevent his Muslim wife from performing her religious duties, full application of Islamic law in Scotland or warfare relations between Scotland and Islam). However, due to the transformations that modernity has brought to classical Islamic legal regulations, these conditions are no longer considered operational and the classical regulations are thus no longer contingent on their existence. These transformations impair possibilities to introduce alternative, more inclusive readings and interpretations of IFM regulations.